Meetings generate two things: useful information and a huge amount of your time. The average manager spends 45 minutes writing up a one-hour meeting. This system reduces that to under 5 minutes, permanently.
How it works
- Record your meeting. Zoom, Teams and Google Meet all do this automatically
- Get the transcript, most platforms generate one, or paste the recording into an AI tool directly
- Run the extraction prompt, paste transcript plus prompt into ChatGPT or Claude
- Review and send, your job is quality control, not writing
The key insight
You are not asking AI to summarise the meeting. You are asking it to extract specific types of information in a specific format. The difference is enormous, a summary is generic, an extraction is structured and immediately actionable.
The core extraction prompt
Universal meeting extraction prompt
I am going to paste a meeting transcript below. Extract and structure the following exactly:
1. DECISIONS MADE, numbered list of any decisions that were agreed
2. ACTIONS, a table with three columns: Action | Owner | Deadline
3. OPEN QUESTIONS, things raised but not resolved, need following up
4. KEY INFORMATION, important context mentioned that is not a decision or action
Be concise. Extract only what matters. Do not summarise everything said.
If something is not clear from the transcript, mark it with [unclear].
[PASTE TRANSCRIPT HERE]
Specialised versions for different meeting types
Client meeting follow-up
Client meeting prompt
I am pasting the transcript of a client meeting below.
Extract:
1. What the client needs from us in the next 2 weeks
2. Any concerns or risks they raised (even informal ones)
3. Actions we committed to, with any deadlines mentioned
4. One sentence on overall call health, positive, neutral or flag
5. Any upsell or expansion signals mentioned
Format: numbered lists, one sentence per item maximum.
[PASTE TRANSCRIPT HERE]
Internal team meeting
Team meeting prompt
Meeting transcript below. Extract:
DECISIONS: what was agreed (numbered)
ACTIONS: who is doing what and by when (table: Action | Owner | By)
BLOCKERS: anything slowing the team down
SKIP: do not include status updates with no action or decision
Output format: clean, ready to paste into Slack.
No preamble, no "here is a summary of your meeting".
[PASTE TRANSCRIPT HERE]
Board or leadership meeting
Board meeting prompt
I am pasting a board meeting transcript. Extract:
1. RESOLUTIONS, formal decisions made (exact wording if possible)
2. ACTIONS, owner, action, deadline (table format)
3. RISKS FLAGGED, any risk or concern raised
4. DEFERRED ITEMS, items discussed but not resolved, carry to next meeting
5. INFORMATION ONLY, items noted with no action required
Language: formal, accurate, suitable for board minutes.
Do not paraphrase resolutions, use exact language where possible.
[PASTE TRANSCRIPT HERE]
What if you do not have a transcript?
If you do not have a recording or transcript, use your handwritten notes instead. Even rough notes work, just paste them in place of the transcript. The output will be less detailed but still far faster than writing from scratch.
Notes-based extraction (no transcript)
I am pasting rough meeting notes below. Clean them up and structure as:
DECISIONS, ACTIONS (table: Action | Owner | By when), OPEN QUESTIONS
Fill in anything obvious that is missing. Mark anything unclear as [unclear].
Output should be suitable to send to all attendees as a follow-up email.
[PASTE ROUGH NOTES HERE]
Sending the follow-up automatically
Once you have the extracted output, add this to your prompt to generate the follow-up email at the same time:
Add this to any extraction prompt to also generate the follow-up
After the extraction, also write a short follow-up email (under 150 words) to send to all attendees. Include: a one-sentence recap, the key decisions, the action table, and a note on next meeting date if mentioned. Subject line included. Professional and direct.
This week
Take the transcript from your next meeting, or paste in your notes from a meeting this week, and run the universal extraction prompt. Compare the output to what you would have written manually. Notice the difference in quality and time. Then make it a permanent habit.
