Turn meeting notes into action items

1. 1

   Get the record ready

   “I will let you know by Friday” is incomplete without a speaker, meeting date and subject. Keep those details and source-line numbers before summarizing. Begin with the seven-line fictional record below.

   

   Names, dates and discount figures are invented for practice; the solution is editorial. No recording or real customer data is needed. For real meetings, follow applicable recording and retention procedures.

   The speaker is not automatically the task owner. Proposing, checking feasibility and performing a task are different commitments. Source lines make that distinction reviewable.

   The meeting record used in this guide (a made-up planning meeting for a November sale, Tuesday 20 October)

   Line	Speaker	What was said
   1	Kim Hana	We'll run the November sale from Tuesday 10 November to Monday 16 November, with a 20% discount.
   2	Lee Doyun	I'll make the banner drafts and share them by 27 October.
   3	Park Seojun	The product page copy needs fixing too, but we haven't decided who'll do it.
   4	Choi Yujin	We'll get more inquiries during the sale. Can we add support staff?
   5	Kim Hana	I'll check with HR and let you know by Friday.
   6	Lee Doyun	Nobody knows how much of the social media ad budget is left.
   7	Kim Hana	Let's look at the budget again at the next meeting. That's Tuesday 27 October at 10 a.m.

   Check it

   • Make sure every line names its speaker, and that no contact details or unreleased figures are left in.

1. 2

   Ask for a fixed format

   Ask only to "tidy up the notes" and you'll often get the conversation shortened in order. Ask for decisions, items to revisit and action items separately, with the action items in a table of source line, owner and due date.

   Tell it to write "TBD" where the notes give no owner or due date. Giving it permission to say it doesn't know helps cut down on made-up details.

   [Paste the meeting notes here]
   
   Organize the meeting notes above. The meeting was on Tuesday 20 October 2026.
   - Order: decisions, items to revisit, then an action-item table
   - Table columns: source line, task, owner, due date
   - If the notes give no owner or due date, write "TBD" — don't guess
   - Turn deadlines given only as a weekday, like "Friday," into dates, counting from the meeting date
   - Don't add anything that isn't in the notes

   Decisions: the sale runs from Tuesday 10 November to Monday 16 November, with a 20% discount (line 1). The next meeting is Tuesday 27 October at 10 a.m. (line 7).

   To revisit: how much of the social media ad budget is left (lines 6–7, at the next meeting).

   The action items are in the table below. Owners and due dates the notes don't give are marked TBD, and "by Friday" in line 5 is dated Friday 23 October, counting from the meeting date.

   Action items (example)

   Line	Task	Owner	Due
   2	Make the banner drafts and share them	Lee Doyun	27 October
   3	Fix the product page copy	TBD	TBD
   4, 5	Ask HR whether support staff can be added, and report back	Kim Hana	Friday 23 October

   Check it

   • Go through the record line by line to make sure nothing is missing. This one should give three decisions (the dates and discount in line 1, the next meeting in line 7) and three action items (lines 2, 3 and 4–5).
2. 3

   Don't let it guess owners or deadlines

   Assistants sometimes fill gaps in the record with something plausible: making whoever raised a topic its owner, counting "Friday" in the wrong week, or turning a postponed question into a task with an owner.

   Guessed cells like these cause confusion after the meeting: someone finds a task they never agreed to, or a real task has no owner. Anything marked TBD should be settled by people, at the next meeting or in the follow-up email.

   Resolving a weekday is an interpretation. This exercise assumes Friday of the meeting week, 23 October. If the actual wording is ambiguous, retain it and ask for a date instead of silently deciding.

   Cells an assistant tends to fill by guessing (example)

   Cell	What the record says	Guessed	Correct
   Copy owner	"we haven't decided who'll do it" (line 3)	Park Seojun (who raised it)	TBD
   HR check due	"let you know by Friday" (line 5)	Friday 30 October (the week after)	Friday 23 October
   Ad budget	"look at the budget again at the next meeting" (line 7)	Task: check the budget (owner Lee Doyun)	To revisit (no owner)

   Check it

   • For each row of the action table, find its source line and check that the owner and due date are really there.
   • Work out weekday-only deadlines again on a calendar. "Friday" said at a meeting on Tuesday 20 October means 23 October.
3. 4

   Confirm with attendees, then share

   Review the draft against its source lines and obtain clarification where needed. A correction request should not silently assign an unresolved task.

   The message below is an editorial example. Review its content and audience without sending it, just as in the email lesson.

   Turn this summary into an email to everyone who attended.
   - Briefly cover the decisions and the item to revisit, and say the action-item table is pasted below the email
   - Suggest we settle the owner and due date for the product page copy before the next meeting
   - Ask people to flag anything missing or wrong by Thursday 22 October
   - A subject line, then five sentences at most, not counting the greeting, closing and signature
   I'm Kim Hana.

   Subject: Notes from the 20 October meeting on the November sale

   Hi all,

   Today we agreed to run the November sale from Tuesday 10 November to Monday 16 November with a 20% discount. We'll come back to the social media ad budget at the next meeting, on Tuesday 27 October at 10 a.m. The action items are in the table below this email. The product page copy still has no owner or due date, so let's settle both before the next meeting. If anything is missing or wrong, please let me know by Thursday 22 October.

   Thanks, Hana

   Check it

   • Check the dates and names in the email against the action table and the record once more.
   • When attendees send corrections, update the table and tell everyone which rows changed.

This is a learning check, not a test you must pass. Use the explanations to understand the ideas.

1. Q1Park Seojun mentions the copy task, but its owner is undecided. Can you assign it to him?

   Write your thoughts (optional)

   Write your thoughts (optional)

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   Read the answer and explanation

   Mentioning a task is not accepting ownership. Leave it undecided and cite line 3 for clarification.

   I read and understood the explanation

   This is your own review, not an automatic score.

2. Q2An HR feasibility inquiry becomes “Staffing increase approved.” Correct it.

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   Write your thoughts (optional)

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   Read the answer and explanation

   Remove it from decisions and record a task to check feasibility. An inquiry is not approval.

   I read and understood the explanation

   This is your own review, not an automatic score.

3. Q3A later clarification resolves owner and deadline. Should you rewrite transcript line 3?

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   Write your thoughts (optional)

   Your writing is not sent anywhere. It disappears when you leave or reload this page, so copy anything you want to keep.

   Read the answer and explanation

   Preserve the transcript and update the task table with an amendment note. Keep the later source distinct. The follow-up details are invented exercise conditions.

   I read and understood the explanation

   This is your own review, not an automatic score.

1. 5

   Try it: apply one confirmed amendment

   Suppose a later clarification assigns the page copy to Choi Yujin by 29 October. This is a new exercise condition. Update the task row and record the later confirmation; do not rewrite the original transcript as though the assignment happened there.

   

   Keep the banner task and staffing inquiry unchanged. Asking HR about additional staff is not approval to increase staffing. Verify the status of untouched rows.

   Save decisions, open questions, tasks and the amendment note. An accurately unresolved field is useful information, not a failure to finish.