Writing Concise Meeting Notes

If you’re an AE and still sending “Recap Emails” after discovery calls, let me save you 12 months of frustration: You're making a mistake. You are confusing the buyer. You’re flooding them with everything you heard—but not what they need to do next. It feels helpful. It feels “consultative.” But in reality, it kills momentum. Here’s what I teach my AEs instead: Only one thing matters between first meeting and proposal: Progress. Forget the fluff. The notes. The recap. The follow-up should be this simple: “Great meeting with your team. Looks like there’s strong potential to help. As a next step, we’ll need to do a deeper dive into your environment so we can show you a tailored demo and proposal with implementation details and costs. Let’s schedule that session—it should take about an hour. After that, we’ll be ready to deliver a proposal.” That’s it. No persuasion. No selling. Just forward motion. Why does this work? Because: Buyers don’t read your bullet-pointed essays. They don’t remember action items buried in paragraphs. They don’t need more “convincing” before the demo. They need clarity. Ownership. Urgency. And when you stop treating every meeting like a closing opportunity, you’ll finally start getting to the point that matters: Proposal on the table.

To my fellow EAs - let's talk meeting minutes. A few tips below: 🛠 Before the Meeting: - Know the agenda: Get a copy ahead of time. You'll anticipate key points. - Set up a simple template: — saves you from scrambling. - Clarify roles: Know who’s leading the meeting and who the key decision-makers are. 🗒 During the Meeting: - Capture major points, not every word: Focus on decisions made, key discussions, and assigned tasks — not side conversations or exact quotes. - Use bullet points: They're faster to write and easier to read later. - Identify action items clearly: Write what needs to happen, who’s responsible, and by when. - Mark follow-ups: If something is undecided, flag it for next time. - Stay neutral: Don’t add personal opinions or interpretations. 🛠 After the Meeting: - Clean up right away: Don’t wait — fresh memory = better notes. - Summarize clearly: Reword any messy notes into clean, short sentences. - Send it out quickly: Ideally the same day or the next morning, while things are still fresh for everyone. - Highlight key decisions and tasks: Bold or bullet them so people can skim easily. 🧠 Bonus Quick Tips: - Bring a laptop if you type faster than you write (I prefer writing) - If you’re unsure about something (like a decision), ask during the meeting: "Just to confirm, are we agreeing to [this decision]?" - Develop shorthand: "AI" for Action Item, "D" for Decision, "F/U" for Follow-Up. What would you add?

How I Structure My Meeting Notes as a Program Manager at Amazon One of the most underrated skills in program management is note-taking. With so many meetings, decisions, and action items flying around, having a solid system for capturing and organizing information is critical. Over the years, I’ve developed a structure that keeps me on top of things—and ensures nothing slips through the cracks. Here’s how I approach my meeting notes: 1️⃣ Start with the Basics I always document the essentials upfront: • Meeting Name & Date • Attendees • Objective or Agenda (Why are we here?) This helps me quickly orient myself when reviewing notes later. 2️⃣ Use Action-Driven Sections My notes are broken into three sections: • Decisions Made: Clear and concise. What was decided, and why? • Action Items: Each action includes an owner, due date, and a quick description of what’s expected. No ambiguity. • Key Discussions: I summarize important points—nothing overly detailed, just enough to provide context. 3️⃣ Keep Notes Digital and Searchable I use tools like OneNote to keep everything organized and searchable. By tagging projects, teams, or topics, I can quickly find past notes without digging through endless files. 4️⃣ Review and Share Afterward After the meeting, I do a quick review of my notes, clean them up if needed, and share them with attendees. It’s a great way to confirm alignment and ensure everyone is clear on next steps. This system helps me stay organized, track progress, and reduce the chances of things falling through the cracks. How do you structure your meeting notes? #ProgramManagement #Leadership #Amazon #Productivity #Meetings

Over the years, I've found that effective meeting minutes are not just a record but a tool for better productivity and communication. So, how do you get the minutes to work for you and your team? Here's what's worked for me: Choose the Right Tools: It might be tempting to grab a piece of paper and a pen, but using a digital tool can make your minutes more accessible and easier to edit. Apps like OneNote or Google Docs work well for this. Prepare in Advance: Know the agenda before the meeting starts. That helps you anticipate the kind of information you'll need to capture. Designate a Minute Taker: If you’re running the meeting, it might be tough to take minutes too. So, have someone else take on this responsibility, and then review the minutes afterward to ensure accuracy. Record Only What’s Necessary: You don’t need to write a transcript. Focus on decisions made, action items, and deadlines. Keep it concise but clear. Use Bullet Points: Makes it easier to read and understand. Straight to the point is the way to go. Include Action Items: Note down what needs to be done, by whom, and by when. This way, nobody leaves the meeting wondering, “Now what?” Review In-Meeting: Before the meeting closes, do a quick review of the minutes and ask for any corrections or additions. This ensures everyone leaves with the same understanding. Distribute Quickly: Don't wait for days to send out the minutes. The quicker you get them out, the fresher the meeting is in people’s minds, making it easier to get started on action items. Follow-Up: Use the minutes as a tool for follow-up. Check off completed items and carry forward the ones that are pending. Effective meeting minutes are more than a record, they're a productivity tool. Peter Drucker - "Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things." Use your minutes to make sure you're doing both. #Productivity #EffectiveMeetings #LeadershipTips

The note taking feature in the ChatGPT Mac app has way more potential than the built-in prompt captures. Copy and paste this prompt after it creates the first round of notes, and it gets 10x better: TASK Create full meeting notes from the available transcript. # Summary - 3–6 bullets on outcomes, decisions, and any dates/numbers. # Key Takeaways - 5–10 bullets anyone skimming should know. # Action Items - Table: Task | Owner | Due (YYYY-MM-DD, America/Chicago) | Notes - Map “I/I’ll” to the speaker’s name. If Owner/Due missing, use TBD (suggest one in parentheses). # Full Notes — Categorized - Group everything said into clear topics you infer (e.g., Goals, Scope, Timeline, Budget, Risks, Ideas, Blockers, Parking Lot). - Under each topic, list short bullets: - [Speaker]: fact/claim/ask/decision/number/date. Include timestamps if present [hh:mm:ss]. - Keep duplicates only if they add new nuance; otherwise, dedupe. - Include ALL concrete details relevant to work. If in doubt, include it here. RULES - Plain English. Short lines. No fluff. - Use real names consistently; resolve pronouns (“I,” “they”) to speakers when clear. - Pull exact figures, dates, commitments; convert relative time to dates in America/Chicago when possible. - Don’t invent facts. Mark unclear items as TBD and note the ambiguity.

This one checklist made my life 10x easier (Save hours later by following these steps now!) Over the last 22 months, I’ve attended 184 walkthrough meetings. Trial. Error. Frustration. Fixes. And through all of that, I created this simple system. A checklist that every auditor should follow after the walkthrough ends. If you’re tired of scrambling for screenshots, losing notes, and chasing follow-ups days later, Save this post. Share it with your team. Use it every time. Post-Walkthrough Checklist: The SOP I swear by 1. Segregate your screenshots (Immediately) - Use Windows + Print Screen to capture quickly. - Create a new folder right after the meeting using this format: [Date]_[Control_ID]_[ControlName]_[AuditName] - This makes it easy to find everything later. 2. Store in two places - One local folder on your laptop - One shared folder (e.g., Teams) so others don’t need to ping you 3. Summarize your notes - Right after the meeting, take 5–10 minutes to clean up your notes. - Capture who said what, any key clarifications, and system flows. 4. Save notes smartly - Again one local, one shared. - Use the same naming format for consistency. 5. List out all follow-ups in one place - Don’t rely on memory. - If something needs clarification or additional evidence, document it immediately. 6. Assign owners and due dates - Use a tracker to assign each follow-up to a control owner with a clear timeline. - This alone will save you days of back-and-forth. 7. Update your main control tracker - Capture the status of the walkthrough and all pending items. - If your team doesn’t have a control tracker, create one. (And if they do make sure you’re using it daily.) Bonus: I personally keep a tracker with separate tabs for each audit I’m working on. Every control I’m assigned gets listed with deadlines, dependencies, and current status. This isn’t just a checklist. It’s a habit. Follow it after every walkthrough and your future self will thank you during wrap-up week. Have your own post-walkthrough system? Drop it below! I’d love to see how others do it.

Still Writing Meeting Notes by Hand? Try This Instead. AI can turn long transcripts into clear, structured summaries in seconds—if you know what to ask. Here’s the prompt I use after every meeting: “You are an expert in summarizing meetings. Format the summary with key discussion points, decisions made, action items with names + deadlines, and any open issues.” Include these in your AI instructions: A 2-line overview Bullet points (not paragraphs) Quotes or insights worth saving Follow-up owners + due dates This works for team check-ins, client calls, even brainstorming sessions. Want my favorite AI summary template? Reply “notes” and I’ll send it over. #AIProductivity #MeetingEfficiency #WorkSmarter

Taking good meeting minutes is critical. Without good meeting minutes, it's like the meeting did not happen - people will forget the decisions and actions within 1 day. Here is how to take good meeting minutes: - 📅 Date - ✋ Who was in attendance - 📰 Topics discussed (keep this high level so it is easy to read but specific enough so it is not ambiguous as to what was discussed - examples: enrollment concerns due to site 701, statistical analysis plan timeline adjustments) - 👨⚖️ Decisions reached (again, keep this high level so it is easy to understand what the decision was but not so high level that it is unclear as to what the decision is - examples: remove inclusion criteria 11, statistical programmer and medical writer review to occur in parallel) - 🎯 Actions given - this should include who owns the action and when the action is due (bonus points if you then transfer these actions to the project's action/decision log 😲) That's really it. Meeting minutes should not be transcripts of what was said, they should instead be very simple, easy (quick) to read documents that summarize exactly what was discussed, what decisions were reached, and what actions remain to be completed. Refer back to your meeting minutes on a regular basis to ensure you are not doubling back on decisions made and to ensure you are following up on action items. Happy Thursday

Amazon Teammates: Cedric + Chime + Slack tip that can save you 3+ hours every week (Steps included for others too). Last week at Amazon’s Cross-Border Summit in Seattle, I noticed someone furiously typing notes during the meeting. During a break, I asked: “Why not use AI to do that?” She blinked. “Wait… you can?” Turns out, many professionals (even in tech!) are still stuck in old note-taking habits - simply because no one’s shown them a better way. So, here’s the method I shared - the same one I use to stay fully present in meetings without losing key takeaways: Step 1: Record your meeting → Amazon: Chime / Slack → External: Apple Voice Memos, Google Recorder, Zoom Step 2: Upload audio to Slack (Chime audio works too) → Amazon: Slack auto-generates transcripts → External: Apple Voice Memo and Samsung Phones has built in transcription functionality Step 3: Copy the transcript Step 4: Paste into AI tool → Amazon: Cedric → External: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini Step 5: Use this prompt: “Create structured meeting notes in the following format: Summary, Action Items, and Key Points. Do not add anything that wasn’t discussed. Remove hallucination.” For me - and for every Amazon teammate I’ve shared this with - the results have been: ✅ Higher-quality notes (no more “what did we decide?”) ✅ Better meeting presence ✅ Saved 3+ hours per week ✅ Clear follow-ups, even weeks later P.S. Want to go beyond bullet points? I created the CLARITY Template - a 7-part AI prompt framework that turns messy transcripts into stakeholder-ready summaries. Send me a connection request and Comment CLARITY and I’ll DM you the full template - with prompts included. 🔁 Repost if this could save someone on your team 30+ minutes per meeting. 🔔 Follow for more real-world AI productivity systems.

In my 10.5 years learning and teaching business writing at Amazon, I adopted many best practices that made my communication clearer, but this one tip does that AND shows that I’m on top my game. Super clear, explicit actions. If you don’t leave a meeting, convo, or doc review without actions, did it even happen?! Not being clear on the actions or follow-ups shows a lack of follow-through and unclear stakeholder management. Here’s the simple formula for your emails and recaps: 1️⃣ ACTION: the actual follow-up 2️⃣ OWNER: who owns it, as specific as possible 3️⃣ TIMELINE: when it’s due. If you aren’t sure, then add a Date for a Date (DFD) Ex. “The tech team will fix everything (Tech Team Name, ECD: 5/1/25)” Even non-action actions count. Like: “Review and report on the results of ABC experiment (Myra Deshmukh by 3/25)” Next time you send a meeting recap, business write-up, newsletter, etc, please add clear and explicit actions! #writing #clearcommunication #careerdevelopment #effectivecommunication #amazon #leadershiplab