How to write a meeting summary: a sample template and automatic summaries with AI

The meeting is over and everyone has left the table; a week later, people are arguing about who took on what. That is why the meeting summary exists: it puts in writing not what was discussed, but what was decided and who will do what. Below you'll find the parts of a good summary, a template you can copy and use, and a way to produce the summary automatically with AI.

#What goes into a good meeting summary?

• Title, date and attendees: Which meeting, when, and who was there.
• Short summary: 3–5 sentences describing the outcome of the meeting.
• Decisions made: Numbered, one-sentence points.
• Tasks: What will be done, who will do it and by when.
• Open issues: Topics that couldn't be decided and were left for later.
• Next meeting: Date and time, plus the agenda if there is one.

#Meeting summary example

Meeting: Website redesign – weekly status
Date: 14 October 2026 · Attendees: Sarah (project), Mark (sales), Ali (design)

Summary
The home page design was approved. Copy for the product pages is running late;
the launch date will be confirmed once the copy is finished.

Decisions
1. The home page design was approved as it stands.
2. The blog section was moved to the second phase.

Tasks
- Finish the product page copy — Mark — 18 October
- Share the mobile design — Ali — 20 October
- Update the launch schedule — Sarah — 21 October

Open issues
- Product photo shoot (waiting for budget approval)

Next meeting: 21 October 2026, 10:00

#Things to keep in mind when writing the summary

• Send it the same day. A summary sent the following week becomes a document nobody remembers.
• Write the outcome, not the discussion. Not “this was discussed at length” but “this was decided”.
• Give every task a single owner. A task that says “the team will look into it” usually doesn't get done.
• Give a date. Write a day instead of “as soon as possible”.
• Keep it short. A summary longer than a page won't be read; if detail is needed, attach the transcript.

#Summaries from Teams and Zoom meetings

AI summaries such as Copilot in Microsoft Teams and AI Companion in Zoom are available with certain licences and settings; check support for your language and where the recordings are stored before setting them up. Another way is to take the meeting recording as a file and upload it to a transcription and summary tool: Teams recordings are kept as MP4 files in OneDrive or SharePoint, and recordings Zoom saves to your computer include an MP4 video and an M4A audio file. Once you have the recording file, it no longer matters which meeting software you use.

#Automatic meeting summaries with AI

An automatic summary is produced in two steps: first the recording is transcribed, then the transcript is given to an AI model that extracts the summary, decisions, tasks and owners. Our own product, Transify AI, does exactly this: you upload the meeting recording, and the transcript, summary, decisions and action items arrive in your inbox within minutes; if you like, they can be translated into more than 50 languages. If you're curious how the analysis is designed behind the scenes, we explain the technical details in extracting decisions and action items from meetings.

#Before you record

Tell attendees at the start that you'll be recording the meeting; the recording contains personal data and participants need to be informed. Know which tool the recordings are processed in and how long they are kept. You'll find ways to improve audio quality and other ways to turn a recording into text in our guide on how to transcribe audio to text.