Use Zoom's AI to Auto-Summarize SME Meetings

What This Does

Zoom's AI 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 Zoom Workplace account (meeting summary is included with eligible paid plans)
• You are the meeting host (the summary has to be started by the host)
• Meeting summaries are turned on in your Zoom account settings (Zoom web portal, Settings, AI section)

Steps

1. Turn on meeting summaries in your Zoom settings

Sign in at zoom.us and click Settings in the left menu. Look for the meeting summary controls in the AI section and turn on automatic meeting summaries, plus smart recording if you want both. Zoom used to call these features "AI Companion" and dropped that name in 2026, so older help articles and colleagues may still use the old term.

What you should see: The setting switched on. You may need to confirm your organization allows this feature. Troubleshooting: If you don't see any AI settings, your account admin may need to enable them 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 the summary during the call

Hover over the AI icon in the meeting controls (looks like a sparkle/star icon) → select the Meeting summary checkbox → click Start Zoom AI.

What you should see: A brief notification that Zoom AI 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. Zoom's AI 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 the AI weight that topic in the summary.

5. End the meeting and retrieve your summary

End the meeting → Zoom processes the summary 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 the meeting summary → 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. Zoom's AI 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.