How to take notes in a meeting [Full Guide]

Taking good notes during meetings is a critical skill that benefits both you and the other participants. Comprehensive, accurate meeting notes serve several important purposes:

• Retain key information discussed. It's impossible to remember everything covered in a meeting. Taking notes captures important points, decisions made, and tasks assigned so that valuable information isn't lost.
• Aid your own understanding and memory. The act of writing down information helps solidify learning. Reviewing your notes after a meeting also helps reinforce what was discussed.
• Share details with others. Meeting notes ensure that people who didn't attend are brought up to speed on relevant discussions and outcomes.
• Provide a record of what transpired. Meeting notes document important conversations, agreements, and planning that took place. They provide a paper trail that can be referred back to later.
• Focus your attention. Taking notes helps keep you engaged during meetings by giving you something active to do. It also helps ensure you are listening closely instead of being distracted.
• Help track progress on action items. Comprehensive notes that capture tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities allow you to follow up on important initiatives arising from a meeting.

In summary, taking complete, accurate notes is a valuable use of your time that pays dividends. These notes become an important reference and allow you to fully participate in and contribute to organizational initiatives arising from meetings.

Come prepared

Before attending the meeting, gather any documents, files, or background information that may be relevant. Having access to related materials will allow you to better follow along and take more meaningful notes.

Bring a notepad, laptop, tablet, or whatever you prefer to use for taking notes. Make sure you have pens, pencils, chargers, etc. By coming prepared with your preferred note-taking tools and resources, you’ll remove any obstacles to giving the meeting your full attention and capturing quality notes.

Some other tips for coming prepared:

• Review the meeting agenda ahead of time so you know what topics will be discussed.
• Charge devices fully or bring a charger so they don't die during long meetings.
• Bring water or snacks if the meeting will run over typical break times.
• Arrive early and get yourself settled.

Thorough preparation is key to taking great notes, as it allows you to fully focus on the discussion once the meeting begins. Do any legwork needed beforehand so your note-taking isn’t disrupted by missing materials or distractions.

To learn more, here's a blog post about effective meeting management stategies

Listen carefully

When taking notes in a meeting, it's important to listen carefully to the discussion so you can accurately capture the key points. Don't get distracted checking emails or phones. Focus your full attention on the conversation.

Listen for summaries of important points. Oftentimes, the meeting leader or participants will summarize conclusions reached or next steps decided. These summaries are crucial to note down.

Also listen closely for any action items or decisions that are made. Be sure to note who is responsible for completing the action item and by what date. Action items are one of the most important outcomes of meetings, so missing or inaccurately writing these down can cause problems.

In addition to listening for summaries and action items, try to note down key points made during open discussion. You don't need to frantically transcribe everything word-for-word. But do your best to listen closely and note the essence of what each person contributes.

By focusing intently on the discussion and noting down the most salient summaries, action items, and points raised, you'll end up with a clear record of the meeting that you can refer back to and share with others.

Take notes by hand and/or digitally

Taking notes by hand and digitally each have their own pros and cons to consider:

Handwritten Notes

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• Allows you to sketch diagrams, mind maps, or visuals to capture concepts. This can help with memory and recall.
• No distractions from digital devices and apps. Keep your focus on the discussion.
• Writing helps reinforce and synthesize ideas. The act of writing engages more senses.
• Easier to draw emphasis, star key points, use colors. Customize and organize however you want.
• No batteries needed. Always accessible, even without wifi or devices.
• Can be harder to organize neatly or keep legible if writing quickly.
• Risk of losing handwritten notes. Harder to search, share, and store long-term.

Digital Notes

• Notes are legible, searchable, easy to organize, highlight, and share instantly.
• Ability to record audio, images, or video from meeting to reference.
• Draw diagrams or visuals using sketching apps. Insert charts, graphs, or illustrations.
• Backup and access notes from anywhere. Store securely in the cloud.
• Link ideas digitally using wiki-style links and tags.
• Distractions from notifications/apps. Small screens constrain drawings and visuals.
• Typing can be slower than writing for some. Less sensory engagement.
• Equipment failure or poor connectivity can disrupt notetaking.
• Use AI meeting assistant to Transcribe Recordings and Generate Notes

Glyph AI is an meeting assistant software that can transcribe your meeting recordings, generate transcripts and meeting notes. Learn more.

The choice between handwritten or digital notes depends on your personal preference and meeting context. Many find mixing both methods provides the ideal balance. Use what allows you to focus best in meetings and refer back to your notes easily later.

Use shorthand and symbols

Taking notes verbatim in a meeting is difficult and inefficient. Using shorthand allows you to capture the key points faster. Common shorthand techniques include:

• Abbreviations - Shortened versions of longer words and phrases. For example, "w/" for "with", "b/c" for "because", "attn" for "attention", etc. Create your own abbreviations for commonly used terms.
• Symbols - Replace common words or phrases with a symbol. For example, "@" for "at", "&" for "and", "#" for "number", "!" for "important point", "?" for "question", etc.
• Omit vowels - Drop vowels from words to shorten them. For example, "dcmnt" for "document", "rpt" for "report", "tbl" for "table", etc.
• First letters - Use only the first letter of each word. For example, "CU" for "See you", "NYC" for "New York City", etc.
• Phonetic spelling - Spell words how they sound. For example, "nuf" for "enough", "thru" for "through", etc.

The key is consistency. Establish your own shorthand style and utilize it meeting after meeting. With practice, you'll quickly adapt to writing faster using abbreviations, symbols and shorthand techniques.

Capture key discussion points

During the meeting, pay close attention and note down the key points of the discussion. This will help you create a summary later.

• Note the main topics covered and the key points made about each one. Try to summarize the core ideas in a few words.
• Write down any important decisions made, conclusions reached, or actions agreed upon. Note who is responsible for each action item and the deadline.
• Document any open issues or questions that need follow-up after the meeting.
• Make a note of key data, facts, figures, or resources that are mentioned. These details are easy to forget later.
• If there are multiple speakers, identify who says what. Include initials or other ways to indicate different people.
• Note the outcomes of any votes or polls taken.

Capturing concise summaries of the discussion in real-time will help when you need to review, share or follow up on the meeting later. Distill the key information while it's fresh in your mind.

Note any open questions or unclear points

As the meeting progresses, be sure to flag any items that need follow up or clarification after the meeting. This may include:

• Questions that are brought up but not fully addressed in the meeting
• Points that seem vague, ambiguous, or confusing
• Issues that require additional research or input from others
• Decisions that are deferred or left open-ended
• Action items that lack clarity on owners or deadlines
• Don't be afraid to ask questions. Here's a guide to overcoming fear of asking question at work

Taking note of these open items will help drive follow-up work after the meeting to achieve clarity and closure. Be sure to highlight or flag these points in your notes so they are easy to revisit later. You may want to use asterisks, question marks, or another symbol to distinguish follow-up items from other notes.

Having a clear trail of open issues enables you to efficiently move forward after the meeting. You'll know exactly who needs to provide clarification on what topics before definitive next steps can be determined. Capturing these questions thoroughly during the meeting ensures important loose ends are not lost or forgotten.

Organize and highlight your notes

After the meeting, take some time to organize and highlight your notes so they make sense and can be easily referenced later.

• Group notes by agenda topic or discussion theme so related information is together. You can use headers, bullet points, or dividing lines to separate each set of notes.
• Highlight, underline, or star key points, action items, decisions, questions, or names that need follow up. This helps draw attention to the most critical pieces of information.
• Number items in a sequence if the order is important. For example, steps in a process that were discussed.
• Clarify any messy handwriting or abbreviated words so everything is legible.
• Add any relevant context or explanations if needed to ensure the notes make sense. For example, noting who made certain comments if there were multiple speakers.
• Cross out any duplicates or outdated information that was corrected or replaced during the meeting.
• Make a summary section at the end for quick reference later. List key takeaways, decisions, assignments or next steps.

Organizing and highlighting your notes this way makes them cleaner and easier for you or others to reference later on. It helps focus on the most relevant details from the meeting.

Review and clarify your notes after the meeting

Right after the meeting concludes, review your notes and make sure everything is legible and clear. If you took handwritten notes, this is a good time to type them up or organize them while the meeting is still fresh in your mind.

Go through your notes and fill in any gaps in information. Check with others who were at the meeting to fill in any key points you may have missed. Review any action items and unresolved issues to have a clear understanding.

Look for areas where you can expand on your notes by:

• Adding more context around decisions or discussion points
• Including relevant examples mentioned
• Summarizing outcomes of debates
• Completing abbreviated words or sentences

Clarifying your notes right after the meeting will help you and others refer back to them later on. It also shows you were engaged and focused on capturing the most important details during the actual meeting.

Share meeting notes with participants

After the meeting, ensure you send out a summary of the meeting notes to all participants. This helps get everyone on the same page on what was discussed and any outcomes or action items from the meeting.

You'll want to circulate notes soon after the meeting while everything is still fresh. Send the notes out via email or a collaboration platform like Slack or Microsoft Teams so there's a record of it.

Include relevant participants who may not have been present at the meeting, but who will be responsible for following up on action items.

Ask participants to review the notes and confirm that their understanding aligns with the outcomes and next steps. This allows attendees to clarify anything that may have been misinterpreted or missed in the notes.

Designate someone to compile any corrections or additional points into a final "official" record of the meeting. Maintain a master list of notes that can be referred to later on.

Sharing meeting notes helps get everyone on the same page while also providing visibility and accountability on tasks and objectives. It ensures outcomes are progressed and not forgotten.

With Glyph Meeting Assistant, you can share meeting recordings and note via link generated by the platform.

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Click here to learn more about The Warning Signs of Meeting Burn Out.