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BY COPPER SUN
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•6 min read•BrassTranscripts Team

Meeting Action Items: AI Prompt Template

Transcript Prompts AiMeeting Transcription

Extract action items from any meeting transcript in under 2 minutes using this copy-paste AI prompt. No more scrubbing through hour-long recordings or missing critical follow-ups buried in conversation.

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The Problem: Lost Action Items

You finish a 45-minute team meeting. Somewhere in that conversation, your manager assigned three tasks, a deadline was mentioned, and someone volunteered for follow-up research. But where exactly?

Manual review means:

  • Scrubbing through the entire recording
  • Taking notes while listening (again)
  • Missing items buried in side conversations
  • No clear ownership or deadline formatting

The solution: Get an accurate transcript with speaker identification, then use AI to extract structured action items in seconds.

AI Prompt: Meeting Action Item Extractor

📋 Copy & Paste This Prompt

Analyze the following meeting transcript and extract all action items, decisions, and follow-ups.

For each action item, provide:
1. **Task**: Clear description of what needs to be done
2. **Owner**: Person responsible (from speaker labels, or "Unassigned" if unclear)
3. **Deadline**: Due date if mentioned, or "Not specified"
4. **Context**: Brief note on why this was assigned (1 sentence)

Format the output as a structured list organized by owner. At the end, include:
- **Key Decisions Made**: List any decisions finalized during the meeting
- **Open Questions**: Items that need follow-up but weren't resolved
- **Next Meeting Topics**: Items explicitly deferred to future discussion

TRANSCRIPT:
[Paste your transcript here]

---
Prompt by BrassTranscripts (brasstranscripts.com) – Professional AI transcription with speaker identification.
---

Step-by-Step Workflow

Step 1: Get Your Transcript

Upload your meeting recording to BrassTranscripts. Processing takes 1-3 minutes per hour of audio, and you'll receive:

  • TXT format: Plain text with speaker labels (Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc.)
  • Automatic speaker identification: Pyannote 3.1 detects and labels different voices
  • Timestamps: Know exactly when each item was discussed

Step 2: Copy the TXT Output

Open your TXT file. The format looks like this:

Speaker 1: Let's start with the Q4 budget review.
Speaker 2: I can have the preliminary numbers by Friday.
Speaker 1: Perfect. Sarah, can you coordinate with finance on the actuals?
Speaker 3: Yes, I'll set up a meeting with them this week.

Step 3: Paste Into AI

Use ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI assistant:

  1. Copy the prompt template above
  2. Replace [Paste your transcript here] with your transcript
  3. Run the prompt
  4. Copy the structured output

Step 4: Share With Your Team

The AI returns organized action items ready for email, Slack, or your project management tool.

Example: Before and After

Before: Raw Transcript Excerpt

Speaker 1: So for the website redesign, we need mockups by end of month.
Speaker 2: I can handle the homepage and about page.
Speaker 1: Great. Mike, what about the product pages?
Speaker 3: I'll need the updated product photos first. Can someone get those from marketing?
Speaker 2: I'll ping them today.
Speaker 1: Perfect. Let's reconvene next Tuesday to review progress.

After: AI-Extracted Action Items

Speaker 2 (Design Lead)

  • Create mockups for homepage and about page — Deadline: End of month
  • Contact marketing team for updated product photos — Deadline: Today

Speaker 3 (Mike)

  • Create product page mockups (pending photos) — Deadline: End of month

Key Decisions Made

  • Website redesign mockups due end of month
  • Speaker 2 taking homepage/about page, Mike taking product pages

Next Meeting

  • Tuesday: Review mockup progress

Customization Tips

For Executive Summaries

Add this to the prompt:

Also provide a 3-sentence executive summary suitable for forwarding to leadership.

For Specific Project Types

Replace the output format section:

Categorize action items by:
- Engineering Tasks
- Design Tasks
- Marketing Tasks
- Operations Tasks

For Recurring Meetings

Add context:

This is a weekly sprint planning meeting. Flag any items that are blockers for other team members.

For Client Meetings

Adjust the format:

Separate action items into:
- Internal Team Actions (don't share with client)
- Client-Facing Commitments (for follow-up email)

FAQ

How accurate is the speaker identification?

BrassTranscripts uses Pyannote 3.1 for automatic speaker diarization. The system detects distinct voices and labels them consistently throughout the transcript (Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc.). Accuracy depends on audio quality—clear recordings with minimal crosstalk produce the best results.

What if speaker names aren't identified?

The transcript uses generic labels (Speaker 1, Speaker 2). You can either:

  • Add speaker names to your prompt: "Speaker 1 is Sarah (Project Manager), Speaker 2 is Mike (Developer)..."
  • Find-and-replace in your final output

Can I use this with existing transcripts?

Yes. The prompt works with any transcript format that includes speaker labels. If your transcript doesn't have speaker identification, upload to BrassTranscripts for automatic speaker detection.

How long can the transcript be?

Most AI tools handle transcripts up to 50,000-100,000 characters. For very long meetings (2+ hours), you may need to split the transcript or use a tool with larger context windows like Claude.

What output formats does BrassTranscripts provide?

Every transcription includes four formats:

  • TXT: Plain text with speaker labels (best for this workflow)
  • SRT: Subtitle format for video
  • VTT: Web video format
  • JSON: Structured data with word-level timestamps

Sending Action Items to Your Boss

After extracting action items from a video transcript, you'll often need to send a summary to your manager. Here's how to format it for maximum clarity:

Boss-Ready Email Format

Add this to your prompt:

Format the action items as a brief email I can send to my boss. Include:
- 3-sentence meeting summary at the top
- My action items with deadlines
- Items I need their input on
- Any blockers requiring escalation

What Managers Want to See

Executives and managers care about:

  1. What you committed to — Your specific deliverables
  2. What's blocked — Issues that need their attention
  3. Key decisions made — So they're informed without watching the full recording

Video Transcript Tip

When transcribing video recordings from Zoom, Teams, or client calls, upload the video file directly to BrassTranscripts. The system extracts audio automatically and provides speaker-labeled transcripts—no manual audio extraction needed.

📖 View Full Prompt on GitHub (Markdown) | ⚙️ Download YAML Format

Ready to extract action items from your next meeting? Upload your recording and get a speaker-labeled transcript in minutes. Then use the prompt above to never miss an action item again.

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