A weak number in a spreadsheet is a private mistake. An invented "they mentioned budget pressure last quarter" is one you make out loud, to the client.
The agent walks into the room with you.
These four rules hold for chat prep and for the agent you will build: cite or omit; never put words in stakeholders' mouths; curate per meeting; verify before the room.
Core principles
- Cite or omit: every client-specific claim carries a source — file, email, chat, or web link with date.
- Never state what a stakeholder said or wants unless the source attributes it.
- Curate per meeting — about ten minutes gathering relevant recent sources, not your whole inbox.
- Verify before the room: trace claims that matter back to source; treat draft as researched hypothesis.
- Web findings are leads, not gospel — note recency and prefer primary sources.
Related course: Using AI for Research — four intentional modes
Check yourself
When may the prep doc state what a stakeholder wants or said?
Plausible is not sourced. Client meetings are where invented stakeholder views become career-limiting — attribute or leave it out.
Do this in Copilot
Review your Lesson 1 prep doc. Mark any claim without a source — fix or delete before you would use it.
Paste this into Copilot Chat and work through it before moving on.
Source audit
Review this meeting prep draft. List every client-specific claim as a table: claim, source, date, single-sourced (yes/no). Flag any claim without a source. Draft: [PASTE]
Did you run this in Copilot? Mark complete when you have tried it.
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