## Introduction
Town hall meetings are essential for company-wide communication, fostering transparency, and gathering employee insights. However, collecting structured feedback immediately after these meetings can be challenging, especially in fast-growing startups or distributed teams. Manual follow-ups are error-prone and time-consuming. Automating feedback collection streamlines the process, improves response rates, and ensures actionable data is captured efficiently.
This article walks you through building an end-to-end automation workflow using n8n — an open-source workflow automation tool — to capture meeting feedback after town halls. This automation benefits operations teams by ensuring timely feedback collection, allowing them to analyze sentiments and topics discussed, and improving future meetings.
—
## Tools and Services Integrated
– **n8n**: Automation platform to orchestrate workflow
– **Google Forms**: For feedback survey creation and responses
– **Google Sheets**: To store and organize feedback data
– **Slack**: To notify relevant teams about feedback receipt
– **Gmail**: For sending personalized follow-up or thank-you emails
This workflow automates sending out the feedback form link immediately after a town hall, collects responses in real-time, stores them in Google Sheets, and sends notification alerts to operations channels.
—
## Technical Tutorial: Building the Town Hall Feedback Workflow
### Step 1: Prepare Your Feedback Form
1. Create a Google Form tailored to your town hall content, including rating scales and open-ended questions.
2. Ensure the Form responses are set to be saved in a Google Sheet.
3. Note the Form link for distribution.
### Step 2: Set up the n8n Instance
– Install n8n (e.g., via Docker, cloud, or locally).
– Connect your Google account to n8n’s Google Sheets and Google Forms nodes.
– Connect Slack and Gmail accounts for notifications and emailing.
### Step 3: Define the Trigger
The workflow starts post-town hall meeting. Here are two common trigger approaches:
– **Scheduled Trigger**: If town halls are at fixed times, use the `Cron` node to trigger immediately after the meeting.
– **Manual Trigger**: Operations can trigger manually when the town hall ends.
For this tutorial, configure a `Cron` node to activate 5 minutes after the expected meeting end time.
### Step 4: Send the Feedback Form Link via Email or Slack
Add nodes to send out the feedback form link automatically.
– **Gmail Node**:
– Configure to send personalized emails to employee mailing lists.
– Subject: “Your Feedback on Today’s Town Hall”
– Email body includes the Google Form link.
– Alternatively or additionally, **Slack Node**:
– Post the form link to a dedicated company channel.
### Step 5: Monitor Form Responses
Use Google Sheets as the central storage for responses.
– Set up a **Google Sheets Trigger Node** in n8n:
– This node triggers whenever a new response row appears in the response sheet.
### Step 6: Process and Notify
Once a new response arrives:
– Extract feedback data from the Google Sheet row.
– Format the data properly (e.g., question ratings, comments).
– Forward a summary to a designated Slack channel using the Slack node.
Example Slack message:
“`
New Town Hall Feedback Received:
– Rating: 4.5/5
– Comments: “Great Q&A session but would love more time on product roadmap.”
“`
### Step 7: Send a Thank-You Email (Optional)
If you collect respondent emails via the Form, use the Gmail node to send personalized thank-you notes acknowledging their input.
—
## Workflow Breakdown
1. **Trigger Node (Cron):** Automatically activates 5 minutes after the meeting, initiating the process.
2. **Gmail Node (Send Form):** Sends the Google Form link to invite feedback.
3. **Google Sheets Trigger:** Detects new form responses recorded.
4. **Function Node (Optional):** Processes and formats feedback data.
5. **Slack Node:** Posts feedback summaries to operations or leadership channels.
6. **Gmail Node (Thank You Email):** Sends acknowledgment emails to respondents.
—
## Common Errors and Robustness Tips
– **Authentication Issues:** Ensure OAuth credentials for Google and Slack are up-to-date and permissions granted.
– **Google Sheets Sync Delays:** Google Forms responses might take a few seconds to appear. Incorporate retry logic or small delays.
– **Email Deliverability:** Verify email sending quotas and domain settings (SPF, DKIM) to avoid spam.
– **Scalability:** If the company grows, the mailing list or Slack channels might become too large. Consider segmenting notifications or batching emails.
– **Response Privacy:** Mask or anonymize sensitive feedback if sharing summaries externally.
—
## How to Adapt and Scale the Workflow
– **Multi-language Support:** Customize emails and forms for different regions.
– **Advanced Analytics Integration:** Send feedback data to BI tools like Google Data Studio or Power BI using n8n’s HTTP or API nodes.
– **Multiple Meeting Types:** Use variables or parameters so the workflow adapts to different meeting types beyond town halls.
– **Integration with CRM or HR Systems:** Automate follow-ups or escalate critical feedback to HR or management tools.
—
## Summary
Automating town hall feedback collection with n8n saves your operations team time and ensures consistent data gathering. By integrating Google Forms, Sheets, Slack, and Gmail, feedback flows seamlessly from collection to notification and acknowledgment. Following this guide, you can build a reliable, maintainable workflow tailored to your company’s needs.
—
## Bonus Tip: Enhance Feedback Engagement with Reminders
Use n8n’s scheduling and conditional nodes to send reminder emails or Slack messages to those who have not yet submitted feedback 24 hours after the initial invite, boosting response rates without manual intervention.