Learning how to take meeting notes is an important skill for individuals to master. There will be many times that you need to make notes including times of study or when you are in a meeting and need to action items. Learning how to take meeting notes can be required in social settings if you are on a committee or in a more formal role as a clerk to a committee like school governors.
Being able to take good meeting notes will stand you apart from others and help you to be more visible which in turn can lead to greater confidence in your abilities for both yourself and for those you work with. Furthermore taking better notes is a key business skill that will improve your communication with other team members and create a meaningful record of knowledge for your company and yourself.
What are meeting notes?
Put simply meeting notes, are the notes that you take during a meeting of any kind, be it a work business meeting or a more personal informal meeting. In a broader sense they can include notes you take for yourself when you are in a situation where you want an accurate account of what has been said. Taking notes is also key for students when they are at university or attending seminars.
Meeting notes usually include quick references to important points raised or discussed during the proceedings. You can cover important details, key points, key ideas, deadlines, goals, obstacles, etc. in your notes. They provide the key takeaways or main points from important discussions and provide a written record of the entire meeting.
Why taking meeting notes matter
Learning how to take meeting notes matters for many reasons. If someone is not at the meeting the notes should tell them all they need to know. Non-attendees will be able to read your good notes and come away with the same information as those who did attend — this saves everyone time, is an effective way of updating everyone and often reduces follow-up meetings. You may also be asked to be the note taker at a board meeting or at informal meetings in order to disseminate basic notes to those not present. If you are representing your team or someone else then try to record as much information as you can and make sure you get the important things down.
Learning how to take meeting notes
Taking notes in a meeting is the best way to ensure that you walk out with all of the information ready to go when you need to look back on it. Notes are a vital tool for study but also for when it comes to keeping up with a fast-paced work environment. Learning how to take notes in a team meeting is your best tool for making an impression and allowing you to process the information again later so you don’t miss any important responsibilities you have.For those looking to simplify the process, exploring Read.ai alternatives can be a great starting point. These tools are designed to help capture meeting discussions accurately and organise them effectively, saving time while improving the quality of your notes. Many of these platforms also offer features like automated transcription or shared access, which can make it easier to collaborate with team members and ensure everyone stays on the same page.
Taking notes in a meeting can help you process the information, especially if you are a kinesthetic learner. We all have different learning styles which help us retain information. A Brainstorming session is another great technique when making detailed notes. When you know that you are taking notes at a meeting ensure that you get a copy of the meeting agenda in good time so that you can prepare for the meeting, especially if a lot of people are attending, as you will want to familiarise yourself with what is coming up in the discussion.
If you know the topic make an outline before the meeting
Often prior to a meeting, the agenda items are set out and if you know what your meeting is going to be about you can set up an outline for your general notes. Literally set up meeting note templates that are broken into relevant sections. This allows you to make the most of your time in the meeting by simply filling in your outline sections as the meeting goes on. This is a great way to allow you to use a pop of colour in your notes to make them more readable but only really works if you have information ahead of the meeting, think of it as a mind map approach.
Write down questions
It is easy to forget any questions you may have while the speaker is talking. A good way to stop this from happening is to write down any questions you have in your notes. As the meeting goes on, fill in the answers to your questions in real time. When asked if anyone has questions you can then pull up the unanswered questions from your notes to ask and fill in.
Asking questions in a meeting is a great way to ensure that you have all of the information and even get attention to you as an employee that can help you on your career path. Be sure to phrase your questions well, highlighting important information as clearly as possible when you present them out loud.
Use symbols as notation marks to highlight important points
When taking notes in a meeting you can’t really go all out with coloured pens, highlighters and other tools that help to make it quick and easy to scan over your notes. Instead, you will need to rely on symbols that allow you to scan the notes when you go back over them.
Placing a question mark both before and after a question in your notes can make them easier to find in your notes by scanning down the left margin.
Underlining important vocabulary that you may need to look up when you have a moment later or you simply want to draw your eye back to later.
Use stars to highlight important information or key decisions that you need to go back to when you are going over your own notes.
Add the name of the speakers with any important quotes from people in the room other than the main speaker. This will allow you to address any questions about that topic to the original speaker. This not only helps you get the right answers by asking the right person but also makes it clear to your coworkers that you pay attention to them and are willing to work with them.
Make use of scannable additions to your notes like headers separating major points of information. Add in bullet points under headers for small notes on the topic that can then be explored further after the meeting. These can help make it quick and easy to make effective notes even in a fast-paced meeting.
Use shorthand to record relevant information
Meetings often move quickly and can be hard to keep up with when taking notes. Learn how to use shorthand or create your own shorthand for your notes to allow you to keep up with the room while still jotting down important information. When the meeting ends, you can go back and make more effective meeting notes that are more organized notes that you can look back on later and share with meeting participants.
Pay attention to the speaker’s body language to use as a cue for when to make a note.
When presenters in a meeting are giving off cues like taking a look up at their presentation screen when it is not during a transition they are signalling through body language that they want to make sure they do not miss an important point that they know is coming up. You can use this subdued signal to tell you that part of this presentation has Important information that you should add to your meeting notes for future reference.
Add a space for important calendar information
Keeping a space in your notes where you can write down future meetings, dates, and times is a great way to make it easy to find this information. Keeping these separated from your other notes is the best way to make the most of your note space and save you the hassle of skimming through your notes for this information when you need to add it to your calendar or planner. Alternately you can keep your planner on hand and simply jot this down directly to your calendar in a new note right away.
Where to keep the meeting notes
Meeting notes can be kept in a shared area which ensures that people can access them easily. Many meeting notes are kept in a shared folder may be Google docs as a Microsoft word doc that people can access at their own leisure.
After the meeting
Once the meeting has finished reread your handwritten notes to check for accuracy. If they are official meeting minutes there is a set format where you will also need to record who was present and the time the meeting started and ended. In the next meeting, the notes will be relied on and used to check if all actions have been carried out.
If they are more informal notes make sure that the important topics have been covered and that they are ready to be shared with the right people.
We hope these steps help you learn how to take better meeting notes under pressure that will help you retain information for a later time. If you are heading into a meeting it is important to be prepared. Using these techniques and best practices can also help students as they organise their note-taking during seminars. Check out more posts on how to revise and learning styles.
