Meeting Note Taking Tips

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I take notes in every meeting I attend. Even if I am not responsible for note taking, I take notes. It is now a habit and I know that I have better retention of what was discussed if I take my own notes.

Below are tips for taking productive and easy to reference meeting notes. The tips are primarily from a project manager's perspective in that my method for note taking assumes ownership for all follow-up items, of all meeting attendees, not just myself. 

The tips can be used when taking notes on a computer or handwritten in a notebook. From a not-duplicating-work perspective, I prefer to take notes on my computer because I am inevitably going to transcribe them into Evernote and/or email after the meeting. However, from an etiquette perspective, I prefer handwritten because no one will worry that I am checking my email or responding to IMs (we've all done it, it's very rude, stop it).

Before the Meeting:

  • Add meeting name and date to the top of the notes
  • Write down attendees
  • Create 3 sections: Notes, Action Items, Outstanding Questions
    • Since you do not know how many notes will be taken in each section, if you are taking notes by hand, I recommend having separate sheets of paper for each section

During the Meeting:

  • Write down any key information, comments, and/or opinions in the notes section
  • Add a note to Action Items EVERY TIME someone says they are going to do something or asks you or someone else to do something
    • Key phrases to listen for are "I will send that to you after this meeting" or "Jessie will follow-up with that" or "We will send you a soft copy of this presentation"
  • Add a note to Outstanding Questions if a question arises and is not answered during the meeting
    • Key phrases to listen for are "I have to look into that" or "Let me get back to you"

After the Meeting:

  • Send recap of all three note sections to all attendees and ask attendees to validate the notes are correct and comprehensive
  • Follow-up individually with those attendees who are responsible for action items
  • Track down answers to any outstanding questions and respond to appropriate attendees
SAMPLE MEETING NOTES

SAMPLE MEETING NOTES

I do not mark my "Meeting Follow-Ups" to-do list item as complete until all action items and outstanding questions have been addressed. I use the checkbox feature in Evernote to keep track of the status of each item.

What other tricks do you use to take notes during a meeting? Let me know in the comments section below!