Meeting preparation and follow-up

Unit ID: AIT-M05-U02 Estimated active time: 15-20 minutes

The main idea

AI can help before and after a meeting, not only during it.

Preparation is the more useful of the two, and the one people skip. An agenda with a stated purpose per item shortens the meeting more than any summary shortens the follow-up.

Why this matters

Preparation and follow-up produce different documents with different audiences. Merging them produces a record that is neither an agenda nor a set of actions.

Safe example

A topic list becomes an agenda, then notes become follow-up actions.

Two separate requests, hours apart, with different inputs and different readers.

Better working habit

Separate preparation, meeting record, and follow-up.

Three documents. The record is the only one that should be written during the meeting.

What to watch for

Recording or transcribing may require permission.

This is not only a policy question. People speak differently when they know they are being recorded, and they are entitled to know.

Mini practice

Write a meeting-prep prompt and a follow-up prompt.

Note what each needs as input. The prep prompt needs a purpose per item; the follow-up needs the record.

Check yourself

Before moving on, answer:

• Do I have a purpose written against every agenda item?
• Is my preparation document separate from my record?
• Has anyone been asked before a meeting is recorded?