## Introduction
Town hall meetings are critical for company-wide communication and engagement. However, collecting feedback from attendees systematically can be challenging and time-consuming, particularly for Operations teams responsible for organizing and improving these events. Automating the feedback collection process ensures that responses are gathered promptly, organized efficiently, and made actionable for future iterations.
In this guide, we’ll demonstrate how to build an end-to-end automation workflow using **n8n** — an open-source workflow automation tool — to capture meeting feedback immediately after town halls. This workflow will integrate Google Forms (for collecting feedback), Google Sheets (for storing responses), Slack (for notifications), and Gmail (for summary reports). By the end, you’ll have a scalable, maintainable automation pipeline to streamline feedback gathering and follow-up.
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## Problem Statement
**Challenge:** Manually collecting, organizing, and analyzing feedback after a large town hall meeting is inefficient and prone to errors. Feedback may be delayed, lost, or overlooked.
**Who benefits:**
– **Operations teams:** Save time and reduce manual work.
– **Event organizers:** Receive timely insights to improve future town halls.
– **Company leadership:** Get structured feedback to inform communication strategy.
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## Tools and Services Integrated
– **n8n:** Workflow automation platform.
– **Google Forms:** Collect attendee feedback via a standardized survey.
– **Google Sheets:** Centralized storage for feedback responses.
– **Slack:** Notify team channels about new feedback submissions.
– **Gmail:** Send periodic summary reports to stakeholders.
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## Overview of the Workflow
1. **Trigger:** When a new Google Form response is submitted.
2. **Fetch Response:** Retrieve the full response details.
3. **Write to Google Sheets:** Append response data to a Google Sheet for record-keeping and analysis.
4. **Send Slack Notification:** Alert Operations or event teams of new feedback.
5. **Send Summary Email:** (Optional) Periodic summary of feedback delivered via Gmail.
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## Prerequisites
– Access to an n8n instance (cloud or self-hosted).
– Google account with Google Forms and Google Sheets set up.
– Slack workspace and API access for posting messages.
– Gmail access with OAuth credentials configured in n8n.
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## Step-by-Step Technical Tutorial
### Step 1: Create a Google Form for Feedback
Design a Google Form that captures relevant feedback questions such as:
– Overall satisfaction (rating scale)
– What worked well?
– What could be improved?
– Additional comments
Make sure the form’s responses are sent to a linked Google Sheet (this will be used as raw data store).
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### Step 2: Set Up Your Google Sheet
Your linked sheet should have columns corresponding to each question in the form along with response timestamps.
Create a separate master spreadsheet (optional) where feedback entries will be consolidated, making it easier to analyze or share.
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### Step 3: Configure n8n Workflow
**1. Trigger Node: Google Forms Trigger**
– Currently, n8n does not have a direct Google Forms trigger.
– Instead, we’ll use the Google Sheets Trigger node on the responses sheet (linked to the Google Form).
**Configuration:**
– Select Google Sheets Trigger.
– Monitor the sheet containing form responses.
– Set it to watch for the “Append Row” event.
This will activate the workflow whenever a new row is added (i.e., a new Google Form submission).
**2. Node: Google Sheets (Read Data)**
– Once triggered, fetch the specific row data to use in processing.
**3. Node: Google Sheets (Append to Master Sheet)**
– (Optional) Append the fetched feedback data to a master Google Sheet for consolidated storage.
**4. Node: Slack (Send Notification)**
– Use the Slack node to post a message to a designated channel (e.g., #townhall-feedback).
– Construct a message including key feedback highlights, such as satisfaction rating and comments.
Example message:
“`
New Town Hall Feedback Received:
– Satisfaction: 4/5
– Highlights: “The Q&A session was very informative.”
– Improvements: “More time for open discussion.”
“`
**5. Node: Gmail (Send Summary Email) [Optional]**
– Schedule a separate workflow or use a Cron node to send periodic summary emails (weekly/monthly) aggregated from the master Google Sheet.
– Configure Gmail node with OAuth to send emails to stakeholders.
– Summarize counts, average ratings, and top comments.
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### Detailed Node Breakdown
| Node | Function | Key Settings & Tips |
|——-|———-|———————|
| Google Sheets Trigger | Start workflow on new form submission | Watch the correct sheet and worksheet. Enable “Include Row Data” for ease. |
| Google Sheets (Read) | Extract specific feedback fields | Use row number from trigger data. |
| Google Sheets (Append) | Store data in master sheet | Map fields carefully to avoid misalignment. Handle duplicates if needed. |
| Slack (Send Message) | Real-time notification | Use blocks for rich formatting. Test with development channel first. |
| Gmail (Send Email) | Periodic feedback summary | Use Cron node to schedule. Aggregate data before sending. |
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### Error Handling and Robustness Tips
– **Google Sheets Quotas:** Use batch operations for scale; monitor API quotas.
– **Authentication:** Keep OAuth tokens refreshed; use n8n credentials managers.
– **Missing Data:** Validate form response fields before processing to avoid node failures.
– **Duplicate Entries:** Implement checks to ignore repeated submissions.
– **Slack Formatting:** Test message formatting to prevent broken layouts.
– **Retries:** Configure retry policies for transient failures.
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### Scaling and Adaptations
– **Additional Platforms:** Integrate with CRM systems like HubSpot to connect feedback with employee records.
– **Sentiment Analysis:** Add an NLP step (e.g., via webhook to AI service) to automatically tag feedback sentiment.
– **Dashboard Automation:** Push aggregated data to BI tools like Google Data Studio.
– **Multi-language Support:** Detect language and route feedback to respective regional teams.
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## Summary
Automating the capture of town hall feedback using n8n eliminates manual overhead, ensures faster response collection, and empowers Operations teams with actionable insights. By integrating Google Forms, Sheets, Slack, and Gmail:
– You create a closed feedback loop from submission to reporting.
– Notifications keep teams informed in real-time.
– Summary emails keep leadership aligned.
With the modular workflow outlined, you can expand and customize the process to fit your organization’s unique needs.
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## Bonus Tip: Enable Anonymous Feedback while Retaining Actionability
If your town hall feedback requires anonymity to promote honesty:
– Adjust your Google Form settings to not collect email addresses.
– Avoid storing identifiable metadata in Google Sheets.
– Use Slack notifications that summarize feedback themes rather than individual entries.
This balance encourages openness while maintaining operational value.