How I Take Meeting Notes
Read on if you can’t decide between paper and digital notes
I spend 54% of my time in meetings. That’s a fair share of my time. Everything would be living inside my head without notes, and I’m pretty sure that’s not a great thing for my sanity.
I have tried different note-taking approaches, but I’m fairly happy with the one I am currently using, so here it is.
The format
Before explaining the process, let me introduce the format I use. I tried templates, but they tend to get in my way. It’s much easier when the notes follow the flow of the meeting. That’s why I use what I believe is the simplest way to take structured notes:
- Participants — The name and function of the people around the table. This one will help you should you follow-up.
- Discussion items — That’s the bulk of the meeting. Any topic that’s been discussed deserves its line.
- Next steps — Actionable, please!
As you see, the format is super straight-forward. Let’s now discuss the actual note-taking. It happens in two steps.
- Take written notes during the meeting.
- Type the notes once the meeting is over.
Written notes during meetings
I’m a huge fan of written notes. It’s fast, silent, and helps me to focus. If you need to present something with your computer you still can. You can strike out words, circle others, draw arrows. I’m much more likely to remember something if I write it down.
I usually scribble down as the meeting unfolds, starting with the participants. One discussion item per line. The goal is really to capture information as it passes.I’m not trying to get too structured. I use the page as a canvas to help me think and prepare my ideas. Whenever something pops in my mind I write it down so I can hang on to it and discuss it at the right time.
I have found that taking written notes allows me to be more engaged in the meeting and less distracted. If you have your screen on, you might receive an email, a slack message, or you might read an article on medium (are you!?)
Register the notes once the meeting is over
As soon as I get back to my desk and I’m done with the meetings, I take time to create a new note (Bear, Evernote or anything that suits you) and type what’s been discussed in the meeting. I use the format described above and make sure to include the dates as well.
It might seem like a big overhead but doing so yields some nice benefits:
- Share your notes — If someone wasn’t part of the meeting, you can still share your notes to them.
- Search — Having your notes on your computer means you can search in all of them
- Accessible everywhere — Given you use an application that syncs across devices, you can access all your notes directly from your phone while you are on the train, preparing for your next meeting.
Typing down notes is also the perfect time to put things in place. You can enter the next steps in your to-do application, you can update your knowledge base with new information you’ve learned. It’s a habit to take that slows you down, but consolidates your thoughts and allows you to move forward in a more structured way.
Wash, rinse, repeat
- Write the notes down
- Type them on your computer
- Your brain will thank you
