Use Copilot in Teams to recap an internal project meeting

What This Does

After an internal project meeting, someone has to write down who owes what: the data pull, the draft section, the review date. Copilot in Teams can summarize the discussion and suggest action items, during the meeting or afterwards. You treat its list as a draft, correct it against your own notes, and send the corrected version. Copilot's list never replaces the record you keep.

Before You Start

• You use Teams with a Microsoft 365 setup that includes Copilot. Microsoft's page says the intelligent recap is part of Teams Premium, an add-on license, and is also part of the Microsoft Copilot license. Ask your IT admin which one your firm has. No plan or price is given here, because it depends on your firm's agreement.
• The meeting is internal. Microsoft's page says Copilot does not work in meetings hosted outside the participant's organization. Beyond that, use this on meetings with your own team. Do not use it on client calls or calls with counsel unless the firm allows recording and AI recaps for them. On litigation matters, ask counsel before you switch it on.
• You know the organizer's setting. Microsoft's page says the organizer decides whether and how participants can use Copilot, through Online meeting options, then Copilot and other AI, then the Allow Copilot and Facilitator option. If it is set to Off, Copilot is disabled and recording and transcription are disabled too.
• You decide before the meeting whether transcription is acceptable for the topic. Anything non-public stays inside the firm's approved systems. Check with IT how transcripts and Copilot conversation history are stored.

Steps

1. Set the meeting option

If you organize the meeting, open the scheduler and go to Online meeting options, then Copilot and other AI. Microsoft's page lists these values for Allow Copilot and Facilitator:

• During and after the meeting: transcription is required, and Copilot starts when someone begins transcribing.
• Only during the meeting: Copilot uses speech-to-text data, and what was not transcribed is not available afterwards.
• Off: Copilot, recording and transcription are all disabled.

Which values you see depends on your organization's policy, sensitivity label and template settings. Pick the narrowest option that works for the meeting.

2. Start Copilot in the meeting

Select Copilot in the meeting controls. Microsoft's page says this opens a private chat with Copilot and may prompt you to start transcription or to confirm the spoken language. Confirm only if the meeting is internal and transcription is acceptable. If you join more than 5 minutes late and Copilot is active, the page says Copilot offers to catch you up.

3. Ask for key points and action items

Ask in plain words, and ask for structure:

List the key points discussed, then list the action items.
For each action item, give the owner and the due date only if one was said out loud.
Write "not stated" where an owner or date was not said.

Microsoft's page says Copilot summarizes the main discussion points and suggests action items. It also says answers cite the sources used when you ask from the meeting chat.

4. Or ask afterwards

Microsoft's page says you can reach Copilot after the meeting from the meeting chat, where you select Open Copilot at the upper-right of the chat, and from the Recap tab if transcription was on. Asking about what was said needs a transcript. The page also notes that earlier Copilot conversation history in a recurring meeting is no longer available if a later meeting in the series is transcribed. Copy anything you need to keep.

5. Check every item against your own notes

Take your own notes through the meeting, even brief ones. Then go through the Copilot list line by line:

• Is each action item something someone actually agreed to, or only mentioned?
• Is the owner right, and is the due date one that was said, not guessed?
• Does every number match what was said and what is in your source material?
• Is anything missing that you wrote down?

Fix or delete. Names, dates and figures in a recap get acted on, so a wrong one costs more than a missing one.

6. Send the corrected version

Paste the corrected list into your follow-up message. In the meeting's Copilot pane, Microsoft's page describes an Open in Word button for responses over 1300 characters and an Open in Excel button for tables. Sensitivity labels and meeting options can block that export. Label the message as your recap, not Copilot's, and say it was checked.

Real Example

Scenario: Your team of four meets for 30 minutes on a draft section, a data request and a review date. The project code is P-7.

What you type: The prompt from step 3.

What you get: A list of key points and three suggested action items. In your notes, the data request was agreed, the draft section was only discussed, and the review date was floated by one person and not settled. Copilot lists all three as action items. You keep the first, change the second to "to be confirmed" and write the third as an open question. You send the list marked as checked against your notes.

Tips

• Say owners and dates out loud in the meeting. Copilot can only report what was said, and your recap is easier to verify.
• Keep client names and matter details out of the meeting talk if the meeting is recorded. Use project codes.
• If the meeting touches a client deliverable, the project lead decides what goes in the recap.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for similar Copilot options in the same menu area.