Touchpoint Meetings: Why They Actually Matter and How to Run One

In today’s fast-paced work environments, communicating and staying aligned with teammates has never been so important—and hard to do.

Staying in sync with colleagues can be difficult when you’re in different time zones, workplaces, or juggling projects.

That’s where touchpoint meetings come in. In this blog post, we’ll tell you what a touchpoint meeting is, its benefits, and how (and why you should) do it regularly with your team.

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What is a touchpoint meeting?

A touchpoint meeting is a brief and regular check-in meeting. It allows team members to share status updates, discuss ongoing projects, and receive feedback. Touchpoint meetings are typically short, lasting at most 30 minutes, and held weekly or bi-weekly.

Touchpoint meetings are similar to catch-up meetings but usually go more in-depth with the status of specific projects (although they shouldn’t be confused with scrum).

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‍What are the benefits of a touchpoint meeting?

Touchpoint meetings provide a platform for open and honest communication, allowing team members to discuss any issues they’re experiencing and get support from managers. Doing so helps remove roadblocks, promotes transparency and accountability, and ensures everyone stays on the same page.

They also encourage teamwork and collaboration by bringing everyone together to share their thoughts and ideas, which can create a better sense of camaraderie and make team members more productive.

Regular touchpoint meetings are especially beneficial for managers, as they provide valuable insights into the everyday workings of an organization. By encouraging open communication and honest feedback, managers can better understand their teams' challenges, offer advice, and take measures to address them.

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‍How to prepare for a touchpoint meeting

Managers should prepare for a touchpoint meeting by setting clear objectives (i.e., determining what they want to achieve with the meeting), creating an agenda with topics they want to discuss, and sharing it with employees, so they can come more prepared for the meeting.

Team members should prepare for a touchpoint meeting by noting challenges, creating a status report of current projects and tasks, and thinking about how their managers can provide support.

‍Further Reading: Here’s How Tim Ferriss Says You Should Take Notes

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‍What to discuss at a touchpoint meeting

Ultimately, what you discuss will depend on who you’re speaking with and the nature of your work.

But here are some common topics to help get you started at your next touchpoint meeting:

Project status reports of ongoing work, obstacles, and next steps
Upcoming deadlines and priorities to focus on
Current workload and how to manage tasks more effectively
Obstacles and how to overcome them
Short-term and long-term goals and objectives
Team communication and collaboration (and how to improve it)
Performance and areas of improvement
Opportunities for career growth
Manager feedback on how to better support the team
Action items and next steps

Further Reading: Need Help Taking Notes? Try These New Apps

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‍What to do after a touchpoint meeting

Once a touchpoint meeting is complete, the meeting organizer should summarize the key takeaways and share them with any attendees so everyone knows what got discussed and what needs to get done (use Bloks to take notes and summarize meetings for you—it's free).

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‍FAQ

‍How often should you have a touchpoint meeting?

That depends. Having a touchpoint meeting on a monthly or bi-weekly basis gives colleagues enough time to connect with managers, monitor progress, and make any adjustments.

A weekly touchpoint meeting may be necessary for newer employees or team members working on important projects. Play it by ear.

‍What should a manager do if a touchpoint meeting becomes repetitive or redundant?

If a touchpoint meeting becomes more of a status update, remove it from your calendar and try talking about similar topics at scrum. Managers should still meet monthly with employees to see how they’re doing.

‍What should remote and hybrid teams do if they can’t have a touchpoint meeting in person?

Managers should schedule touchpoint meetings with people’s time zones and workloads in mind. Keep them small and short—25–30 minutes max. Leave your camera on so you can fully connect.

What should you do if you already have a lot of meetings?

Touchpoint meetings should complement strategic planning, brainstorming, and one-on-one meetings, not replace them. Meeting fatigue is real. Keep touchpoint meetings short and focused by reviewing your agenda ahead of time.

If you need help running meetings, read this expert advice from Elon Musk and four other top CEOs.

‍Should you record a touchpoint meeting?

Use a non-invasive, bot-free tool like Bloks to transcribe your meeting (once you finish the touchpoint call, you’ll get a full summary and list of action items to share with your team).

‍Download Bloks for free before your next touchpoint meeting

Whether you’re a sales superstar, in-demand consultant, busy recruiter, or someone who simply needs to schedule a lot of meetings, one thing’s for sure—you’ve probably booked a lot of them over the past two years.

Hybrid work has forced the majority of our meetings online, and while we appreciate being able to wear sweatpants during normal work hours, the time-consuming ballet that is sharing your availability, finding a time to meet, and adding it to your calendar isn’t quite as enjoyable.

Speaking with everyone from solopreneurs to seasoned professionals, it seems like a lot of people find meeting scheduling software either costly, impersonal, or just plain boring. And Calendly and other alternatives don’t always cut it.

We hear you.

Everyone is different, and so is how they work. Making good first impressions is important, and you shouldn’t have to pay a premium for them or basic customizations and integrations with your meeting booking system.

Nook Calendar’s meeting proposal feature is already used by tons of high-performing teams for selecting and proposing meeting times outside of their organization.

Now, we’re making things even easier by letting you build personal pages with shareable calendar-booking links, right in Nook Calendar. Add them to your LinkedIn profile, email signature, website, or messages when finding a time to meet.

We think it’s the best meeting scheduling software out there, and we’re excited for you to give it a try, so let’s get started.

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Here’s How to Set Up a Personal Booking Page in Nook Calendar

First off, if you’re new to Nook Calendar—hello! (If you’re already a Nook user, you can skip ahead.)

You’re going to start by syncing your calendar—either from Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook—and entering your work email address.

Once you approve any necessary permissions, you’ll set up your People Bar. Search for any connections and add the people you interact with the most when scheduling meetings.

From there, you can add any additional calendars you want to see (add your personal one, if you like, to further prevent any overlaps when scheduling meetings), integrate with Zoom (so you can launch calls straight from your calendar), and choose your preferred display setting—select Match OS, Light Mode, or Dark Mode.

Launch Nook Calendar, and you’re ready to set up your online meeting scheduler.

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Now, the fun begins

You’re going to start by claiming your unique URL for sharing your meeting availability page.

Your first name appears by default, but really, it can be anything. We recommend using your full name (e.g., /john-smith).

(You can always change your URL in the future, as long as it’s still available.)

From there, you want to complete your profile.

Your profile pic is automatically pulled in from your Microsoft or GCal account.

But you can add your name, job title, welcome message, and links to social media profiles or professional website, so guests know a bit more about you when booking a meeting.

Then, you can start setting your weekly availability.

Nook Calendar defaults to traditional time blocks—9–12 a.m. and 1–5 p.m. These are the hours someone can book a meeting from your personal page. Adjust them based on your availability.

Your timezone is automatically set to your local time, but you can change it if you primarily work with people in a different timezone and it’s better to visualize that when setting your availability.

Choose which calendar you want to accept meetings in—it can only be booked in one, but Nook Calendar will automatically reference your availability in other calendars you’ve synced to prevent double-bookings when someone schedules a meeting.

Now, it’s time to set up some paramaters.

You can set up your preferred meeting duration in either 15, 30, 45-minute or one-hour increments (or a custom time).

You can also add buffer time to give yourself a break between meetings, or set a lead time of up to 24 hours, so no one can book any last-minute meetings.

And you’re all set! You can preview what the page will look like, then share it with contacts or add it to your LinkedIn profile (we suggest adding it as a secondary URL), email signature, and anywhere else you do business.

Once someone books time in your calendar, you’ll receive an email and get a notification in the Pulse.

If you ever need to make any changes, you can access your personal meeting page in the bottom of the Magic Panel and make any adjustments—either to your weekly availability or personal information.

You can also remove your availability by simply creating events in Nook Calendar and marking them as Busy to block off time and prevent any bookings.

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