Professional English • Meetings
Summarising Decisions and Actions in English Meetings
End meetings with shared understanding and specific next steps.
Close with shared understanding
A concise meeting summary confirms decisions, responsibilities, and deadlines. It prevents different participants from leaving with different interpretations.
Three things to confirm
- What was decided?
- Who will do each action?
- When will it be completed or reviewed?
Model summary
To summarise, we agreed to test the new process with the support team first. Nina will prepare the training materials by Tuesday, and Omar will confirm the participant list by Thursday. We will review the pilot results at next Friday’s meeting.
Useful language
- To summarise, we agreed to…
- The next step is…
- Maria will take responsibility for…
- We will review this on…
Practice
Improve this summary: “We talked about the launch and people will do things next week.”
Possible answer
We agreed to launch the pilot next Wednesday. Theo will send the final schedule on Monday, and Sara will brief the customer support team on Tuesday.
Production task
Write a four-sentence summary for a recent or imagined meeting. Include a decision, two actions, and a review date.