Configuring Summary Output

Your meetings are being transcribed — now let's customize what the summary looks like and where it goes. The default output is good, but every team has different needs. This lesson shows you how to tailor the format, detail level, and delivery.

Summary Templates

The default format works well for most team meetings:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --message "For each new meeting recording, generate:

📋 **Meeting Summary** — [Meeting Title] ([Date, Time])
Duration: [X min] | Attendees: [count]

🎯 Key Decisions
• [Decision 1]
• [Decision 2]

📌 Action Items
• @[person] — [task] by [deadline]
• @[person] — [task] by [deadline]

💬 Discussion Highlights
• [Topic 1]: [1-2 sentence summary]
• [Topic 2]: [1-2 sentence summary]

Keep summaries under 300 words. Focus on outcomes, not process."

Choose delivery channels

Different meeting types can go to different channels:

Send all summaries to one place:

Set delivery channel

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --channel telegram --to "CHAT_ID"

Configure speaker identification

Better speaker labels make summaries more useful:

openclaw run "Update my meeting transcription settings:

Speaker identification rules:
- Learn team member voices over time
- Label speakers by first name when recognized
- For unknown speakers, use 'Speaker 1', 'Speaker 2', etc.
- In action items, always use @name format for known team members

Team roster:
- Sarah Chen (Engineering Lead)
- Mike Park (Product Manager)
- Alex Rivera (Designer)
- Jordan Lee (QA)

Update this roster as you encounter new regular attendees."

Speaker accuracy improves over time

The AI gets better at identifying speakers as it processes more meetings with the same people. After 3-4 meetings, recognition is usually reliable.

Set up action item tracking

Don't let action items disappear after the summary is posted:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Action Item Follow-up" \
  --cron "0 9 * * 1-5" \
  --tz "America/New_York" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Review all action items from meeting summaries in the past 7 days.

List any items that:
1. Had a deadline that has passed (overdue)
2. Have a deadline coming up in the next 24 hours (due soon)
3. Were assigned but never acknowledged

Format:
⏰ Due Today: [items]
🔴 Overdue: [items]
🔕 No response: [items]

If nothing is due, respond with 'All action items on track.'" \
  --announce \
  --channel telegram \
  --to "CHAT_ID"

Create a searchable meeting archive

Build a knowledge base from your meeting history:

openclaw run "Set up a meeting archive:

After each meeting summary is generated:
1. Save the full transcript and summary to my notes
2. Tag it with: meeting type, date, attendees, key topics
3. Make it searchable so I can later ask things like:
   - 'What did we decide about the mobile app launch date?'
   - 'What action items does Sarah have from last week?'
   - 'Show me all client meetings from January'

Store in a structured format I can query later."

Once your archive has a few meetings, you can search it:

Search meeting history

openclaw run "Search my meeting archive: What did we decide about the Q1 budget?"

Find your action items

openclaw run "List all action items assigned to me in the last 2 weeks"

Cross-meeting summary

openclaw run "Summarize all discussions about Project Phoenix across meetings"

If you're also using the Second Brain course, your meeting archive integrates naturally:

Meeting notes feed into your knowledge graph
Action items sync with your task manager
Decisions become searchable reference points
The AI can surface connections between meeting discussions and your other notes

Fine-tune the output

Control how detailed your summaries are:

Length rules:
- Meetings under 15 minutes: 100 words max
- Meetings 15-45 minutes: 200 words max
- Meetings over 45 minutes: 400 words max
- Always list ALL action items regardless of length limit

Skip irrelevant parts of meetings:

Ignore these when summarizing:
- Small talk and greetings at the start
- Technical difficulties ("can you hear me?", "you're on mute")
- Off-topic tangents lasting under 1 minute
- Repeated explanations of the same point

Get a read on meeting dynamics:

At the end of each summary, add a brief "Meeting Health" section:
- ✅ Productive: clear agenda, decisions made, action items assigned
- ⚠️ Needs improvement: went over time, no clear outcomes, unresolved debates
- 🔴 Attention needed: tension between participants, blocked issues, recurring problems

One sentence explanation. Be honest but constructive.

For teams that meet in multiple languages:

Transcription language: auto-detect
Summary language: always English (even if the meeting was in another language)
Include a note if the meeting was not in English: "Original language: [language]"

What You've Built

Your meeting transcription system is complete:

Automatic transcription — recordings are processed without manual effort
Structured summaries — decisions, action items, and highlights delivered to chat
Action item tracking — daily follow-ups so nothing falls through the cracks
Searchable archive — query past meetings by topic, person, or date

Meeting transcription pairs well with:

Project Management — action items from meetings auto-create tasks
Second Brain — meeting notes feed your knowledge graph
Calendar & Tasks — meeting deadlines sync to your calendar
Content Pipeline — turn meeting discussions into blog posts or documentation

A few things to keep in mind:

Inform participants — always let people know the meeting is being transcribed
Respect opt-outs — if someone doesn't want to be recorded, disable transcription
Secure storage — meeting transcripts may contain sensitive information. Use encrypted storage.
Retention policy — decide how long to keep transcripts (30 days, 90 days, indefinitely)
Access control — limit who can query the meeting archive

Knowledge Check

Why is automatic action item tracking valuable after meeting transcription?