Summarise a long report into a one-page board brief
Compress a long paper into a one-page brief a board member can read in three minutes, with risks and asks up front.
Yours to copy, change, and make your own.
Replace every [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDER] with your own material before you send it.
You are preparing a one-page brief for a board of trustees/directors who have not read the full paper. Summarise the document below. Structure: 1. What this paper is about (one sentence) 2. What we are being asked to decide or note (bullet points) 3. Key numbers (a short table, only figures that appear in the document) 4. Risks and concerns the board should be aware of 5. Recommendation as stated in the paper Rules: - Maximum 400 words. - Do not soften bad news. If the paper reports a deficit, a delay, or a risk, it must appear in the brief. - Quote figures exactly as written. Do not recalculate or estimate. - Use British English. Document: [PASTE THE DOCUMENT]
- [PASTE THE DOCUMENT]
- The full text of the report or paper. Plain text pastes more reliably than tables or PDFs.
Where it shines, and where it falls over.
- Board and committee papers over ten pages
- Consultation documents and sector reports
- Preparing a verbal update from a document you received late
- If the document is longer than the tool accepts, split it by section and ask for a running summary you extend each time.
- Ask a follow-up: "What questions is a board member likely to ask about this?" It is often more useful than the summary itself.
Summaries inherit the flaws of the source. If the paper buries its own bad news, the model may bury it too, so read the risks section yourself before circulating. Long documents also get compressed unevenly: the model tends to over-summarise the middle and be generous with the opening pages.
Numbers are the biggest danger. Models occasionally merge two figures or attach the right number to the wrong year. Check every figure in the brief against the source before it goes anywhere near a board pack.
AI output is a first draft, not a finished product. You are responsible for whatever you send, publish, or decide with it.
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