Use Zoom's AI to Auto-Generate Meeting Summaries

What This Does

Zoom AI Companion automatically transcribes your library meetings and generates a structured summary with key topics discussed, decisions made, and action items — delivered to your inbox within minutes of the meeting ending.

Before You Start

• Your Zoom account is on a paid plan (Pro, Business, or higher — AI Companion requires a paid plan)
• You're the meeting host or your organization admin has enabled AI Companion
• You have Zoom desktop app installed and updated

Steps

1. Find the AI Companion setting

Open the Zoom desktop app. Click your profile icon (top right) → Settings → AI Companion. Confirm that Meeting Summary is toggled on.

2. Enable it before your meeting starts

When scheduling a meeting, or when starting one immediately, click More in the meeting controls toolbar at the bottom. Select AI Companion → Start Meeting Summary. A notification appears in the meeting letting participants know a summary is being generated.

3. Review and use the result

When the meeting ends, Zoom emails you (and optionally participants) a summary. It includes: meeting overview, key topics, decisions, and action items with names attached. Edit the summary if needed, then paste it into your staff email, meeting notes document, or shared folder.

Real Example

Scenario: You just finished a 60-minute staff meeting covering summer reading program planning, a policy update on unattended children, and a budget discussion about a database renewal.

What you type/do: Before starting the meeting, enable AI Companion → Start Meeting Summary.

What you get: Within 5 minutes of ending the meeting, you receive an email summary like:

• Summer Reading Program: Planning begins April 1. Sarah to confirm theme with ALA by March 28. Marcus to contact school liaison.
• Unattended Children Policy: New policy effective April 15 — children under 8 must be with adult. Director to send staff memo.
• Database Renewal: JSTOR renewal decision needed by April 30. Director to pull usage stats and present to board.

Time saved: 45 minutes of post-meeting note-taking, every meeting.

Tips

• Remind participants at the start of the meeting that AI summarization is on — professional courtesy and required by most privacy policies
• You can also use AI Companion mid-meeting: ask "What has been discussed so far?" or "What action items have we agreed on?" in the AI Companion chat
• If action items are misattributed, you can edit the summary before distributing it

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.