How to Write a Meeting Recap: Template, Examples & How to Automate

After every meeting, there’s one thing that keeps teams aligned – a clear recap.

But most people either forget to send one or waste time writing a wall of text no one reads. I’ve been there.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to write a meeting recap that’s short, clear, and useful, with templates, real examples, and how to automate the whole thing using AI.

What Is a Meeting Recap?

A meeting recap is a post-meeting summary that captures the key takeaways, decisions made, action items, and any open questions or next steps. Unlike raw meeting notes or a full transcript, it’s not about recording everything said, just the stuff that matters.

It typically includes:

• Meeting details (date, time, attendees)
• Topics discussed
• Key decisions
• Assigned action items with deadlines
• Follow-up tasks or unresolved issues

Think of it as a simple, clear reference point for anyone who was in the meeting, or missed it.

Why Do You Need Meeting Recaps?

Skipping the recap might save you 10 minutes now, but it costs far more in the long run. Here's why every team, remote or in-office, should treat recaps as essential:

1. Improves clarity and alignment: Even if everyone was present, people walk away with different interpretations. A written recap confirms what was actually agreed upon.

2. Drives accountability: When tasks are listed clearly with names and deadlines, there’s no ambiguity about who’s doing what.

3. Reduces repeat discussions: How many times have you had to revisit the same topic because no one remembered what was decided last time? A recap eliminates that loop.

4. Saves time and increases productivity: You cut down on follow-up emails, reminders, and status-checks. People know exactly what to do next, without chasing anyone.

How to Write a Recap of a Meeting?

Writing a solid recap isn’t complicated, but there’s a structure that makes it 10x more effective.

1. Start with the Meeting Context

Don’t assume everyone remembers what the meeting was for. Set the stage with:

• Meeting title or purpose
• Date and time
• Attendees
• A quick note on the goal of the meeting

This gives future readers (or even your future self) a clear reference.

2. Summarize What Was Discussed, But Briefly

You don’t need a play-by-play. Just include the key topics and takeaways for each agenda point.

For example:

“We reviewed the performance of the Q2 content campaigns. Organic traffic was down 8% month-over-month. Identified gaps in keyword targeting and discussed revisiting the SEO roadmap.”

Stick to facts and outcomes. Avoid including back-and-forth chatter unless it’s critical.

3. List Clear Decisions Made

Highlight any major decisions using bullets or bold formatting so they stand out.

For example:

• Switch blog focus to long-form “how-to” guides
• Move product launch to July 15 instead of July 1
• Discontinue Twitter Ads starting next week

If there weren’t any decisions, say so. That’s still valuable context.

4. Define Action Items with Owners and Deadlines

This is where many recaps fall flat. Don’t just say “update the website, ”say who will do it and by when.

Follow this structure:

• [Person] – [Task] – [Deadline]

Example:

• Arjun – Audit blog keyword rankings and share report – Due by June 10
• Mira – Draft outline for new onboarding emails – Due by June 12

If no deadline was discussed, assign a tentative one or say “TBD.”

5. Add Follow-Ups and Open Questions

Capture anything that needs further input, approval, or future discussion.

Example:

• Still waiting on feedback from the legal team for the Terms of Service update
• Need clarification from Finance on revised budget caps

These prevent things from falling into a black hole.

Copy-and-Paste Meeting Recap Template

Here’s a quick template you can adapt for any kind of meeting:

Meeting Recap – [Meeting Name]

Date: [Date]

Attendees: [Names]

Agenda: [Short summary of topics]

Summary: [Brief overview of the meeting outcomes in 2–4 sentences]

Decisions Made:

• [Decision 1]
• [Decision 2]
• [Decision 3]

Action Items:

• [Name] – [Task] – (Due: [Date])
• [Name] – [Task] – (Due: [Date])

Follow-Ups / Open Questions:

• [Unresolved item or dependency]
• [Pending input from other teams]

5 Real-World Meeting Recap Examples

Here’s what a solid, actionable meeting recap looks like:

1. Meeting Recap – June 5, 2025 | Weekly Marketing Sync

Attendees: Priya, Alex, Nina, Sam

Agenda: Review May campaign performance, discuss blog strategy, align on next steps

Summary:

We reviewed May's performance metrics. Blog traffic dipped 10%, but conversion rates improved. Team agreed to shift focus to SEO and long-form content. Discussed newsletter redesign and agreed to delay until Q4.

Decisions Made:

• Focus upcoming content on long-form SEO articles
• Push newsletter redesign sprint to Q4
• Pause Twitter Ads for June

Action Items:

• Nina – Build revised content calendar for June (Due: June 7)
• Sam – Draft 2 long-form article outlines (Due: June 10)
• Alex – Pause newsletter sprint and notify product team
• Priya – Coordinate with SEO vendor for new topic research

Follow-Ups:

• Awaiting CMS performance fix from DevOps
• Need keyword gap analysis from SEO team by next week

2. Meeting Recap – May 28, 2025 | Product Sprint Planning

Attendees: Riya, Jason, Tanvi, Diego

Agenda: Finalize sprint backlog, review pending bugs, plan QA timeline

Summary:

Reviewed unresolved issues from last sprint. Decided to prioritize bug fixes before new features. Agreed to allocate additional time for QA and shift the release by 3 days.

Decisions Made:

• Freeze new feature development until critical bugs are fixed
• Move release date to June 10
• Add daily 15-min QA huddles

Action Items:

• Tanvi – Prepare updated sprint board (Due: May 29)
• Jason – Assign bug tickets and track progress (Due: May 30)
• Diego – Coordinate daily QA sync (Starting May 29)
• Riya – Notify stakeholders about timeline shifts

Follow-Ups:

• Need UI review from design team for Feature B
• Waiting on security clearance for deployment scripts

3. Meeting Recap – June 3, 2025 | Client Check-In – Acme Corp

Attendees: Neha, Alex, Amanda (Acme)

Agenda: Review onboarding progress, campaign performance, and Q3 planning

Summary:

Acme is happy with onboarding so far, but raised concerns about email open rates. We suggested new subject line testing and agreed to run an A/B experiment. Also discussed Q3 priorities and next deliverables.

Decisions Made:

• Run A/B tests on email subject lines
• Share new content ideas by June 7
• Schedule Q3 planning call for June 14

Action Items:

• Alex – Set up A/B tests in Mailchimp (Due: June 5)
• Neha – Share blog topic shortlist for Q3 (Due: June 7)
• Amanda – Provide feedback on last campaign report (Due: June 6)

Follow-Ups:

• Waiting on Acme’s approval for landing page redesign
• Need access to CRM reporting dashboard

4. Meeting Recap – May 30, 2025 | Sales Pipeline Review

Attendees: Arjun, Claire, Marcus

Agenda: Review current deals, identify blockers, align on priorities for week

Summary:

Reviewed pipeline by stage. Noted drop in conversion from demo to proposal. Agreed to update pitch deck and revisit outreach strategy. Assigned leads for high-priority accounts.

Decisions Made:

• Revamp sales deck by next week
• Pause outreach to low-quality MQLs
• Prioritize top 5 enterprise accounts

Action Items:

• Claire – Update deck with latest product features (Due: June 2)
• Arjun – Reassign outreach list (Due: May 31)
• Marcus – Follow up with IBM and HDFC leads (Due: June 1)

Follow-Ups:

• Need feedback from product team on new integrations
• Waiting for pricing flexibility approval from leadership

5. Meeting Recap – June 1, 2025 | Customer Support Operations

Attendees: Zoya, Michael, Deepa

Agenda: Analyze ticket backlog, discuss escalation flow, plan for holiday staffing

Summary:

Ticket backlog reduced by 15% last week, but response times remain high. Decided to test auto-response for low-priority tickets and draft new escalation SOP. Agreed to finalize weekend staffing plan.

Decisions Made:

• Enable auto-responses for Tier 3 tickets
• Draft new escalation protocol by Friday
• Hire 2 part-time agents for weekend shifts

Action Items:

• Michael – Configure auto-response rules (Due: June 3)
• Zoya – Draft escalation SOP and circulate for review (Due: June 6)
• Deepa – Post part-time job listing (Due: June 4)

Follow-Ups:

• Confirm tool access for new hires
• Review agent CSAT trends in next meeting

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How to Automate Meeting Recaps (Using AI)

If you’re still writing recaps by hand, you’re wasting time.

You can fully automate the process, from recording and transcribing to summarizing and sharing, using AI tools built for meetings.

Here’s how to do it step-by-step:

Step 1: Let an AI Tool Join and Record Your Meetings

Choose a tool that can automatically join your meetings and start recording without you needing to hit “record.”

For example, you can use Lindy to auto-join Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meetings

Lindy silently sits in your meeting, listens in, and starts capturing everything from the moment it begins.

Step 2: Get The Conversation Transcribed in Real Time

Once the call starts, the tool should transcribe the entire conversation, including speaker labels and timestamps.

Some excellent AI tools can effectively transcribe your meeting in real time:

• Lindy and Otter.ai offer live transcription with speaker separation
• Fireflies.ai transcribes and stores the transcript in your dashboard for review

This way, you won’t need to take notes manually, just focus on the conversation.

Step 3: Let the AI Summarize the Meeting Automatically

After the meeting ends, AI should generate a clean summary. This should include:

• Key discussion points
• Decisions made
• Action items with owners and deadlines
• Follow-ups or open tasks

Lindy creates structured summaries broken into sections like "Action Items," "Decisions," and "Next Steps."

Avoma generates conversation insights, including deal risks and topic timelines. Fireflies.ai uses AI to generate a recap email instantly

Step 4: Send Recaps to Your Team Automatically

Skip copy-pasting. Set up automatic delivery of the recap via email, Slack, or Notion.

• Lindy can push recaps to your Slack workspace or email them directly
• Otter.ai offers auto-sync with Dropbox, email, or shared links
• Avoma integrates with collaboration tools to send summaries right after the meeting ends

Step 5: Sync Action Items with Project Tools

Instead of rewriting tasks in Asana or ClickUp, let your AI assistant push them there.

• Lindy auto-creates tasks and syncs them to tools like Notion, Trello, ClickUp, and Asana
• Fireflies.ai can send action items to your CRM or task manager
• Avoma integrates with HubSpot, Salesforce, and task platforms

This improves accountability without any manual transfer.

Remember: Most tools let you edit the recap if you want to fine-tune phrasing or add notes. But in most cases, they’re good to go out of the box.

Best Practices for Writing (or Automating) Meeting Recaps

• Send the recap within 1 hour of the meeting, strike while the info is fresh
• Use consistent formatting so your team knows where to find decisions vs. tasks
• Bold deadlines and names to draw attention to ownership
• Don’t overstuff, recaps should be clear, not overwhelming
• Automate if you’re writing more than 3 per week

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Want to Skip the Manual Note-Taking and Still Send Perfect Recaps After Every Meeting?

Let Lindy handle it for you.

Here’s what Lindy does to automate and improve your meeting recaps:

• Joins your meetings
• Transcribes the conversation in real-time
• Identifies key decisions and action items
• Delivers a structured recap to your team automatically.
• Even syncs tasks to your project tools like Notion, ClickUp, or Asana.

No formatting. No forgetting. Just clean, reliable meeting recaps, on autopilot.

Try Lindy for FREE today!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to create a sales meeting recap (GPT)?

Use GPT to summarize the key points from your sales meeting transcript or notes. Input the full conversation and prompt it to extract: client goals, objections, decisions made, next steps, and assigned follow-ups. You can use tools like Lindy or ChatGPT to generate structured summaries in minutes.

2. How to write a meeting recap (tips)?

Here’s how to write a meeting recap:

1. Start with the meeting’s purpose, date, and attendees.
2. Summarize key topics discussed in 2–3 bullet points per agenda item.
3. Clearly list all decisions made.
4. Add action items with owners and deadlines.
5. Include unresolved issues or follow-ups.
6. Keep it short, factual, and easy to scan.

3. How to start a recap email?

Begin with a quick thank you and a summary sentence. For example:

“Thanks for joining today’s meeting. Here’s a quick recap of what we discussed and the action items going forward.”

4. What are the key elements to include in a meeting recap?

These are the key elements of a meeting recap:

1. Meeting date and attendees
2. Summary of key discussions
3. Decisions made
4. Action items (with owners and deadlines)
5. Follow-ups or pending questions
6. Next meeting date (if scheduled)

5. Does the summary provide new insights or just a recap?

A recap summarizes what was discussed, it doesn’t add new insights. However, it can highlight previously unspoken clarity by organizing key decisions and takeaways clearly. If you want insights, pair the recap with your own observations or analysis.

6. How to recap a phone conversation in an email?

Open with context: who you spoke with, when, and why. Then briefly summarize what was discussed, any decisions made, and what’s expected next. Example:

“Hi [Name], just recapping our call today about the Q3 campaign. You mentioned adjusting the budget by 15% and reviewing creatives by Friday. I’ll follow up with updated mockups by Thursday.”

7. How soon should you send a meeting recap?

Ideally, send the recap within 1 hour of the meeting ending. This ensures everything is still fresh, prevents confusion, and keeps momentum high. If that’s not possible, make it a rule to send it the same day.

8. What’s the difference between meeting notes and a recap?

Meeting notes capture everything that was said, often in raw or rough form. A recap is a clean, organized summary that focuses only on what matters: decisions, action items, and next steps. It’s structured for clarity, not documentation.

9. Should I include meeting recordings or transcripts with the recap?

Only if necessary. If your team needs to reference detailed discussions, you can link to the full transcript or recording. Otherwise, keep the recap clean and focused. Tools like Lindy can attach transcripts automatically when needed.

10. How do I recap a recurring meeting without repeating everything?

Focus on what’s new or changed since the last meeting. Summarize only fresh discussions, updated decisions, and new action items. You can also include a quick "progress since last time" section at the top.

11. What tools integrate well with meeting recap automation?

Top integrations include:

• Project management: Notion, ClickUp, Asana, Trello
• Communication: Slack, Gmail, Outlook
• CRMs: HubSpot, Salesforce

Lindy supports all of these and can auto-sync action items or send summaries directly to the right platform.

12. What’s the best way to format a recap for different teams?

Tailor it slightly to match the team's workflow:

• Executives: High-level summary, clear decisions, deadlines
• Marketing/Product: Bullet points, action items with owners
• Clients: Polished, professional tone, with clear takeaways and next steps
• Use the same base template, but adjust tone and detail as needed.

13. Can I automate recaps for one-on-one meetings too?

Yes. 1:1s benefit greatly from structured follow-ups. Lindy can join private meetings, transcribe, and summarize just like with group calls. It’s useful for keeping track of goals, performance updates, or check-ins.

14. What if sensitive information is discussed in a meeting?

Most recap tools offer privacy settings. With Lindy, you can choose whether to share the full transcript, redact sensitive details, or limit visibility of specific sections. Always review before sending if confidentiality is a concern.