Mastering meeting takeaways – A comprehensive guide

What are meeting takeaways?

Have you ever wondered what to do after a meeting ends? If so, you're not alone. Meetings are a crucial part of professional life, but making them productive requires more than just talking. This is where meeting takeaways come into play.

Meeting takeaways are concise summaries, generally sent via email after a meeting. They capture key conclusions and actionable items, making them essential for team coordination and keeping everyone in the loop.

This article will be your comprehensive guide to meeting takeaways, covering everything you need to know, from what to incorporate to how to craft effective meeting takeaways.

7 points to include in your  meeting takeaways

Introduction to new people

Any new people participating in a project should be introduced to other stakeholders. That is why you should include, in your meeting takeaways, the following elements:

• Names and roles of new participants introduced during the meeting
• Brief background or context for their involvement in the meeting
• How to contact them

Status update

Giving updates on ongoing projects and tasks is one of the main utilities of meeting takeaways. You should summarize the current status of ongoing projects and tasks and mention key milestones, achievements, challenges and delays.

Decisions made or unresolved questions

To give a comprehensive picture of the meeting, you should:

• Outline any significant decisions made during the meeting (and the rationale behind them if needed)
• Mention unresolved issues and the people responsible for their resolution

Action items

Meeting takeaways must clarify the action items mentioned in a meeting. You should:

• List specific tasks or actions assigned to individuals or teams
• Include deadlines for each action item

Follow-up tasks

Follow-up tasks have to be included in meeting takeaways to ensure they are not overlooked. 

You should:

• List tasks or responsibilities requiring follow-up
• Indicate who is responsible for each follow-up task and any deadline
• Specify how these tasks relate to the decisions made or action items

Strategic insights

Strategic insights are valuable meeting takeaways. You should mention any insight, creative ideas or innovative solutions that emerged during the meeting. It will allow teams to capitalize on them and make progress on their tasks or projects.

Next steps

Including next steps in your meeting takeaways is a good way to conclude. It also allows stakeholders to know what to expect next. 

You should:

• Provide a roadmap for what comes next after the meeting
• Include details about the date, time and location of the next meeting

Meeting takeaways template

It's often easier to understand through examples. Here's a meeting takeaways template with example information. 

It shows you how to effectively capture and transcribe the essential elements of a meeting by email.

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Subject: Meeting Takeaways - Team Meeting 10/15/2023

Dear Team,

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to provide a summary of our recent team meeting held on October 15, 2023, and capture the key takeaways for your reference. Please find the meeting takeaways below:

Meeting Date and Time: October 15, 2023 ; 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Meeting Location: Virtual (Zoom)

Introduction of New People

• Sarah Smith (Marketing Specialist): Sarah has joined the marketing team to lead our new product launch campaign.
• Mark Johnson (Software Developer): Mark is a new developer working on our mobile app project.

Contact:

• Sarah Smith: [Email], [Phone]
• Mark Johnson: [Email], [Phone]

Status Update

Project A (Marketing):

• Current Status: On track
• Key Milestones: Reached target audience, started social media campaign
• Achievements: Developed marketing materials
• Challenges: Need more graphic design resources
• Delays: None

Project B (Mobile App Development):

• Current Status: Slight delay
• Key Milestones: Completed UI design, started coding
• Achievements: Finalized user requirements
• Challenges: Integration issues
• Delays: 2-week delay due to resource shortage

Decisions Made

Decisions:

• Approved the marketing budget for the new product launch.

Unresolved Questions:

• How should we address the resource shortage in the app development team?

Responsible Person: Mark Johnson

Action Items

• Sarah to create a detailed marketing plan for the product launch (Deadline: October 20, 2023)

• Mark to investigate resource options to address the app development delay (Deadline: October 18, 2023)

Follow-up Tasks

• Review the marketing plan and provide feedback (Deadline: October 25, 2023)

Responsible Person: Marketing Team

• Review Mark's resource options and make a decision (Deadline: October 20, 2023)

Responsible Person: Project Managers

Strategic Insights

• Consider leveraging influencers for the product launch to increase visibility.
• Explore potential partnerships for the app development project.

Next Steps

Next Meeting Date and Time : October 25, 2023 ; 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Next Meeting Location: Virtual (Zoom)

If you have any questions or need further clarification on any of the points mentioned in the meeting takeaways, please feel free to reach out.

Best regards,

John Doe

Marketing Manager

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How to write effective meeting takeaways

Before the meeting

If you are responsible for writing meeting takeaways, you should prepare yourself before the meeting. For that, you should:

• Have your meeting takeaways template ready in a word processing tool
• Have the meeting agenda to help you navigate through the meeting and take notes efficiently
• Fill in every information available to you before the meeting to help you gain time (Meeting purpose, Name of the participants…)

During the meeting

During the meeting, your role will be to capture all relevant information. For that:

• Write only the important elements specifically present in your template (action items, decisions made…)
• Do not hesitate to ask for clarification if something is unclear. You might not be able to write effective takeaways of a meeting if you haven’t perfectly understood it.
• Write clear and readable notes. Because you do not want to spend hours trying to decipher your own notes…

In summary, effective note taking will require you to be focused to write quickly and efficiently. Or you can just use Claap, a tool that will automatically record your meeting and entirely transcribe it.

After the meeting

After the meeting, your task is to transform your notes into clear takeaways. For that: 

• Format your notes to match your template using a word processing tool
• Decide on your method of distribution (generally by email) and copy paste your takeaways
• Seek verification from team members or other colleagues before sending 

Drafting meeting takeaways can be a time-consuming process, but with Claap's AI summary feature, you can complete this task up to 60 times faster. Claap helps you generate a concise summary of your notes and even fills your template automatically!

How can Claap automate your meeting takeaways

It's often challenging to actively participate in a meeting when you're tasked with taking notes. Claap solves this problem, allowing you to fully engage in your meetings without the burden of note-taking.

Claap is an audio and video transcription tool that streamlines your workflow with its robust features:

• Meeting Recorder: Claap automatically records your meetings. If you are unsure about something, you can just check it yourself!
• Automatic Note Taker: No more need for manual note-taking during your meetings; Claap handles it for you. The transcription feature accurately transcribes live meetings and uploaded video recordings.
• AI Summary: Claap's AI-powered features not only extract the key ideas from your notes but also seamlessly integrate them into your own templates, making it ideal for pinpointing your key takeaways.

And what if I told you that you no longer need to worry about meeting takeaways? Claap is an asynchronous meeting platform that enables you to record yourself and instantly share essential information with your teammates, who can provide feedback and comments on your recorded videos. 

Bonus: with the AI Summary features, you can easily add key takeaways to your videos yourself! So why not give it a try today?(free plan available with no credit card required)

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