As a rapporteur at academic and policy seminars I have supported busy events teams and participants to report back, both during and after the event. This can be particularly helpful in interdisciplinary or intercultural working. I have pulled together outcome statements for meetings with over 40 nationalities present.

Conferences and meetings are more likely to yield lasting results if there are quality input documents – agenda-setting publications, learning materials or discussion papers – and outcome documents.

After all, meetings are resource-heavy and many audiences will hear about them only by their written results. That is why funders are not generally content with activity reporting, which simply confirms that events have happened. In the academic context, conferences and multi-author publications are ideally planned together, as Manchester University Press explains.

Live-tweeting or filming what everyone says has its limits, and can also compromise the quality of discussion. Equally, drafting ‘by committee’ is notoriously difficult. It is much easier to involve drafting leads in discussions, so they have a good grasp of where there is common ground, and where there may still be differences of view or emphasis.

With online meetings, this option becomes affordable not only for larger budget projects and organizations. It can also relieve pressure on convenors who are managing the tech and the physical remoteness of participants, as well as the conversation.

The first step is to use facilitators and rapporteurs (note-takers) who are able and willing to listen: who understand consensus-building as it unfolds. The next step is to write up discussions in ways that preserve that consensus, and therefore trust in the process. Nobody has a monopoly on how this can be done. It is counter-productive to bulldoze participants into a predefined idea or style of engagement (we’ve all been there).

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I have spoken on healthcare quality improvement and PPI (Patient Public Involvement) at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, LSBU, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, and the UK Council of Professionalism Teachers (hosted by the General Medical Council).

As a Commissioning Editor, I have also worked with government, industry and civil society figures, helping them to shape contributions that fit the needs of conference convenors, hosts, sponsoring partners and audiences.

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Your workshop presentation had rigour and depth – it really helped participants to realize there is much more to the topic.

– Cristal de Saldanha Stainbank, international development consultant (South Africa/UK)

Your ability to capture what everyone’s saying as we go along is unusual – and beautiful!

– Professor Emmanuel Lazega, Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) Paris

A sample conference title (for Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting) can be accessed here.