How to Write the Perfect Meeting Memo (With and Without AI)

You've just walked out of a meeting filled with ideas, plans, and enthusiasm.

But you’re wondering, “How can I condense what we discussed into a concise document that keeps everyone on the same page?” This is where a meeting memo comes in.

​​In this article, we’ll explore how to write the perfect meeting memo, both with and without the help of AI.

What is a Meeting Memo?

A meeting memo is a document that includes meeting details such as header, objectives, agenda, discussion, and action items. It’s also sometimes called a meeting memorandum, summary, or minutes. But whatever you call it, a meeting memo ensures that all key takeaways and decisions are recorded and communicated effectively to your team.

Purpose of a meeting memo

A meeting memo has several purposes:

• Documentation: It’s a written record of what happened during a meeting.
• Accountability: It clearly outlines action items, deadlines, and owners to ensure accountability and follow-through.
• Alignment: It keeps the team aligned with your goals and objectives, so everyone’s got a big-picture view of what they’re doing.

Key elements of a meeting memo

A well-structured meeting memo typically includes the following elements:

• Header: Contains the subject line, date, and attendees of the meeting.
• Objective: Clearly states the purpose of the meeting.
• Agenda: Provides a brief outline of the topics covered during the meeting.
• Discussion: Summarizes the main discussions from the meeting, usually in the order they occurred.
• Action items: The list includes tasks, deadlines for completion, and who’s responsible.
• Next meeting: If applicable, the memo might mention when the next meeting will be.

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Example of the Perfect Meeting Memo

The perfect meeting memo should include all the important details of a meeting. Here’s an example below:

Subject line: Quarterly Marketing Review

Date: October 20, 2023

To: Marketing Team

From: [Your Name], [Your Job Title]

Hi Team!

I hope you're doing well. Our recent quarterly staff meeting was productive and I want to share a brief summary and action plan with you.

Objective:

We discussed our marketing strategies and goals for the next quarter.

Highlights:

• We discussed our key metrics and found that conversion on our ads have dropped.
• We reviewed our current strategies and found our audience targeting is too broad.
• We looked at what our competitors are doing and found the auction is more competitive than before, with our competitors launching high-performing creative.
• We checked out customer feedback and identified several opportunities to improve.

Action Items:

• ​​Revise our online ads. Owner: Marketing Manager, deadline: November 15, 2023
• Improve our website content. Owner: Content Writer, deadline: December 10, 2023
• Keep an eye on our competition. Owner: Sales Manager, deadline: ongoing
• Set clearer performance goals. Owner: Team Lead, deadline: October 28, 2023

Please review these items, and we'll talk about our progress on November 15, 2023.

Thanks for your hard work!

Best regards,

[Your Name]

[Your Job Title]

This memo example communicates the meeting's objectives, highlights, and action items. Use this memo example as a clear roadmap for your team to follow.

How to Write the Perfect Meeting Memo Without AI

AI tools can assist in writing meeting memos, but it's important to understand the manual process. You can use the 4 guide words to help you create a clear memo:

• Objective: Clearly state the purpose of the memo.
• Audience: Address the intended recipients.
• Content: Organize information concisely.
• Action: Include next steps and responsibilities.

Here's a detailed guide to help you create a memo that keeps your team aligned:

Step 1: Define your purpose

Start by identifying the key objectives of your meeting memo. What’s the primary purpose of the memo, and what do you want to convey to your audience? Consider the following questions:

• What was the reason for the meeting?
• What are the key takeaways and action items?
• Is there any crucial information or updates that I need to communicate since the meeting has taken place?

Step 2: Audience consideration

Think about your audience. Are you addressing the entire team or specific individuals? Key considerations include:

• Are there specific team members who need to take action?
• What level of detail is appropriate? Does everyone have what they need?

Step 3: Clarity and brevity

Keep your memo clear and concise. Consider the following tips for clarity and brevity:

• Use plain, easy-to-understand language.
• Avoid technical terms or industry-specific jargon.
• Consider using bullet points, headings, and subheadings to structure the content.

Step 4: Action items and deadlines

Make sure you include action items, responsibilities, and deadlines in your staff meeting memo. This helps ensure that what you’ve discussed gets done. Here's how to address action items and deadlines effectively:

• Clearly list action items that result from the meeting.
• Assign responsibilities to specific team members.
• Include deadlines or target dates for completing tasks.

That’s everything you need to write a meeting memo, but what if you didn’t need to write a meeting memo at all? With access to the transcript of a meeting, AI can do it instead!

How to Write a Meeting Memo with AI

AI tools can help you easily create a meeting memo. With AI tools like Tactiq, you can transcribe your virtual meetings. Here's a step-by-step guide for using Tactiq's AI to write a meeting memo:

1. Download the Tactiq Chrome extension: You can download Tactiq’s free Chrome extension here.

2. Record and transcribe: Once you’ve installed the Tactiq extension, record the meeting on your preferred video conferencing tool (Google Meet, Zoom, MS Teams, etc.). You will see the Tactiq widget on the right transcribe the conversation in real-time.

3. Access the transcript: After the meeting, the transcript will automatically be saved to a list of transcripts within Tactiq that you can search for, view and download.

4. Summarize key points for your meeting memo: Use the transcript as a reference to summarize important discussions, decisions, and action items. Tactiq's AI automatically highlights many of the important points within the transcript too.

By following this guide, you can create a meeting memo that is well-informed, concise, and aligned with your team's objectives. Using AI here saves you time and minimizes the risk of overlooking important details from previous meetings.

How to Write a Meeting Memo with ChatGPT's AI

Using ChatGPT's AI can help you save time writing meeting memos too. Here's a step-by-step guide to using ChatGPT to write meeting memos with example prompts:

Step 1: Get access to the transcript of the call (e.g., with Tactiq)

• Use Tactiq to create a transcript of your meeting. You can view our instructional video here.

Step 2: Select prompts

• Set the tone: Choose prompts that match the tone and style you want for your memo. For example:

• "Craft a professional and informative memo about our quarterly team meeting."

• Identify important topics: Specify the topics you want to cover. ChatGPT will use this information to generate relevant content. For instance:

• "Discuss the financial performance section in the memo."

• Identify actionable items: Request ChatGPT to identify actionable items and important details from the meeting discussion. Example prompts include:

• "Highlight action items from the marketing team that need immediate attention."
• "List the deadlines for the tasks discussed in the sales department."

Step 3: ChatGPT generates content

• Copy and paste the transcript into ChatGPT. This creates the foundation of your memo.
• Provide prompts: Feed ChatGPT with specific prompts you chose earlier.

• Guide ChatGPT: ChatGPT will generate sections of your memo based on the prompts you provided. You can guide the AI by being more explicit in your requests. For example:

• "Please explain the new project's objectives and the team members responsible."

Step 4: Review and edit

• Human oversight: Always review the content generated by ChatGPT to ensure accuracy and coherence.
• Edit for clarity: Edit the content for clarity and readability. You can rephrase sentences, correct grammar, and make sure the information flows logically.

By using ChatGPT, you can save time producing a meeting memo that’s clear and actionable. AI can help create the memo, but remember that you’ll need to edit it to make the memo more polished and coherent.

Key Takeaways on How to Write the Perfect Meeting Memo (With or Without AI)

Here’s a quick summary of the tips to help you write an effective meeting memo:

1. Approach: Remember that a memo documents important meeting details and decisions, not everything within a meeting!
2. Structure: A well-structured meeting memo includes a header with the subject, date, and attendees, an objective statement, an agenda, discussion summaries, action items with responsibilities and deadlines, and information about the next meeting (if applicable).
3. Writing Process: Writing a meeting memo without AI involves defining the memo's purpose, considering your audience, ensuring clarity, and listing action items and deadlines.
4. Using Tactiq: AI tools like Tactiq can help transcribe and summarize previous meetings, get highlights and key insights, and present action items. However, personalization is important to make the memo engaging and relevant.
5. Using ChatGPT: ChatGPT's AI can be used to generate content for your memo with a transcript and specific prompts. Though you’ll need to review and edit the content for accuracy.

These tips will help you create the perfect meeting memo, whether you use AI or do it all manually.

More Resources

If you want to learn more about how to use AI to summarize your Google Meet meetings, check out our guide here: ChatGPT for Google Meet: How to use AI to Summarize Long Meetings

If you want to learn more about how to generate accurate meeting summaries on Notion, see our guide here: Use Notion AI to Generate Accurate Meeting Summaries

‍To write the perfect meeting memo in your next team meeting and increase your team’s alignment and follow-through rates, download Tactiq’s AI tool.