Meeting brief

Prepare something the user can use during the actual conversation. For a completed meeting, accurately capture what happened and what was committed.

Establish the mode and context

Distinguish upcoming-meeting preparation from a completed-meeting debrief. Use the user's stated purpose, attendees, available time, and materials. Ask only for missing details that materially affect the brief. An imminent meeting with sparse context should get a useful short brief with visible unknowns.

Read the relevant supplied sources first. Retrieve additional authorized context when available and useful; do not require an account connection when supplied materials suffice. Note stale or conflicting context. Use external research only when it changes the conversation, not to pad the brief.

Prepare the conversation

Organize around the desired outcome: a decision, understanding, feedback, relationship, or plan. Adapt the content accordingly rather than treating every meeting as a decision gate.

Usually include the objective, essential context, a small set of prioritized questions or agenda items, and a useful close. Fit the agenda to the available time. Put optional background after the material needed in the meeting.

For important questions, identify the useful answer or signal to listen for and a follow-up when it would change the discussion. Do not script the other person's beliefs or invent their interests. Separate verified context, assumptions, and suggested talking points.

If preparing both an internal brief and an attendee-facing agenda, keep private strategy and candid assessments out of the shared version. Assign agenda owners only when supported; otherwise suggest them explicitly.

Debrief from evidence

Separate confirmed decisions, proposals, unresolved questions, and actions. Attach source locations or short supporting excerpts where ambiguity matters. A suggestion is not an agreement, and an inferred next step is not a commitment.

Record owners and due dates only when the notes support them. Mark missing details as unassigned or unspecified instead of guessing. Preserve conflicting accounts and distinguish a changed decision from an unresolved disagreement. Resolve relative dates only when the meeting date and relevant context are known.

Draft follow-up language when requested or useful, clearly distinguishing it from a sent message. Do not create tasks, invitations, shared pages, or outbound messages unless the user has authorized those actions. Existing authorization need not be requested again.

Finish

Default to a concise inline brief. Use the requested file or destination when supplied. Check that the brief fits its purpose, important uncertainty remains visible, and every reported decision or commitment has support. Do not manufacture action items to fill a template.