Meeting Minutes Template: Copy, Fill In, Keep Private

Quick answer: Good minutes have five parts: who was there, what was discussed, what was decided, who does what by when, and when you meet next. Copy the template below, fill it in during or right after the meeting, and keep it to one page.

The template

Paste this into any notes app or document.

Meeting: [name or topic]
Date and time: [date, start to end]
Attendees: [names]
Absent: [names]

1. Discussion
- [Topic]: [one or two lines on what was said]
- [Topic]: [one or two lines]

2. Decisions
- [What was decided, and by whom if it matters]

3. Action items
- [Task] | Owner: [name] | Due: [date]

4. Open questions
- [Anything left unresolved]

Next meeting: [date, or "not scheduled"]

A filled-in example

This is a 40-minute hiring sync, which is the kind of meeting where you'd rather not hand the recording to a third party.

Meeting: Hiring sync, backend role
Date and time: 8 Oct, 10:00 to 10:40
Attendees: Dana, Ravi, Mei
Absent: Tomas

1. Discussion
- Shortlist: three candidates passed the take-home. Ravi has concerns about one.
- Salary band: the current range is too low for the senior level.

2. Decisions
- Move two candidates to final interviews.
- Ask finance to review the band before any offer.

3. Action items
- Schedule final interviews | Owner: Mei | Due: 11 Oct
- Request band review | Owner: Dana | Due: 14 Oct

4. Open questions
- Does the third candidate get a second take-home?

Next meeting: 15 Oct

Four habits that keep minutes useful

Write decisions as full sentences. "Budget" tells you nothing in three months. "Budget approved at the current level" does.

Give every action item one owner. If two people own it, nobody does. Add a date, even a rough one.

Record outcomes, not quotes. Minutes are a record of what the group agreed, not a transcript. Keep the transcript separately if you need the exact words.

Send them the same day. The sooner people see the list, the sooner someone catches a wrong date or a missing owner.

Drafting minutes from a recording

Filling in the template by hand takes about as long as the meeting did, which is why many people record and let software draft it. The catch is where the recording goes. Cloud tools such as Fireflies send a bot into the call and upload the audio to their servers (we cover that in the Fireflies alternative guide). For a hiring discussion, a board meeting or a client call, that's often the wrong trade.

Lyonesse does the whole job on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. You record the meeting or import an audio or video file, it transcribes and labels the speakers, and Smart Drafting writes a draft with a summary, the decisions and the action items. No bot joins, and nothing is uploaded. The steps:

Record the meeting in the app, or import the file. On a Mac you can also capture system audio from a video call.
Let it transcribe, then rename the speakers so the draft attributes actions to the right people.
Run Smart Drafting to get the minutes draft.
Read it against your memory of the meeting and fix anything wrong. It's a draft, and you're the one who signs off on it.
Send the action items to Apple Reminders, or export the minutes as PDF or text.

The layout it produces maps onto the template above. The full walkthrough is in the meeting minutes app guide, and the bigger picture of keeping meetings off the cloud is in the private meeting assistant guide.

Before you record

Tell people. Recording laws differ by place, and some require everyone's consent, so say at the start that you're recording and what it's for. If someone objects, take notes by hand with the template instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should meeting minutes include?

The date, time and attendees, the topics discussed, the decisions made, and the action items with an owner and a due date. Anything beyond that is optional.

How long should meeting minutes be?

As short as the record allows. One page for an hour-long meeting is plenty. Minutes record outcomes, not who said what.

Can I draft minutes from a recording without a bot joining the call?

Yes. Lyonesse records the meeting directly or transcribes an imported file, so no bot enters the call, and Smart Drafting writes the minutes on your device.