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Turn council meeting notes into an action list

Practice: Showing an example of what you want. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

You're secretary of the student council, and you post action items in the council group chat after each meeting. Turn the messy notes into one numbered line per task that has an owner, in the shape 'Who - what - by when' (like 'Ana - book the gym - Oct 9'), plain text, under 70 words, nothing else. Ideas nobody volunteered for are not tasks, and one task changed owners at the end of the meeting, so use the final owner.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Asking for a summary. The AI retells the whole meeting, theme vote and jokes included, instead of listing who does what. Try: Ask for the list: "One numbered line per task that has an owner, nothing else."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total and it often lands 20% over. Try: Cap each line: "each line under 10 words."
  • Not showing the shape. Described in words, the format drifts: the AI puts dates first or adds bold labels like 'Owner:'. Try: Paste one example line: "Ana - book the gym - Oct 9".
  • Missing the late changes. The AI reads the notes top to bottom and keeps the first owner and date it sees. Try: Add: "If an owner or date changed later in the notes, use the final one."
  • Counting ideas as tasks. The AI turns every suggestion into an action item, even ones nobody agreed to do. Try: Add: "Only tasks someone agreed to own. Skip tabled ideas."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Shows an example line
  • Lists only owned tasks
  • Uses the final details
  • Limits each line
  • Asks for plain text

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