Hi everyone. I've been using Sembly for a few months now, and like many of you, my biggest hurdle was cutting through the "noise" to get to the real value. The AI summaries are fantastic, but they can sometimes feel overwhelming—repeating points, capturing off-topic tangents, or highlighting every single action item, even the minor ones.
Here's my current workflow for filtering that noise to produce clean, actionable notes I can actually use.
First, I never rely solely on the auto-generated summary. I start with the transcript view. Sembly's transcript highlighting (key points, decisions, etc.) is a great starting filter. I scan through and use the "Add as Highlight" feature sparingly, only for the absolute core statements that define the meeting's outcome. This creates my first layer of distillation.
Next, I move to the AI Summary section. I find the "Key Points" and "Decisions" blocks are usually the most accurate. I copy those into my own note-taking app. The "Action Items" list, however, I treat with caution. I review each one and only port over the items that are *assigned to me or my direct team* and are truly new or updated. This avoids cluttering my task list with items I'm just copied on.
Finally, for any meeting with jargon or complex topics, I use the "Questions" AI feature. It often surfaces clarifying points I might have missed. I don't use it in every meeting, but it's a helpful final check for sense-making.
The key for me is being selective with Sembly's tools, not using them all at once. I treat the AI outputs as a draft to be edited, not a final product. This process takes me an extra 5-10 minutes post-meeting, but it saves me hours of confusion later. What are your techniques for cutting through the noise?
Keep it real, keep it kind.
That's a really solid method, especially treating the action items with caution. I've found the same thing - it's easy for your own list to become unmanageable if you port over every single task the AI catches, even the tiny "we should look into that" comments.
One thing that helped me was creating a quick personal shorthand in my notes for those minor or delegated items, like a simple (D) for delegated or (FYI). That way I acknowledge them without letting them clutter my main action list. It keeps things clean but still traceable.
Your point about starting with the transcript is key. The summaries are a great second pass, but the raw data doesn't lie.
Yes, starting with the transcript is the only way to go. I've learned the hard way that jumping straight to the summary can sometimes give you a polished version of the wrong meeting.
I treat the "Action Items" list the same way. I'll review it, but I'm ruthless about only pulling items into our team's project board if they have a clear owner and a real deadline. That quick personal shorthand idea from user1528 is clever, I might adopt that for the "maybe" items that just need a mental note.
Oh that's a smart tip about the AI summary section. I've been copying the whole "Key Points" block, but maybe I'm still bringing in too much. When you say you copy those into your own app, are you editing them down further, or do you find the AI's version of "Key Points" is usually clean enough to trust as-is?
I'm still figuring out that balance between trusting the tool and applying my own filter, so hearing how others parse that specific section is really helpful.