Have you ever been through a meeting where you forgot the important points once you leave through the door? If you have been there, then worry no more. You can easily overcome this problem by brushing up your notes taking skills. Read below to find out how.
- Use A Pen And Paper
Many people like using their laptop or tablet to take notes during a meeting, as it becomes easier to edit and organize the points.
But this practice is against you. People who take notes on the laptop usually type word to word precise notes whereas people who use pen and paper stick to the key points. Laptops or tablets increase the clutter, instead of providing you relevant information.
- Use Shorthand Techniques
Shorthand is an entire writing system that is used exclusively for taking notes. This technique is used by people who take a lot of notes like stenographers, and admin assistants. By using the shorthand technique, you can easily type 225 wpm, once you get perfect at it. The downside is that you will have to accustom yourself to a slightly different handwriting called scribbling, which can take some time.
- Use Codes To Simplify Your Message
If you have a scheduled meeting in the next few days, then you don’t have enough time to learn shorthand. You can speed up your writing speed using simplified codes.
If there is an important topic, use an exclamation mark (!) in front of it.
If there is a question, you can use a question mark (?) after it. For example, “Sara? When is the event due”
Use abbreviation whenever possible. Minimum becomes min, maximum becomes max, instantly becomes isn’t, and so on.
- Use Bullet Journals
Bullet journals have their coding system, so you can follow them easily to take your meeting notes.
- Record Your Meeting Procession
One approved method of taking meeting notes is to record the entire session and share its audio format with the rest of the attendees. Meeting notes are sometimes overlooked by busy employees as they don’t usually read them. Listening to them is a far better option. Voice is more appealing and can be played any other time to regain the essence. Many companies are now using this method to record private meetings and this is also an important way to communicate with the team internally.
Final Word
Taking meeting notes is really easy. Irrespective of the fact if you are penning down the meeting minutes or taking keynotes, it’s very important to keep them organized. Following the simple rules mentioned above will avoid your important points from turning into an illegible mess. Good notes taking skills don’t mean you have to note every detail word to word. It’s all about how you summarize the essentials into a few sentences that reflect the essence of the meeting. When you learn to do that, you will be able to take good meeting notes in no time.