Taking notes in meeting, 6 reasons to be hooked

Taking notes in meetings is more than important, it’s fundamental. Here are 6 good reasons to take notes to have a better meeting in the end.

1. An essential reminder

In meetings, we often say to ourselves: I’m not going to take notes, I’m going to remember! However, there comes a time to remember what it was all about, nothingness! Nothing comes. To rectify this, it is important to take notes in order to practice your memory. You can also practice your brain, by playing games developed for this purpose: brain training games here.

2. Help to stay focused

Taking notes helps to stay focused and attentive. It also helps to have a better understanding of what is being said.

3. Better Understanding

Write down your questions/questions immediately and come back to them later to clarify any issues with other participants.

4. Collaboration of all the team

When using meeting management software, collaborative note-taking allows all team members to be actively involved and help each other with a team task.

5. Confirm or deny the facts

Whether it is for decisions that are questioned, tasks that are assigned but put on the back burner, an interrogation or simply to remember something, because the meeting took place centuries ago, note-taking allows you to keep a record of what was said.

6. Quickly write the minutes of meeting

When notes are well taken and transcribed quickly after the meeting, you can save a lot of time. Even more, if your notes are already in digital format.

Some quick tips to make note-taking easier

• Write the date, the topics of the meeting, and the objectives.
• Get a notebook that you will use only for meetings. Otherwise, get a note-taking application that is easy to find, or better yet, use a meeting management software where all your meeting notes will be kept.
• Keep it short and write short sentences: write down important words and key ideas only. Try to write a sentence for each point discussed.
• Write your questions: When you have a question, write it down. If you get the answer during the presentation, so much better. If not, clarify this point before the closing of the meeting.
• Abuse the use of keywords, common abbreviations (lib for library), acronyms (A.S.A.P), common signs (= +) personal abbreviations (B/C for because). All this is very useful especially when you listen to a speaker who talks too fast!

Do you want to improve the art of taking notes? I strongly suggest you to read the following blog: 7 steps to take good meeting notes.