Recipe: Meeting Prep

Prepare for an upcoming meeting by gathering calendar context, relevant email threads, and attendee information. Optionally, run a gap analysis after the meeting to flag verbal commitments without a written trail and open threads that weren't raised.

Prerequisite: Read the use-spark base skill for command reference and filter syntax.

Access level required: read-only.

Steps

Step 1: Check the calendar

spark events --today

Identify the meeting to prepare for - note the topic, time, and attendees.

Step 2: Search for relevant email context

spark search "meeting topic or project name"

This returns up to 20 emails with full bodies, sorted by relevance. Read the most relevant threads for context.

Step 3: Look up attendees

spark contacts "attendee name"

Repeat for each attendee to gather their email and any other details.

Step 4: Check recent correspondence with attendees

spark emails --filter "from:attendee@co.com newer_than:14d"

Review any recent threads with the meeting participants for open items or unanswered questions.

Step 5: Flag unresolved threads to raise in the meeting

Check for open or unreplied threads with the attendees that may be worth bringing up:

spark emails --filter "from:attendee@co.com is:unreplied newer_than:14d"
spark emails --filter "to:attendee@co.com is:unreplied newer_than:14d"

Note any threads that look relevant to the meeting topic but haven't been resolved — these are candidates to raise during the discussion.

Step 6: Present the prep summary

Summarize for the user:

• Meeting: time, title, attendees
• Context: key points from relevant email threads
• Open items: unanswered questions or pending actions from recent correspondence
• Threads to raise: unreplied or unresolved threads with attendees that relate to the meeting topic
• Attendees: contact details for reference

Step 7 (optional, post-meeting): Meeting–email gap analysis

After the meeting, compare what was discussed against the email record to catch gaps. This step requires the meeting transcript to be available.

1. Read the transcript:

   spark meeting <id> --transcript --notes
   

   Extract topics discussed, commitments made, and decisions reached.

2. For each major topic, check whether it has an email trail:

   spark search "topic from meeting"
   

3. Flag two kinds of gaps:

   Discussed in meeting, no email trail — verbal commitments or decisions that may need a follow-up email to create a written record.

   Open email threads not raised in meeting — compare the unreplied threads from Step 5 against what was actually discussed. Flag any that seem relevant but weren't mentioned.

   Present gaps neutrally — not every gap needs action. Some things are intentionally verbal-only, and some threads are intentionally deferred.

Tips

• Run this 15-30 minutes before the meeting for fresh context.
• Use spark search rather than spark emails for topic-based context - search returns full bodies.
• If the meeting is recurring, check spark meetings --filter "subject:meeting-topic" for past transcripts.
• For large meetings, focus on the 2-3 most important attendees rather than looking up everyone.
• The is:unreplied filter is especially useful for surfacing threads that may have been forgotten — both before the meeting (things to raise) and after (things that were missed).
• For recurring meetings, running the post-meeting gap analysis regularly can reveal patterns where the same threads go unaddressed week after week.