Large language models are starting to sit quietly behind the tools boards already use. Instead of separate experimental chatbots, LLMs are being woven into meeting portals, collaboration platforms and workflows that support directors and governance teams every day. For organisations that take governance seriously, the question is how to use these models to streamline board meeting management from agenda to minutes without weakening control.
Done well, LLMs can make board work faster and more focused. They can reduce repetitive tasks for corporate secretaries, help directors navigate long documents and preserve a clear record of decisions. Done badly, they can introduce new risks and confusion. This article looks at practical use cases across the meeting lifecycle, simple architectural ideas and the limits boards should recognise.
Why LLMs are a natural fit for board meeting management
Board meetings generate and consume large volumes of text. Agendas, briefings, policies, risk reports and minutes all rely on careful drafting. LLMs are well suited to this kind of work because they can:
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Summarise long documents into readable briefings.
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Draft structured text that follows templates and house style.
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Answer specific questions about past meetings or decisions.
Research on generative AI in knowledge work suggests major time savings in drafting and summarising tasks, with McKinsey estimating that these tools could automate a meaningful share of activities in areas such as operations, marketing and customer service. Their analysis of the economic potential of generative AI highlights that the biggest gains come when AI is embedded in existing workflows rather than bolted on as a side experiment.
For boards, that means integrating LLMs into the meeting process, not asking directors to copy and paste documents into public tools.
From agenda to minutes: where LLMs can help
The easiest way to see the value is to follow a typical meeting cycle and identify where LLMs can support each step.
1. Planning the agenda
Corporate secretaries spend significant time building agendas that align with annual calendars, committee cycles and regulatory requirements. LLM powered tools can:
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Suggest draft agendas based on previous meetings and recurring items.
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Check that key topics such as risk, audit, strategy and culture appear at the right frequency.
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Propose a logical ordering of items and approximate time allocations.
Humans still confirm priorities and add sensitive topics. The model provides a starting point and a simple sense check.
2. Preparing and reviewing board packs
Once the agenda is set, the work of compiling and reviewing packs begins. LLMs can help by:
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Generating concise executive summaries for long reports.
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Highlighting key metrics, trends and risk flags in management papers.
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Answering navigation questions such as where a particular risk was last discussed.
Directors maintain responsibility for reading these materials. The benefit is that they can identify the sections that deserve particular attention more quickly.
3. Supporting discussion during the meeting
In live meetings, LLMs can support the chair and secretary without interfering with the conversation.
Examples include:
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Real time capture of key points and actions in a structured note format.
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Quick retrieval of past decisions when questions of precedent arise.
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On the fly summarisation of complex options being considered.
None of this replaces human facilitation or judgement. It simply provides better memory and faster reference.
4. Drafting minutes and tracking actions
After the meeting, the pressure turns to producing accurate minutes and clear action lists. LLMs can:
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Turn structured notes or audio transcripts into draft minutes that follow the preferred template.
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Extract decisions, approvals and assigned actions into a separate tracker.
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Flag apparent inconsistencies between what was agreed and previous policies.
The corporate secretary still edits and approves the final record. The model reduces manual typing and helps ensure nothing obvious is missed.
Architectural choices that protect confidentiality
Because board materials are highly sensitive, architecture matters as much as features. Enterprise guidance on secure use of LLMs emphasises three principles: clear data boundaries, strong access control and transparent logging. KPMG, for example, recommends that organisations treat AI models as part of their broader technology risk framework, with explicit controls over prompts, data flows and retention in its guidance on responsible AI.
For board meeting management, that typically means:
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Using LLMs from within secure board portals or collaboration tools rather than public websites.
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Ensuring that documents stay in the organisation’s environment and that prompts are not used to train shared models without consent.
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Applying role based access so the model only works with documents that the user is already allowed to see.
Technical patterns such as retrieval augmented generation, where the model works with relevant excerpts pulled from a secure index, can also reduce the need to send entire packs to the model at once.
Limits and risk considerations boards should recognise
LLMs are powerful, but they are not infallible and they do not understand context in the way human leaders do. Boards should recognise a few clear limits.
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Hallucinations and errors
Models can generate confident statements that are wrong. Summaries and draft minutes must always be reviewed by humans. -
Bias and tone
If models are trained on data with particular biases, those biases can appear in summaries or suggested wording. -
Over reliance
Directors may be tempted to skim AI summaries rather than reading primary documents when time is tight.
Guidance from Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, which explores how AI is reshaping information work, notes that organisations gain the most when employees treat AI as a co-pilot and maintain control over final outputs. The report on AI at work stresses the importance of clear norms and training so that people understand when to trust, verify or override AI suggestions.
Practical steps to use LLMs responsibly in board work
To make the most of LLMs while protecting governance quality, boards and governance teams can take a few straightforward steps:
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Define the scope
Start with limited, well understood use cases such as drafting minutes and summarising long reports. -
Align with enterprise AI governance
Treat board use of LLMs as part of the organisation’s overall AI policy, including risk assessment, privacy and security requirements. -
Set human review rules
Require that any AI generated text in agendas, packs or minutes is reviewed and approved by a named person. -
Train directors and secretariat staff
Provide short briefings on how the tools work, what their limits are and how to read outputs critically. -
Monitor and adjust
Collect feedback on where LLMs save time, where they create confusion and how policies may need to evolve.
Over time, organisations can use specialised board meeting management platforms that integrate LLMs within a secure, governed environment rather than relying on ad hoc tools.
Keeping judgement at the centre
LLMs can streamline board meetings from agenda to minutes, but they cannot understand stakeholders, culture or long term risk in the way experienced directors can. The real opportunity is to let machines handle more of the text heavy work so humans have more time for questions, challenge and insight.
Boards that embrace LLMs with clear guardrails, sound architecture and a focus on human judgement will be better placed to manage complex agendas, stay on top of growing documentation and still meet their responsibilities for careful, independent oversight.