What to put in a session recap

Vikrant Singh·June 18, 2026·6 min read

Vikrant Singh is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Slide Practice. He writes about running a one-to-one practice.

A session recap is the short summary you send the client after a session. Get it right and it does real work between sessions. Here is the handful of things it should contain, what to leave out, and a checklist you can copy.

A recap is not your notes

These two things get mixed up all the time, and mixing them up is where most recaps go wrong. So it is worth being clear from the start.

Your notes are private. They are for you. They hold your observations, your hunches, the themes you are tracking across sessions, the things you want to try next time. No one else reads them. (If you want a method for those, see how to write coaching session notes.)

Your recap is the opposite. It is the client facing summary you send after the session. The client reads it, keeps it, and ideally acts on it. It is a short, plain record of what happened and what comes next.

The test is simple. If a line would feel strange for the client to read, it does not go in the recap. It goes in your notes. Keep them as two separate documents and you will never have to second guess what to share.

What a recap should contain

A good recap is short. Five parts cover almost every session, and you can drop any that do not apply that day.

1. What you covered

One or two lines. Not a transcript, just the headline. "We worked through the conversation you have been avoiding with your business partner." This grounds the rest of the recap and reminds the client what the session was actually about.

2. The key insight or shift

Most sessions have one moment that mattered more than the rest. Name it. "You realized the deadline is not the problem, the lack of a clear no is." This is the line clients screenshot and come back to. If nothing shifted, it is fine to say what you explored instead.

3. The action items, with dates

This is the part that earns the recap its place. What did the client agree to do, and by when? Be specific and put a date on each one. "Draft the email to your partner by Thursday" beats "work on the partner thing." A vague action item is one that quietly does not happen.

4. Any resources you promised

If you said you would send an article, a worksheet, or an intro, include the link or the file right here so it is in one place. If you have not sent it yet, note that it is coming. Small reliability adds up.

5. The next step or next session

Close the loop. When is the next session, and what will you pick up? "Next time, Tuesday at 2, we start with how the conversation went." The client leaves knowing exactly what happens next, which is a quietly reassuring thing to feel.

What to leave out

What you cut matters as much as what you keep. A recap stays useful by staying lean.

• Your private interpretations. Your read on why the client keeps avoiding the hard thing belongs in your notes, not in a document you hand them. Sometimes a gentle observation helps. A hunch you are not sure of does not.
• Sensitive asides. If a client mentioned something personal in passing and it is not part of the work, leave it out entirely. Putting it in a recap can feel exposing even when you meant well.
• A play by play. A recap is not a transcript. The longer it gets, the less likely the client is to read it. If you find yourself writing the third paragraph, you have probably crossed from recap into notes.

A short example

Here is what a recap can look like when it is doing its job. Short, specific, easy to act on.

Hi Dana, good session today. We worked through the conversation you have been putting off with your business partner, and you landed on something useful: the deadline is not really the problem, the missing clear no is.

Before next week: draft the short email setting the boundary by Thursday, and note one moment where you said yes when you meant no. I will send the boundary setting worksheet I mentioned by tomorrow.

Next session is Tuesday at 2. We will start with how the email landed.

Notice what is not there. No analysis of why Dana avoids the conversation, no mention of the family thing she brought up halfway through, no minute by minute account. Those live in the private notes. The recap is just the part Dana can use.

A checklist you can copy

Copy this and keep it near where you write recaps. Run down it before you hit send. If a line does not apply that day, delete it rather than padding it.

SESSION RECAP CHECKLIST

WHAT WE COVERED
- One or two plain lines. The headline, not the transcript.

THE KEY SHIFT
- The one thing that mattered most, in their words where you can.

ACTION ITEMS (with dates)
- What:
- By when:
- (Repeat for each. No date means it will not happen.)

RESOURCES I PROMISED
- Link or file, included here. Note if it is still coming.

NEXT STEP
- Next session date and what we will open with.

BEFORE YOU SEND, CHECK:
- Would the client be comfortable reading every line? If not, move it to your private notes.
- Is it short enough to read in under a minute?
- Does every action item have a date?

Let the recap write itself

Writing a good recap after every session is a small task that adds up fast across a full week. That is the part Slide Practice was built to take off your plate. You record or upload the session, and it drafts the recap, the action items, and a follow up email in about a minute. You review it, fix anything that is off, and send. The structure above is roughly what it aims for, so the draft lands close to ready.

It keeps the line between recap and notes clear: the recap is what goes to the client, and your private notes stay yours. Your sessions and your client data belong to you, and recording is consent first. Slide Practice is live. Founding access is open now. The first 30 founding practitioners get Pro at $19 a month for the first 12 months, then $29.99. Slide takes no commission, on any plan, ever.