Use Zoom's AI to Auto-Summarize SME Meetings

What This Does

Zoom's AI Companion automatically summarizes your SME kickoff and content-gathering calls — capturing key topics, decisions, and action items — so you can lead the conversation instead of furiously taking notes.

Before You Start

• You have a Zoom Pro, Business, or higher account (AI Companion is included)
• You are the meeting host (AI Companion must be enabled by the host)
• AI Companion is enabled in your Zoom account settings (Zoom web portal → Settings → AI Companion)

Steps

1. Enable AI Companion in your Zoom settings

Go to zoom.us → Sign in → click Settings in the left menu → find the AI Companion section → toggle on Meeting Summary and Smart Recording if you want both.

What you should see: A toggle that turns blue when enabled. You may need to confirm your organization allows this feature. Troubleshooting: If you don't see AI Companion settings, your account admin may need to enable it at the admin level first.

2. Start your SME meeting as host

Open Zoom → click New Meeting or use your scheduled meeting link → start the call.

What you should see: The standard Zoom meeting controls at the bottom of the screen.

3. Start AI Companion during the call

Click the AI Companion button in the meeting controls (looks like a sparkle/star icon) → select Start Meeting Summary → click Start when prompted.

What you should see: A brief notification that AI Companion is now summarizing the meeting. Participants are notified that meeting summary is on.

4. Run your SME interview normally

Ask your questions, let the SME talk — you don't need to take notes. AI Companion is capturing everything in the background.

Tip: If the SME says something especially important, you can say "Let me make note of that" out loud — this helps AI Companion weight that topic in the summary.

5. End the meeting and retrieve your summary

End the meeting → AI Companion processes for 1–3 minutes → you receive a Summary email to your Zoom account email with:

• Key topics discussed
• Decisions made
• Action items (with names attached)
• Next steps

What you should see: An email with the subject "Meeting Summary: [meeting name]" within a few minutes of ending the call.

6. Use the summary as course content input

Copy the summary into your storyboard document or design plan. The key topics become your module content list; the action items become your project follow-ups.

Real Example

Scenario: You have a 90-minute kickoff with a compliance SME for a HIPAA training course.

What you do: Start AI Companion → lead the interview with your standard discovery questions → end the call.

What you get:

Time saved: 60–90 minutes of note-taking and transcription, replaced by a 5-minute summary review.

Tips

• Forward the summary email to the SME immediately after the call — it serves as a shared understanding document and catches any mismatches before you spend days building on wrong assumptions
• If the SME says something highly specific (a number, a regulation code, a specific policy name), verify it from the summary against the actual document — AI Companion transcribes accurately but occasionally mishears specialized terms
• You can also enable Smart Recording to get the full transcript if you want to go back and find exact quotes

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