How to use meeting minutes to make decisions stick + 3 free templates

Are you tired of attending meetings where the group rehashes a decision that has already been made? Try this process instead.

Andrea Connelly

SEO Lead at Coda

How to use meeting minutes to make decisions stick + 3 free templates

By Andrea Connelly

Share this article

Share on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Facebook
Meetings · 6 min read
Have you ever joined a meeting only to find the group rehashing a decision that has already been made? It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. When this happens, I usually put myself on mute and turn off my camera until the frustrated groaning subsides. Don’t get me wrong—meetings are important. They’re where I connect with colleagues, get answers to questions, and most importantly, make decisions. But once a decision has been finalized, I’m ready to move on to execution. Fortunately, there’s a process that we use at Coda that removes these Groundhog Day-esque meetings from my calendar (though one might slip through on occasion). It’s a ritual we use around meeting minutes. The term meeting minutes comes from the Latin pars minuta prima, which means “first small part.” Meeting minutes break down the discussion into the most important points. Meeting notes, on the other hand, often contain snippets of the conversation and thoughts from the note-taker. Both have their place, but meeting minutes provide a detailed record of what was talked about, including any decisions that were made. They’re shareable references for those unable to attend, and they also act as a stopping mechanism when a meeting creeps into too-familiar territory. The meeting process we use at Coda is easy to adjust to any team’s style. I consider it one of my secret weapons in eliminating unnecessary and frustrating meetings from my calendar, and I hope you find it just as helpful. Let’s go through it now.

Step 1: Pre-plan the meeting.

 At Coda, all meetings have a corresponding doc included in the meeting invite (and often sent to the working group via Slack, too). The doc always includes:
  • A quick summary of the project or the decision to be made.
  • Details important to the project or decision.
  • A Dory.
The Dory is the key to ensuring the meeting moves smoothly. Named after the curious, question-asking fish in Finding Nemo, Dory is an interactive table where team members can add questions and upvote questions in the list. We use it to set the meeting agenda, record final decisions, and create action items. During the discussion, we start with the most upvoted questions and go through them one by one to make sure all voices are heard and no one person dominates the conversation. To complement the Dory, we often also include a table called Pulse. Instead of a space for asking questions, Pulse prompts meeting attendees to reflect on how they feel about the project or topic. Pulse is a great way to identify any potential concerns the team may have.
Give Dory and Pulse a shot before your next meeting with our free template.
Try it now

Step 2: Record meeting minutes.

 There are a few details I always record when taking meeting minutes: the date, who attended, what was discussed, and any decisions that were made. As an attendee, I’m also participating in the discussion, which means I need to automate a lot of this information capture. Here’s how I do it. The first 5-10 minutes of meetings at Coda are reserved for silent reading and adding questions to the Dory. This ensures we’re all on the same page so we can have a productive conversation. I always include a “Finished reading” button and ask attendees to click it when they’re ready. Plus, I’ve now captured the meeting attendees without needing to do anything myself. The Dory table will automatically sort by topics that receive the most votes. The table also includes a date column, so that’s automatically recorded. As we go through the Dory topics, I take meeting notes inside the table. Then, I use AI to summarize the most important points from the notes, and voilà—we have meeting minutes.
Give it a try now with this template

Step 3: Leverage AI for action items and a meeting minutes summary.

 After the meeting wraps up, it’s the meeting organizer’s responsibility to pull together notes, organize action items, and send follow-ups to attendees. This takes time away from more strategic work and isn’t where I, or any meeting organizer, should be focused. Instead, I let AI do this for me. Now, when the meeting is over, I prompt AI to list the meeting attendees and date, create action items, and craft the meeting minutes. AI takes all of this tedious work off my plate and I now have a detailed record of any decisions, which is handy for stopping any rehash sessions that may arise.
Take a look at this Meeting minutes with AI template that I use to send minutes to the team, then make a copy and adopt it for your own meetings.
Get the template

Step 4: Share meeting minutes promptly.

 I believe that sharing the meeting minutes promptly is the most important part of the process. When the minutes are reviewed soon after the meeting, the conversation is still fresh and team members can highlight any confusion or concerns early on. You want to know sooner rather than later if anyone says, “That’s not what I heard or understood.” Sharing the minutes is yet another tedious task, so I let Coda do it for me. All of our projects have a corresponding Slack channel where most of our communication lives. I connect Slack to Coda, then create a button that instantly sends the meeting minutes to the Slack group. If any team members have a concern or question, we can tackle it quickly in Slack. Sometimes I have meetings with external agencies and customers, and email is the way we communicate. In that case, I connect Coda to my email and have AI draft and send a message to the meeting attendees. All of this is done in just a couple of clicks.
Try this template to use AI to draft and send emails through Coda.
Get the template

Meeting minutes in Coda help decisions stick.

 This process for meeting minutes has nearly eliminated repeat decision-making. If any meeting starts to creep into rehash territory, I quickly share the minutes so that we can move forward. Because all of this is done in a Coda doc, meeting minutes are saved in one place and can be referenced quickly at any time. Anyone can look back to understand why we made a decision and who approved it. It keeps my projects on track, does the tedious tasks for me, and frees up my time for more strategic work. There are many ways that teams manage meetings with Coda. Check out these 10 free meeting templates with AI to find the right one for you.
Browse more meeting templates

Related posts

Explore more stories about meetings.
10 free meeting templates with AI

How to use AI before, during, and after meetings.

Connect and collaborate with 11 free Coda + Slack templates

Take collaboration to the next level.

4 meeting types that will simplify your calendar

A framework for a time-saving meeting process.