When you're working from an alternative location (other than your typical workspace) it's easy to get distracted; especially during a conference call. Your eyes might wander, your dog might need to be hushed (this has never happened to me), you may need more coffee, etc. Let's face it, this has happened to all of us at some point, right? So when the meeting ends abruptly - what did you miss?
For all conference calls, choose a point person to take notes. Once the call is over, this person should send out a recap, along with all the action items to the parties on the call. This recap serves two purposes: when you can't remember some details about the subject, you will have a source to reference. It also helps those who needed to mute themselves to deal with the dogs and missed important information that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
So go ahead, pet the dog. But be sure there's good follow-up.
