A note for the people who were there—and those who were not
A useful meeting record answers three questions quickly: what was the meeting for, what did the group decide, and what happens next? The template separates those answers so a reader can find them without reconstructing the whole conversation.
Use it for a project check-in, a client discussion, a planning session, or a small team review. Remove sections that the meeting does not need. A short note that is kept up to date is more useful than a complete form nobody finishes.
Copy the template or download the file
The blank template is plain Markdown. There is no account requirement or email gate. Open the .md file in Beauty or another Markdown editor, or copy the source into an existing note. The filled example shows how specific an action or decision should be; its people and meeting are illustrative.
# Meeting: [topic] **Date:** YYYY-MM-DD **Participants:** [names] **Purpose:** [the question we need to answer] ## Agenda 1. [First topic] 2. [Second topic] ## Notes - [Relevant context, evidence, or constraints] ## Decisions - **Decision:** [what we agreed] - **Reason:** [why] ## Action items | Action | Owner | Due | | --- | --- | --- | | [Specific next step] | [One person] | [Date] | ## Open questions - [Question, and who will find the answer] ## Next check-in [Date or condition for meeting again]
Before the meeting: write the question
Fill in the purpose before the meeting begins. “Discuss the guide” names a topic. “Decide what a new reader needs before writing a first note” gives the conversation something to resolve.
Add a short agenda and the context people need to prepare. If a decision depends on a document, include its link. Do not make the note a second presentation; it should help people reach the point of the meeting.
During the meeting: separate notes from decisions
Use the notes section for evidence, constraints, and context. Put agreed decisions in their own section, together with a short reason. This distinction matters a week later when someone asks whether an idea was merely discussed or actually chosen.
Write each action as a concrete next step with one owner and a date. “Improve documentation” leaves several questions open. “Draft the sample note — Ada — Wednesday” can be acted on.
The action table uses ordinary Markdown table syntax. In Beauty, you can adjust the table visually as the list of follow-ups changes.
After the meeting: make the result readable
Take a few minutes to remove fragments that no longer make sense and check that every decision is recorded accurately. Make open questions explicit so uncertainty is not mistaken for agreement.
Share the Markdown when colleagues will edit the note, or export a PDF for a finished summary. A live Beauty sharing session is useful while people are writing together; it requires someone to keep the note open for others to join.
At the end of the week, bring unfinished actions into a weekly review. That gives follow-up work a place beyond the meeting itself.