How to Ask AI Meeting Assistants the Right Questions During Meetings

In today’s fast-paced hybrid work world, tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot (often simply “Copilot”) that sit inside your meeting platform are dramatically changing how we interact in meetings. But having access to a powerful AI helper doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get maximum value. Much of the benefit comes down to how you ask it questions. If you pose vague, unfocused prompts, the answers will reflect that. On the other hand, well-crafted questions can turn Copilot into your strategic co-pilot during meetings.

In this post, we’ll walk you through why asking the right questions matters, what kinds of questions to ask during or after a meeting, and how to ask them effectively to improve clarity, decisions, alignment, and follow-up.

Why Asking the Right Questions Matters

There are several reasons why question-crafting is key when using an AI meeting assistant:

Better output when input is clear. The more context and clarity you provide, the better your results will be.
Aligns the AI to your meeting objective. If your meeting goal is to align on next steps, the AI needs to know that rather than simply being asked to “summarize the meeting.”
Time-savings and meeting efficiency. The sooner you can extract useful actions, decisions, or risks from the meeting content, the less time you spend sorting through what was discussed.
Promotes accountability and clarity. When you ask Copilot to list decisions and link them to owners and next steps, you reduce follow-up confusion.
Helps latecomers or those who missed the meeting catch up quickly. Copilot can summarize and highlight what matters, but only if you ask the right prompt.

What Kinds of Questions to Ask During & After Meetings

Here are categories of questions you should consider, plus sample prompts.

1. Clarification of discussion and decisions

These help you ensure everyone is aligned and the meeting doesn’t end with ambiguity.

“What were the key decisions made in this meeting?”
“Which topics generated disagreement, and what were the different viewpoints?”
“Where are we not yet aligned on this topic?”

2. Identification of action items and next steps

It’s easy to leave a meeting without clear next moves; asking helps fix that.

“List all the action items with responsible persons and due dates.”
“Which tasks were assigned to me and by when?”
“What immediate follow-ups should we schedule based on this discussion?”

3. Risk/issue spotting and unresolved questions

Asking the AI can surface things that may have been overlooked.

“What are the open questions or unresolved issues?”
“Where are potential risks in the proposal we discussed?”
“What assumptions did we make that need validation?”

4. Summarisation for latecomers or recaps

Good to give those who missed part of the meeting a quick catch-up.

“Provide a summary of what was discussed in the last 20 minutes.”
“Give me a table of discussion topics, decisions, and outcomes.”
“What did [participant name] contribute on topic X?”

5. Engagement and meeting improvement prompts

These are useful for improving future meetings.

“Based on the tone of this meeting, how engaged were participants and how could it be improved next time?”
“What follow-up questions should we ask at our next meeting on this topic?”
“What seemed to distract the group or slow progress during this meeting?”

How to Ask Questions Effectively: Best Practices

Let’s dig into how to prompt Copilot well so that you maximize clarity and usefulness.

1. Provide context and role instructions

Tell the AI what it is, and what you want it to do. For example:

“You’re the meeting facilitator’s assistant. In this meeting of the marketing team on Project Alpha, identify decisions, action items, and unresolved questions.”

Providing a role and context helps Copilot tailor its responses to your specific goals.

2. Be clear about output format

Tell the assistant how you want the answer delivered: bulleted list, table, or short summary. For example:

“Show this in a table with columns: Topic | Decision | Responsible | Due Date.”

Clear formatting instructions make the answer immediately usable.

3. Be specific and limit scope

Instead of “What happened in the meeting?”, use “What decisions were made in the last 15 minutes regarding budget?”
Specific prompts reduce noise and ensure the assistant focuses on what truly matters.

4. Ask follow-up or iterative questions

You don’t have to stop after one question. Use the first answer, then ask deeper questions. For example:

“Expand on the action item assigned to John — what’s the first step he needs to take?”

This iterative approach leads to richer insights and more practical takeaways.

5. Save effective prompts

When you discover prompts that produce great output, save them and reuse them across meetings. Over time, you’ll build your own “prompt library” that improves productivity and consistency.

6. Know the limitations

AI assistants like Copilot rely on transcripts, chat logs, and existing data. If a topic wasn’t discussed or transcribed, the AI may not capture it. Always validate the AI’s output, especially around important decisions or sensitive topics.

Putting It All Together: Sample Scenario

Imagine you’re midway through a project-status meeting and want to use Copilot to keep things on track.

Step 1 – Pre-Prompt:

“You’re an assistant for this meeting. We’re discussing Project X with team members A, B, and C. Focus on risk management and upcoming milestones.”

Step 2 – During meeting prompt:

“List the open risks identified so far, who raised them, and what mitigation was discussed.”

Step 3 – Immediately after meeting prompt:

“For each action item assigned, show the owner, due date, any dependencies, and what the first step is.”

Step 4 – Follow-up prompt for next meeting:

“Based on today’s meeting, suggest three questions we should open with next time to check alignment and progress.”

By following this flow, you maximize the value from the AI assistant — turning a passive summarizer into an active enabler of clarity and execution.

Using an AI meeting assistant like Copilot is a powerful advantage — but only if you know how to ask the right questions. By being specific, providing context, defining output formats, iterating on prompts, and building a personal prompt library, you can turn the tool into a true productivity booster rather than just a passive recorder.

Next time you’re in a meeting, pause and ask yourself: What do I specifically want this assistant to help with right now? Then craft your prompt accordingly. Over time you’ll find that Copilot helps you surface insights faster, capture decisions more accurately, and follow up more effectively.