Get a prep doc a few minutes before each meeting

How this helps you

You walk into each meeting knowing who's there, why, and what you owe them.

✦ Try it

Set up a routine every weekday at [time] to go through my calendar for the day and make a prep doc for each meeting: who's attending, why we're meeting, recent emails with them and anything I promised. Send me each doc [minutes] minutes before the meeting starts. Skip [meetings to skip].

Fill in: [time] is when it runs each morning. [minutes] is the lead time. [meetings to skip] could be focus blocks or recurring internal standups.

What they did

Nat from Founders School admits he sometimes arrives at meetings unsure why he's there. So he asked his Bot for a morning routine that goes through his calendar and makes a prep doc for each meeting, sent to him a few minutes before it starts. The Bot reads the day's Google Calendar and pulls context from his email and other connected apps for each meeting. He pairs it with a morning routine that drafts replies to overnight email and saves them as Gmail drafts.

Who it's for: People with back-to-back meetings who walk in without context.

Before you start

Calendar connected (Google Calendar in the video).
Email connected, plus any notes or CRM apps you want it to read.

How to try it

Connect your calendar and email.
Paste the prompt below into the Bot that handles your schedule.
Check the routine's details: time, time zone and what it reads.
Use Test to try it once, then read the prep doc it makes.
Tell it what to add or drop, such as last notes with this person or open tasks.

What to expect

In the video the Bot confirms the routine and explains it will pull context from his calendar, email and connected apps and send the doc before each meeting.

Common mistakes

Prepping every calendar block, including lunch and focus time. Tell it what to skip.
Not checking the time zone. Routines use your Bot's time zone setting.
Only reading email. Connect your notes or CRM if that's where the context lives.

Related tips

Keep an attention list instead of a priority list: An hourly routine reads your email, Slack, meetings and calendar and keeps a short list of what you are actually working on. Other Bots use it as a filter.
Triage and reply to email from the chat: Ask for a brief of emails that need replies, then answer them in one line each.
Keep routines one line long: The schedule says when. The skill says how.
Have a Bot update your CRM after every call: Your Bot reads call notes, email and Slack for an account and proposes the CRM updates; you approve them instead of typing them.
Have your Bot set phone alarms for today's meetings: Connect Calendar and Alarms on your phone, then a daily routine sets an alarm for each meeting.