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Taking Notes in Meetings - Tips?

I've got one of our every other month meetings coming up in a couple of weeks, and I thought I'd seek out some tips for taking notes. My preferred note taking tool is OmniOutliner, and I'll sometimes use MindManager for brainstorming during meetings. My OO notes are pretty much "stream of consciousness", just capturing what's said as it's said. I go back after the meeting and review the notes for action items. MM and OO have worked pretty well for me, but I'd like to hear how other people take notes in meetings. Thanks!

birwin's picture

Thanks for the tips. I’ve

Thanks for the tips. I've tried paper but it just doesn't work for me for a number of reasons:

  • I can type a lot faster than I can write. Someone noted that if I wrote by hand, I'd be more involved in the meeting. My experience has been just the opposite. I'm much more involved if I'm on a computer, as I take less time taking notes. I have better eye contact with all participants if I'm on a computer, because I don't have to look at the computer as much when I'm typing. I have to look at the paper the whole time I'm writing by hand in order to stay in the lines. :) Furthermore, everyone at our meetings has a laptop open, so I'm not the only one.

  • My hand gets crampy after writing for a while, even after trying every ergonomic pen and writing technique out there. (This problem is probably due to my very limited range of wrist flexion, an anatomical quirk I was born with.)

  • Since I got a laptop, I've made a goal of going as paperless as possible. If my notes are going digital eventually, why not just take them digitally? Transcribing them after the fact was, for me, a waste of time.

 
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