How to Take Good Meeting Notes

The article treats meeting notes as a multi-stage process rather than a one-time task. It says meetings need structure, a designated scribe, careful listening, quick cleanup after the meeting, and a clear way to implement both information and action items.

Reading notes

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• Meeting notes matter because a meeting should not end with talk that is never solved, implemented, or recorded.
• The guide focuses on textual notes for meetings and calls, not on mind mapping.
• Good note taking has four stages: prepare, take notes live, review and tidy, and implement the notes.
• Preparation means having a structured agenda before the meeting and assigning one person as the scribe.
• The agenda can include the date, attendees, objectives, and a table for items, owners, and notes.
• The scribe should read the agenda before the meeting and ask questions in advance if something is unclear.
• During the meeting, the main task is to listen and capture the core of what is being discussed.
• The notes should focus on decisions, action items, and information that needs to be retained or recorded.
• The article recommends bullet points for general information and checkboxes for action items, with names and dates when needed.
• The scribe does not need to write down everything, only the highlights.
• Practice matters, and the article says it is fine to ask attendees to repeat something if the scribe missed it.
• Right after the meeting, the notes should be reviewed while the discussion is still fresh.
• At that stage, ideas can be condensed into single points, action items can be turned into checkboxes, and missing or unclear parts can be fixed.
• The final step is to implement the notes by reviewing them with the meeting owner and moving action items into a task system.
• Information can be stored in documents, wikis, or on the meeting agenda page if it is not permanent.
• The article says teams should have some system for storing information and making sure action items are actually completed.
• With a good process, the agenda itself should rarely need to be used again except for reference or reminders.