I’d give AI a specific preparation job: read these documents and help me understand what we need to decide. Asking for a summary alone leaves it guessing which parts matter to you.
Tell it what the meeting is for.
Let’s use an illustrative example. You’re choosing between two suppliers. You have their proposals, the requirements you sent them, and notes from the calls. The meeting needs to identify which proposal fits and what still needs clarification.
Use material you’re allowed to put in the chosen tool. Label the documents clearly. Explain who the brief is for and name the decision. If a proposal has been replaced, leave the old version out or mark it as outdated.
Ask for the comparison you need.
I’d start with a short comparison table. Ask it to separate the proposals’ statements from its own interpretation. It should be able to say that something is missing.
Source references matter here. You want to be able to open the relevant passage when a claim looks surprising.
Compare these two proposals against our requirements. Create a table with columns for requirement, supplier a, supplier b, and unanswered questions. Cite the document and relevant section for each factual claim. Where a proposal does not specify something, write ‘not specified’. Finish with the questions we should ask before deciding.
Check the passages that could change the decision.
Open the source for each important difference. A monthly price and a one-off setup fee are different things. ‘Support included’ may cover different hours. A suggested delivery date is not necessarily a commitment.
If the comparison gets one of those wrong, ask it to correct that row using the wording in the proposal. Keep the unresolved point visible rather than letting a neat table make it look settled.
- Are the costs being compared on the same basis?
- Are exclusions and conditions still included?
- Does the source actually support the statement?
- Which questions still need an answer from the supplier?
Add what you know from the conversations.
You may know that a requirement has changed or that someone made a commitment after sending the proposal. Add that information and say where it came from. The tool only has the context you give it.
Then ask for a one-page meeting brief: the decision, the main differences, and the questions to settle. Read it before sharing it. You now have a document to discuss and the evidence behind it.
Pick an upcoming meeting and write down the decision it needs to produce. Use that sentence to guide the briefing. It will help you decide what belongs in it.
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