Meeting Summary Prompt Template

Use this template to turn meeting notes into a clear, actionable internal summary.

Template

Summarize the following meeting notes into a brief internal summary.

MEETING CONTEXT
[What was this meeting about? What was the purpose — decision-making, planning, review, update?]

AUDIENCE
[Who did not attend this meeting and needs to be informed? 
Examples: team members who were absent / stakeholders / client contacts / leadership]

CAPTURE
What to include:
- Decisions made (and who made them)
- Action items (each with a clear owner and due date or urgency)
- Key open questions that still need resolution
- Any important context or background that was established

FORMAT
Use three clearly labeled sections:
1. Decisions
2. Action items (owner, task, deadline or next step)
3. Open questions

TONE
Direct and functional. No narrative framing. Just what was decided and what happens next.

LENGTH
Under [200 / 300 / 400] words.

MEETING NOTES
[Paste raw meeting notes here]

Tips for using this template

• Paste raw notes even if they are messy or incomplete. AI is good at cleaning and organizing.
• If the meeting had multiple distinct topics, mention that in the context section so AI organizes by topic.
• For leadership audiences, add: "Prioritize strategic decisions and key risks. Skip minor logistics."
• For implementation-focused teams, add: "Emphasize action items and due dates. Skip discussion details."

Refinement prompts to keep handy

After seeing the first output, these follow-up instructions commonly improve meeting summaries:

• "The action items are not specific enough — add an owner name for each one."
• "Some of the open questions are not real questions. Remove anything that was already answered in the meeting."
• "This is longer than needed. Cut any decision summary that is just describing the discussion rather than stating the decision."
• "Group the action items by person so each attendee can quickly see what they own."