The Art of the One-page Summary
Imagine yourself developing materials for an upcoming virtual 4-hour working session. You draft a time-boxed agenda, supporting content, and maybe a get-to-know-the-team exercise. You spend days preparing and fine-tuning all of the necessary documents to ensure you make the best use of everyone’s time, and you are PROUD of the final materials. Next comes the BIG day, and your event is successful. You and your team accomplished everything on the agenda. Nice job!
What’s your next step?
- Package up your stellar materials and meeting notes,
email everything to your stakeholders, and request feedback. NO! - Provide a short deliverable, enabling busy reviewers to absorb a brief document that takes only a few minutes to review. YES! YES! YES!
Most stakeholders will happily spend a few minutes reading through a one-page communication on the meeting purpose, activities, and outcome. Follow the key steps below when writing a one-page summary.
- Start with an attention-grabbing statement
- Define the problem or goal you are aiming to address (Use language your target audience understands)
- Describe the solution and / or outcome
- Use visuals if your summary is from a collaborative working session (pictures of teams working, whiteboards, etc.)
- Include a callout for who to contact to obtain additional information
- Last, but not least, remember to proofread your document
Don’t forget… your one-page summary should stand alone from the rest of meeting content and still provide value.
