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IntermediateLesson 2 of 58 min read

Meetings that summarise themselves

A course from the Academy: Getting organised with AI: notes, meetings, email

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An hour-long meeting, and by the end nobody remembers exactly who does what. Transcription and summary tools solve this, provided you use them properly.

How it works

The tool records the meeting (video call or in the room), transcribes it into text, then an AI draws a summary from it: the decisions made, the open points, and above all the list of actions, each with an owner and a deadline. The major video-conferencing suites and many notes tools offer this.

The golden rules

  • Tell everyone before recording, and let them refuse. Recording someone without their knowledge is illegal.
  • Reread the summary before sending it: AI can attribute a sentence to the wrong person or turn an idea into a decision.
  • Keep the actions, not the verbatim: the "who does what, by when" list is what saves time.
  • Avoid sensitive topics (HR, health, negotiations) in a tool whose storage you don't control.

The prompt that works

If your tool lets you write your own instruction, be precise: "From this transcript, list the decisions, then the actions in the form: action, owner, deadline. Flag what wasn't settled. Don't invent anything that isn't in the transcript."

Analogy. The minute-taker who never gets tired. But a good minute-taker has the chair reread the minutes before circulating them: same rule here.

Key takeaways

  • Transcript, summary, then action list: owner and deadline.
  • Always give notice before recording.
  • Reread before sending: AI mixes up speakers or invents a decision.
  • No sensitive topics in a tool you don't control.

Complete the lesson

A 4-question quiz: 3 correct answers are enough, plus an exercise to practise. It opens in the Academy, on this same lesson.

Take the quiz and complete the lesson Free. With an account, your progress is saved and leads to the course certificate.

The course: Getting organised with AI: notes, meetings, email

  1. One place to capture everything8 min
  2. Meetings that summarise themselves8 min
  3. From a vague idea to an action plan8 min
  4. Getting on top of your inbox8 min
  5. Your week organised in twenty minutes9 min

The whole Academy →The AI glossary