Template4 min read
Participant consent checklist
A one-page checklist for recording customer conversations responsibly — before, during and after the call.
Ruth OkonkwoCustomer Success ·
Consent is not a checkbox in a scheduling form; it is a short conversation you have with every participant, and a record you can find later. This checklist is a starting point to adapt with your legal or privacy team — it is not legal advice, and requirements differ by country and industry.
Before the session
- Explain in plain language what will be recorded (audio, video, screen)
- Say who will see the recording and the transcript
- State how long you will keep it, and how to ask for deletion
- Get written agreement and store it with the participant record
- Offer a way to take part without being recorded
At the start of the call
- Confirm consent out loud, on the recording
- Remind them they can pause or stop at any time
- Ask them not to share other people’s personal details
After the session
- Redact personal details from the transcript before wider sharing
- Restrict raw recordings to the people who need them
- Share clips, not full calls, with stakeholders
- Set a reminder for the end of the retention period
When someone asks to be removed
Act quickly and completely. That means the recording, the transcript, every highlight and clip, and any quotes pasted into reports or slides. Keep a short log that the request was received and completed — without storing the personal data you just deleted.
Adapting the checklist
Research with employees, children, patients or people in regulated industries usually needs more than this list: an approved consent form, a named data owner, sometimes an ethics review. Treat these items as the floor, then add whatever your organisation requires. Keep the final version somewhere every researcher can find it — ideally next to the scheduling template, so nobody has to remember it exists.
“People agree to talk to you, not to be quoted forever. Treat retention dates as promises.”
Parley, its authors and the companies mentioned here are fictional. This article is demo content for the template and can be replaced with your own.