Every meeting produces something: a decision, a list of actions, or some ideas worth remembering.
A meeting takeaways slide is how you can capture those shared insights - either at the end of a long meeting or two-day event or when sharing with people who weren't in the room. You can also use a meeting takeaway slide when you have a series of meetings and want to remind folks "hey, what did we accomplish in the last meeting, before we dig into this one?"
In this post we'll walk you through seven formats and exactly when to use each one.
7 Meeting Takeaway Slide Formats – And When to Use Each
The Three-Column Summary Slide
Best for: General meetings, team updates, and presentations where you need a clean high-level recap
Use three-column summary slide when you want to capture the essence of a meeting in three clear categories. For example, the three columns could be: What We Discussed, What We Decided, and What Happens Next. The three-column layout is scannable at a glance and works for almost any meeting type. It's the most versatile format and a great default when you're not sure which other format to use.
Example: End of a weekly team meeting, a client status update, or a board presentation wrap-up where you want a single slide that covers the full picture
The Event Recap Slide Set
Best for: Company events, offsites, conferences, and team gatherings worth documenting
Use this event recap slide set for a meeting or event that is longer, and you need to share the outcomes either with those who weren't there or at a later meeting in a series. For example, going over what you decided in last year's retreat before you begin this year's. This multi-slide event recap captures who was there, what the highlights were, and the moments worth remembering. It's particularly valuable for all-hands meetings, leadership retreats, and client events where stakeholders who weren't present need to be brought up to speed.
Example: A company offsite recap shared with the broader team, a conference summary presented to leadership, or a client event debrief that documents participation and key moments
Numbered Takeaways
Best for: Information-dense meetings where you need to distill a lot into a memorable shortlist
Use this numbered meeting takeaways slide when your meeting covered a lot of ground and you need to give the audience a clear, prioritized summary of the most important points to remember. The numbered format signals that these are the things worth remembering: not everything, just the four things that matter most. It works equally well for decisions made, key highlights, or the top insights from a longer discussion. The ready-made layout we have has options for 3, 4, and 5 numbered takeaways.
Example: An executive briefing, a research readout, a strategy session recap, or any meeting where the volume of discussion needs to be compressed into a clear and memorable summary
Action Items Slide
Best for: Working meetings where the primary output is a list of tasks that need to happen
Use this action items slide when the meeting's main purpose was to assign work. An action items slide goes beyond a simple list by capturing not just what needs to happen but who owns it and by when. The key difference between this and a next steps slide is that action items typically come out of a discussion. They're things the group agreed on together rather than a pre-planned sequence.
Example: A project team meeting, a problem-solving session, a client call where deliverables were agreed, or any working meeting where accountability needs to be established before people leave
Who Said What: Quotes Slide
Best for: Events, panels, keynotes, and meetings where the specific words matter
Use this quotes slide when the value of the meeting was in the perspectives shared by the people in the room. A quotes slide captures the most memorable, insightful, or important things that were said. This could be quotes from customer interviews that would be really valuable to product developers, or it could be speakers or panelists sharing views that team members can learn from.
Example: A panel event recap, a customer research session summary, a leadership team discussion where strong viewpoints were shared, or any meeting where the voices in the room are part of the story.
Parking Lot Slide
Best for: Meetings where important topics came up that couldn't be fully addressed in the time available
Use this sticky note slide when your meeting generated more ideas, questions, or topics than you had time to cover. The parking lot captures these items visually so they're not lost, without letting them derail the current meeting's agenda. A sticky note or card-based layout works well here because it signals that these are items parked for later, not discarded. It also shows the team that their contributions were heard even if not addressed right away.
Example: A strategy session where tangential ideas kept coming up, a brainstorming meeting that generated more threads than could be explored, or any facilitated workshop where keeping the agenda on track meant setting some topics aside
Decisions Made Slide
Best for: Formal meetings where the record of what was agreed is as important as the action items
Use this decisions made slide when the meeting's primary output was a set of formal decisions rather than a task list. The decisions made format is distinct from action items because it captures what was resolved. This example layout is particularly helpful because it ties each decision with the issue it address or the reason it was taken. So if you have a leadership meeting where four important items were discussed, you could capture those four issues, along with the decision that came out of each. This type of slide can be particularly important in governance contexts where there needs to be a clear record of who decided what and when.
Example: A board meeting, a leadership team alignment session, a client approval meeting, or any formal meeting where the decisions themselves need to be documented and traceable
Quick tip: Leave your takeaways slide up on the screen with five minutes still remaining in the meeting, not just at the very end. Those five minutes give the room a chance to correct anything that was captured incorrectly, confirm ownership of action items, and leave with genuine shared understanding rather than everyone rushing to their next meeting before the slide even registers.
Want more? Take a look at all our recap slides.