Capturing Meeting Actions and Following Up for Updates.

A meeting ends, everyone rushes off, and two days later nobody remembers who agreed to do what. This lesson focuses on the admin skill that quietly protects projects: capturing decisions and actions clearly, then following up in a way people actually respond to. You will work with a short set of meeting notes, an action tracker extract, and a few realistic follow-up replies from busy colleagues. You will practise writing action items with owners and deadlines, confirming decisions in neutral language, and asking for a quick status update without sounding like you are chasing for the sake of it. You will also practise turning a long conversation into a short, decision-ready summary that can be pasted into a tracker or ticket. By the end, you will be able to keep momentum after meetings and keep records that are clear, useful and traceable.

1. After the meeting: capture actions before they vanish.

Right, the meeting has ended, everyone has rushed off, and this is the moment where good admin makes the difference. If you wait an hour, details start to blur and people remember different versions. So in this first block, we’ll practise the immediate post-meeting step: identifying actions and decisions from a short wrap-up, and writing them in a clear, traceable way. Listen for three things: what was decided, what needs doing, and who is responsible. Also listen for time markers such as ‘by Friday’ or ‘this week’, because deadlines are what turn a nice idea into a real task. One more thing: in meetings, people often speak loosely, using phrases like ‘someone’ or ‘we’. Your job is to turn that into an owner. When you answer, don’t write long paragraphs. Think like an action tracker: short, specific, and easy to confirm. Let’s do it.

The situation.

You’ve just finished a project meeting about an office Wi‑Fi upgrade and a small reception refit. People left quickly, and you’re the admin who has to keep momentum.

In the short audio for this block, you’ll hear the meeting chair doing a quick wrap-up. Your job is to pull out actions and decisions while everything is still fresh.

What to listen for.

Meetings often sound messy, but the information you need is usually there. Train your ear to catch:

Decisions (things the group agreed)

• Decision: we will proceed with option B.
• Decision: we’ll go with the preferred supplier.

Actions (things someone must do)

• Action for you: please complete X by Friday.
• Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?

Owners and deadlines

• Owners can be named (“Sarah”), role-based (“Facilities”), or vague (“someone in IT”). If the owner is vague, you still capture the action, but you may need a follow-up question later.

Useful wording you will reuse today.

When you write actions, keep a consistent format. Here are models you can copy:

• Owner: Sarah | Action: confirm supplier lead time | Due: 13 Dec
• Owner: IT Service Desk | Action: raise change ticket for overnight outage | Due: COB Thu
• Decision: proceed with option B (dual-band access points)

Mini quality check.

A strong action item is:

• Specific (not “look into it”, but “confirm X and send Y”).
• Owned (someone can say yes/no: “That’s mine”).
• Timed (even if it’s a rough deadline, e.g. “by Friday”).

In the next block, you’ll turn these into clean tracker entries. For now, let’s capture what you heard accurately.

Practice & Feedback

Listen to the meeting wrap-up and write four lines:

1. Two actions in the format: Owner: ___ | Action: ___ | Due: ___.
2. One decision in the format: Decision: ___.
3. One follow-up question you would ask because something is unclear (for example, the owner, the due date, or what exactly is needed).

Keep your wording short and practical, like you’re about to paste it into an action tracker. Try to reuse at least one phrase from today’s phrase bank (for example, “Just to confirm…” or “Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?”).

2. Turn messy notes into clean tracker actions.

Now that you’ve captured the essentials, the next step is turning rough notes into something other people can use. This is where many minutes go wrong: they’re either too long, or too vague, or they miss the owner and due date. We’re going to work with a short extract of scribbled notes and convert it into action items that are consistent, scannable, and easy to update later. As you do this, watch out for three common problems. First, unclear verbs: ‘look into’ or ‘sort out’ don’t tell anyone what to do. Second, missing deadlines: if there’s no date, the task drifts. Third, mixed items: decisions get buried inside actions. Your job is to separate them. Aim for one action per line, with one owner. If the meeting didn’t specify something, you can write ‘TBC’ and plan a follow-up. Let’s practise with a realistic note extract.

What you’re doing here.

You’ve got quick handwritten notes from the meeting. They’re useful to you, but they’re not yet useful to the team. Your job is to convert them into clean tracker entries.

Messy notes (typical reality).

These are the sorts of fragments admins see:

• “Option B agreed (better coverage)”
• “Ben update plan ASAP”
• “Reception works overnight?? Facilities check”
• “Change ticket - IT”
• “Sarah supplier lead time Fri lunch”
• “Comms to staff re outage / times”

How to upgrade notes into tracker-ready actions.

A simple structure makes your output consistent:

Wording tips.

Choose strong action verbs that show a visible outcome:

• confirm, update, share, send, raise, schedule, draft, publish

Avoid vague wording unless you add a deliverable:

• Vague: “look into outage”
• Better: “Confirm outage window and draft staff comms message”

If something is unclear.

Instead of guessing, write a neat placeholder:

• Owner: TBC | Action: Raise change ticket with IT Service Desk | Due: today

Then ask a follow-up question in your thread: “If you’re not the right owner, who should I send it to?”

In the next block, you’ll send a short confirmation message to the group so they can correct anything quickly.

Practice & Feedback

Read the notes extract below and turn it into five tracker action lines.

Write each line in this format:

Owner: ___ | Action: ___ | Due: ___

Rules:

• Use one clear action verb per line.
• If the deadline is unclear, write TBC but only if you really cannot infer it.
• Include the action about staff communications, even if it wasn’t said very clearly.

After your five lines, add one short sentence starting with: Please let me know if I’ve missed anything. This mirrors real admin practice and links to today’s situation.

Messy notes from Wi-Fi upgrade meeting:

• Option B agreed (better coverage)
• Sarah supplier lead time Fri lunch
• Ben update plan ASAP, share latest version
• Reception works overnight?? Facilities check
• Change ticket - IT for planned outage
• Comms to staff re outage / times (who?)

Deadline context: Floor plan needed today so Facilities can assess timing. Lead time needed by Friday lunchtime. Change ticket should be raised today.

3. Send a neutral actions and decisions confirmation.

At this point you’ve got solid actions, but the project can still drift if nobody agrees what was decided. So now we’ll practise the classic admin move: a short confirmation message that people can quickly reply to. The tone matters. You’re not telling senior colleagues off, and you’re not apologising for doing your job. You’re simply confirming: ‘This is what I captured; please correct it if needed.’ That protects the project and protects you. In your message, you’ll separate decisions from actions, keep each action item brief, and include owners and due dates. You’ll also add one line inviting corrections and one line about next steps, for example that you’ll update the tracker. This is where the chunk bank phrases are perfect: ‘Just to confirm…’, ‘Decision: …’, ‘Action for you…’, and ‘Please let me know if I’ve missed anything.’ Write it like a Teams post or a follow-up email: clear, scannable, and calm.

Why this message matters.

A well-written confirmation message does three jobs:

1. Stops misunderstandings (“I thought you were doing that”).
2. Creates traceability (useful later for handovers and audits).
3. Gets faster replies because it’s easy to read and easy to correct.

Recommended structure (Teams or email).

Keep it short, but structured:

Subject / first line:

• “Just to confirm the actions from today’s meeting”

Decision(s):

• “Decision: we will proceed with option B.”

Actions (bullet points):

• “Owner: Sarah | confirm supplier lead time | Due: Friday lunchtime”
• “Owner: Ben | update floor plan and share latest version | Due: COB today”

Close:

• “Please let me know if I’ve missed anything.”
• “I’ll update the action log once I hear back.”

Neutral language that avoids blame.

Notice how these phrases keep things factual:

• “Just to confirm…” (not “You said you would…”)
• “At the moment…” (not “You still haven’t…”)
• “Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?” (not “Why haven’t you done it?”)

Mini checklist before you hit send.

• Have you separated decision vs action?
• Is each action owned?
• Is each action timed?
• Would a busy person understand it in 10 seconds?

In the next block, you’ll practise following up when someone doesn’t respond.

Practice & Feedback

Write a short Teams-style follow-up message to the meeting group (around 90–130 words).

Include:

• An opening line using: “Just to confirm the actions from today’s meeting…”
• One decision (option B for Wi‑Fi).
• Four actions with owner and due date/time.
• A closing line using: “Please let me know if I’ve missed anything.”

Keep the tone neutral and professional. Don’t add new actions that weren’t mentioned. Imagine people are busy: use short lines and clear formatting so they can reply quickly.

Your tracker items (from the meeting):

• Decision: Proceed with option B (dual-band access points across Levels 2 and 3).
• Sarah: Confirm supplier lead time and send through by Friday lunchtime.
• Ben: Update floor plan with revised access point locations and share latest version by COB today.
• Facilities: Confirm whether reception works can happen overnight or if a weekend slot is needed.
• IT Service Desk: Raise change ticket for planned outage (today).
• Staff comms: Confirm outage window and draft a short message to staff (today, after change ticket is raised).

4. Follow up for status without sounding pushy.

Two days later, this is the reality: some people replied, some didn’t, and the deadline is still coming. Now we practise follow-up language that gets movement without damaging relationships. The key is to be polite but direct, and to ask for a specific output: a yes or no, a date, or a short update you can paste into the tracker. You’ll also use time-aware language: if something is delayed, you ask for a revised timeline and what is blocking it. In this block you’ll run a short chat-style sequence. You’ll message two action owners, and you’ll receive realistic, slightly messy replies. Your job is to keep it calm and keep it traceable: reference the action, confirm what you need, and close with a next step. Use phrases like ‘Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?’, ‘Is this on track, or is anything blocking it?’, and ‘If it’s delayed, what’s the revised timeline?’ Let’s try it.

The situation (same project, two days later).

You sent the action summary. It’s now Wednesday, and you need updates to keep the tracker accurate.

You’re going to chase two items:

1. Ben’s floor plan update (needed for Facilities planning)
2. Facilities’ confirmation about overnight vs weekend works

The follow-up ladder (soft to firm).

You don’t have to jump straight to firm language. Start neutral and tighten only if needed.

1) Neutral check-in (good first follow-up)

• “Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?”
• “Is this on track, or is anything blocking it?”

2) Time-aware reminder (when a dependency is waiting)

• “We need this to confirm the schedule. Are you able to share it today?”
• “If it’s delayed, what’s the revised timeline?”

3) Boundary + next step (when you can’t proceed)

• “Without this, I can’t move it forward.”
• “I’ll update the action log once I hear back.”

Make your message easy to answer.

Busy colleagues respond faster when you ask for one of these:

• a file (“Please share the latest version.”)
• a date (“When can you confirm by?”)
• a simple choice (“Overnight works or weekend slot?”)

A realistic chat example.

You: “Hi Ben, can you give me a quick update for the tracker on the floor plan update due COB Monday? Is it on track?”

Ben: “Ah sorry been flat out. I’ve done most of it, just need to check one thing with IT.”

You (good admin response): “No worries. What’s the revised timeline, and can you share a draft version today so Facilities can assess timing?”

Now it’s your turn to run the chat.

Practice & Feedback

Write a short chat-style follow-up as if you are messaging in Teams.

You will write three messages from you:

1. A message to Ben asking for a tracker update on the floor plan.
2. A message to Facilities asking to confirm overnight vs weekend works.
3. A final message responding to the replies you receive in the chat (you can address both in one message or separately), where you:

• confirm what you understood,
• ask for any missing detail,
• and set a clear next step.

Aim for 40–70 words per message. Use at least two phrases from the chunk bank (for example, “Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?” or “If it’s delayed, what’s the revised timeline?”).

Incoming replies (after your first messages):

Ben: “Hey, sorry. Not done yet. I can probably send it later today. Waiting on IT to confirm one location.”

Facilities (Nina): “We can’t do overnight this week, security won’t approve access. Weekend might be possible but I need a request in the system and a confirmed outage window.”

5. Update the action tracker with a traceable summary.

Good. Once you’ve chased the updates, you need to record them properly. This is the quiet skill that protects projects: the tracker should tell the story in a way that someone else can pick up tomorrow. In this block we’ll focus on writing a structured progress update with blockers and next steps. The challenge is to keep it factual. You’re not adding opinions about people being slow; you’re recording what has been confirmed, what is pending, and what needs to happen next. Think in small building blocks: status, evidence, dependency, and the next action with an owner. We’ll use short, consistent phrases like ‘On track’, ‘In progress’, ‘Blocked’, and ‘Pending confirmation’. You’ll also add a brief note about what you did, such as ‘Followed up with Ben on Wed’ so there’s traceability. This type of update is gold during handovers, audits, or when a manager asks, ‘What’s happening with this?’ Let’s practise using the replies you saw in the chat.

What a good tracker update looks like.

A tracker entry is not a diary, and it’s not a complaint box. It’s a decision-ready snapshot.

A strong update answers:

• Where are we now? (status)
• What do we know for sure? (confirmed detail)
• What is blocking progress? (dependency)
• What happens next, and who owns it? (next action)

Useful status language (consistent and neutral).

• Not started / In progress / Completed
• Pending confirmation (waiting for information)
• Blocked (cannot proceed without X)

Example: upgrading a vague update.

Vague: “Ben hasn’t done it.”

Audit-friendly: “In progress. Ben advised on Wed that floor plan is pending IT confirmation of one access point location. Draft version expected later today.”

Tracker fields you can use today.

You don’t always have fancy systems, but you can still write in a clean structure:

Keep it traceable.

Small details make your record stronger:

• Add day/date for key updates: “Wed 11:20”.
• Note source: “per Ben”, “per Facilities (Nina)”.
• Use next-step wording: “Admin to raise request in system”, “Facilities to confirm once outage window confirmed”.

In the final block, you’ll combine everything: actions, follow-ups, and a clean tracker update that closes loops.

Practice & Feedback

Write a tracker update for two actions (Ben’s floor plan + Facilities scheduling).

For each action, write 5 short labelled lines:

• Action:
• Owner:
• Due:
• Status: (choose one: Not started / In progress / Completed / Blocked / Pending confirmation)
• Latest update + next step: (1–2 sentences, factual, traceable)

Use the information from the replies below. Keep the tone neutral and audit-friendly. Try to include at least one phrase from the course language such as “At the moment…” or “Once we have confirmation…”.

Latest information (Wednesday):

• Ben: Floor plan update is not done yet. He is waiting on IT to confirm one access point location. He expects he can send it later today.

• Facilities (Nina): Overnight works are not possible this week because security will not approve access. Weekend might be possible, but Facilities need (1) a request in the system and (2) a confirmed outage window.

6. Capstone: close the loop with a final concise update.

Now you’ll do the full job end to end, like a real day at an admin desk. You’ve captured actions, confirmed decisions, chased updates, and logged progress. The final skill is closing the loop with a short, decision-ready update that moves the project forward. Imagine your project lead is about to brief their manager and needs a clear snapshot in one message. Your update should include the decision, the current status of key actions, and what you need from others next. It should also show you’ve kept things traceable, without sounding dramatic. In particular, you need to handle the Facilities constraint professionally: overnight isn’t possible, so you guide the process to the next workable option, which is a weekend slot, but only once the outage window is confirmed and the request is logged. In your message, keep headings or clear lines, and finish with a simple request for what happens next. This is exactly the kind of writing that makes colleagues trust you. Let’s bring it all together.

Your final performance task (same scenario).

You’re sending a short update to the project group chat, copying the project lead. The aim is to:

• confirm the decision,
• summarise progress and blockers,
• and make the next step obvious.

What to include (and why).

1) Decision (1 line)

This prevents people re-opening debates.

• “Decision: we will proceed with option B (dual-band access points on Levels 2 and 3).”

2) Status on key actions (3–5 lines)

Make each line scannable. You can use an action-log style.

• “Ben: floor plan update is in progress; pending IT confirmation of one location; draft expected today.”
• “Facilities: overnight works not possible this week (security access). Weekend slot possible once request is logged and outage window is confirmed.”

3) What you need next (clear asks)

This is where you get movement.

• “Ben: please share the draft by 4 pm if possible.”
• “IT Service Desk / Project lead: please confirm outage window so Facilities can schedule.”

4) Traceability + next step

• “I’ll update the action log once I hear back.”
• “Let’s close this out once the final step is complete.”

Mini rubric (self-check).

Before you send, check:

• Clear: a busy person can understand it in 10 seconds.
• Neutral: factual, no blame.
• Owned: each next step has an owner.
• Timed: deadlines or timeframes are included.

You’re ready to write your final message.

Practice & Feedback

Write one final Teams update message to the project group (around 140–190 words).

Your message must include:

• The opening: “Just to confirm the actions from today’s meeting…” (even though it’s Wednesday, imagine you’re re-confirming in a single thread).
• The decision about option B.
• A brief status update for Ben and Facilities based on the latest replies.
• Two clear requests for next steps (for example: ask Ben for a draft by a specific time; ask for outage window confirmation; ask for the request to be logged).
• A closing line: “I’ll update the action log once I hear back.”

Keep it calm, traceable, and practical. Use at least three phrases from the chunk bank across your message.

Facts to use:

• Decision: proceed with option B (dual-band access points across Levels 2 and 3).
• Ben: floor plan update not finished; waiting on IT confirmation of one location; expects to send later today.
• Facilities (Nina): overnight works not possible this week due to security access; weekend might be possible but they need a request logged in the system and a confirmed outage window.

Useful phrases you can reuse:

• “Can you give me a quick update for the tracker?”
• “Is this on track, or is anything blocking it?”
• “If it’s delayed, what’s the revised timeline?”
• “Please let me know if I’ve missed anything.”