Walking into a meeting cold costs the first ten minutes. In Claude Cowork this skill assembles the brief from the user's real calendar and files — the event, who's in the room, what's attached, and where the last conversation left off — so they arrive with the context already in hand.
What This Skill Produces
- The meeting-brief artifact — objective, attendees with why-they-matter, the relevant context pulled from real docs/threads, open decisions, and a short list of questions to drive
- A pre-read pack — links to the actual Drive docs and the last thread, so nothing needs re-finding mid-meeting
- The one thing to decide — the single outcome that makes the meeting worth holding
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- Which meeting — the next one, a named event, or a time ("my 2pm")
- The user's role in it — chairing, presenting, or attending — the brief's angle follows
- Depth — a 30-second glance or a full pre-read
Framework: What a Brief Must Answer
- Why are we meeting — the objective in one line; if it can't be stated, the meeting is the problem.
- Who's here and why — each attendee's stake and likely position.
- Where we left off — the last decision/blocker from the real thread, not memory.
- What must be decided — the outcome; everything else is discussion.
- What the user should ask — 3–5 questions that move it forward.
Execution (Cowork)
- Find the event — via the Google Calendar connector, resolve the meeting (next, named, or by time). Read title, description, attendees, and any attached links.
- Gather context — open the attached Drive docs; via Gmail/Slack connectors, pull the most recent thread with those attendees on this topic. Read, don't guess.
- Synthesise — fill the five questions above from what was actually found; mark anything you couldn't find as a gap rather than inventing it.
- Emit the artifact — the one-page brief with live links to the sources.
- Offer the next action — e.g. "draft an agenda from this?" — but don't take it unasked.
Guardrails: cite the real source for every claim; never fabricate an attendee position or a decision that isn't in the material; if a connector is unauthorised, produce the brief from what's available and name the gap.
Output Format
A Meeting Brief artifact:
[Meeting title] · [time] · [chair/present/attend]
Objective: one line · Decision needed: the one outcome
Attendees
| Person | Stake / likely position |
|---|
Context (from the real thread & docs)
- key point — source: [doc/thread link]
Open threads / blockers
- …
Questions to ask
- …
Pre-read
- [doc/thread links]
Quality Checks
- Every context point cites a real Calendar/Drive/Gmail/Slack source
- Attendee positions are drawn from material, not invented
- The single decision-needed is stated
- Gaps (couldn't find X) are named, not papered over
- Links resolve to the actual documents
Anti-Patterns
- Inventing attendee views to fill the table — mark unknowns.
- A brief with no decision — then question whether the meeting should happen.
- Summarising a doc you didn't open — read the real file or flag it missing.
- Auto-creating an agenda or sending anything without being asked.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "Prep me for my next meeting in Cowork."
- "Get me ready for the 2pm with the design team."
- "What do I need for the sync with Acme tomorrow?"
- "Pull the context for my 1:1 and give me questions to ask."