TECH TIP - Copilot Meeting Summaries

A helpful Copilot task is generating Team meeting summaries or action items. Aside from having a nice backup of a Teams meeting conversation, you can also use Copilot to help recap the conversation for documentation, generate sales materials, or to direct next steps.

• The long part, how to create a Teams meeting transcript and summarize it, start below.
• Jump to the bottom to see a case study.

Requirements:

• Create at least an audio transcription of a Teams Meeting

• Microsoft 365 Copilot Basic (included will all Microsoft services)

  
  

QUICK STEPS:

1. Enable Transcription During a Teams Meeting
2. Access & Download the Transcript
3. Use Copilot to Create a Professional Summary
4. Save and/or tweak your results.

1. Enable Transcription During a Teams Meeting

1. Join or start your Teams meeting.
2. In the meeting controls, click More (•••).

3. Select Record and transcribe.

   A. Only Audio Transcription is needed.

     !! Confirm that all attendees of the meeting are comfortable with you recording the meeting.

1. Click Start transcription

2. Access & Download the Transcript

After the meeting ends: 

1. Open the meeting chat in Teams.
2. Locate the meeting event and click Recap (or the recording entry).
3. Navigate to the Transcript tab.
4. Click Download and choose your preferred format:
   • .DOCX (Word) (best for editing)

3. Use Copilot to Create a Professional Summary

1. Open Microsoft 365 Copilot.
2. Upload the transcription file from step 2 using the + button.

3. Use prompts such as:
   • “Summarize this transcript into a professional meeting summary.”
   • “Highlight key points, risks, and next steps.”
• “Provide key decisions and action items.”
• “Create an executive summary.”
• “Create a client facing summary.”

4. Save or Tweak Your Results

• Use more prompts to fine tune the results.

• Copy the approved response to separate document using the copy button.

  

💡 Tips for Best Results

• Ensure clear audio quality during meetings for accurate transcription.
• Ask Copilot to tailor the output (e.g., “make it concise” or “format as bullet points”).
• Use follow-up prompts to refine the summary for different audiences.

CASE STUDY

For a case study I used the ‘Campaign Process Refresh (and beer)’ meeting from April run by Emily Driscoll and Chris Buhrman.  This presentation had a lot of components and detail. This was also a meeting recorded in Harry’s Café.  One drawback of the Harry’s Café meetings, speakers all share the same meeting session. With that, different speakers aren’t directly identified, as with typical Teams meetings where all attendees are in a unique session.

The meeting ran 29 minutes.

The Transcript

Using the instructions above, I generated this linked transcript. In review, you’ll notice a lot of gobbledygook as the meeting begins and catches parts of side conversations.  Again, there is no direct distinguishing of who is speaking. All conversation is lumped together as from a single speaker.   -  Transcript-Campaign Process Refresh (and beer) April 15.26.docx

Copilot Simple Summary

Again, I used the instructions above to generate a meeting summary.  This is unedited.  This summary, I believe, to be very concise and accurate. Still,  I would have Emily or Chris review to confirm its accuracy. Regardless, I found the output very convincing.   -  Copilot-Summarize Campaign Process Refresh (and beer)-4.15.26.docx

Copilot Client Facing Summary.

What if I wanted to use this internal meeting, but generate something I can use with clients?  Using Copilot’s suggestion to do just that, I created the linked summary. Again, unedited.

Copilot-Summarize-Campaign Process Refresh (and beer)-ClientFacing-4.15.2026.docx

In Conclusion

It seems like recording and summarizing meetings would of great help at client status or feedback meetings.  You get a great document you can refer to later or generate next steps to keep a project moving.  Proper Teams meetings with each attendee in their own session would also provide greater dimension to the summaries.

Tip/s

• Always save the original transcript with your summaries.  They will still exist with the meeting, but those can be hard to get back to after some time.
• Copilot prompts could be refined to direct the output.
• Always review and verify all outputs.