How to Write Meeting Minutes (With a Free Template)

Good minutes aren't a transcript — they're a short, scannable record of what was decided and who's doing what. Here's a structure that works for almost any meeting.

The template

• •Title, date and attendees
• •Summary — 3 to 6 bullets of what was discussed
• •Decisions — what was agreed
• •Action items — owner, task and due date
• •Open questions — what's still unresolved

Let AI do the first draft

Instead of writing minutes from memory, transcribe the meeting and generate the structure automatically. ParleyNotes produces exactly this layout from your transcript — summary, decisions, action items, open questions — which you then tidy in a minute or two.

Make action items stick

Always format actions as 'owner — task — due date'. Vague actions with no owner are the number one reason follow-ups slip.