"One aid to effective meetings that is rarely focused on is properly ending a meeting," writes collaboration expert Robert Garmston. "Closing a meeting well requires as much purposefulness and art as opening a meeting." When teacher leaders and others who support professional groups don't attend to endings, Garmston says, efficacy and energy tend to dissipate. " Dissatisfaction is common in meetings in which members are not clear about which decisions were made, recommendations developed, and what is to occur next." The author of the column "GroupWise" (Journal of Staff Development) offers several useful strategies, including the "convenience store close."

Garmston, R.J. (2006). Understanding the art of ending a meeting. Journal of staff development (Vol. 27 No. 4, Fall 2006). [PDF] Retrieved from the National Staff Development Council 14 May 2008. http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/garmston274.pdf