Meeting Agenda: Brainstorm ways to target Gen Z customers and analyze their buying patterns to boost our sales. Tomorrow, we will: Discuss which of our brands are performing the best. Review trends that our customers follow. Talk about ways we can model our tactics off of competitors. Pre-meeting notes: Bring data about our best selling brands of clothing. Gather examples of trends among fashion influencers. Describe our competitors’ branding and sales tactics.
Brainstorm ways to target Gen Z customers and analyze their buying patterns to boost our sales. Tomorrow, we will: Discuss which of our brands are performing the best. Review trends that our customers follow. Talk about ways we can model our tactics off of competitors.
If you plan to type notes in a document, add tags to your outline. That way, you can just click on them to jump to that area in your meeting notes. You might add tags like “Trends” or “Market Research. ” Your company might have note-taking templates, especially for specific kinds of meetings. For example, they might have a “Marketing Plan Brainstorm” template. Check in about what resources are available. To win some points with your colleagues, try a service like Canva to create a few note-taking templates everyone can use for future meetings. It’ll save them a lot of time. The best way to take notes electronically is to use a device with features that match your note-taking style. For example, use an Onyx BOOX Note Pro if you’re a visual thinker and like to sketch out your ideas.
If you’re a linear thinker, you might like Cornell notes. To try them out, divide your paper into 3 sections:[6] X Research source 1) Notes from the meeting 2) Questions, takeaways, and insights 3) A summary of the meeting When you fill out these sections, you can easily scan them from left to right to review the material. If you’re more of a spontaneous thinker, try mind mapping. When you discuss a theme, like “Ad Campaigns,” draw a circle and write that phrase in the center. Then, create lines that branch out of that circle to represent related ideas, like “Attractive Imagery” and “Appeal to Emotions. “[7] X Research source When you’re done with your mind map, remember to write a summary of your meeting—if you want to, record this on the back of your piece of paper.
- Notes from the meeting 2) Questions, takeaways, and insights 3) A summary of the meeting
When you’re done with your mind map, remember to write a summary of your meeting—if you want to, record this on the back of your piece of paper.
It’s usually a lot easier to review a transcript than to watch a video recording again or to ask people to repeat what they said in a previous meeting. For an enhanced transcript, highlight all of the key ideas and/or action items. Make sure you get everyone’s consent before recording what they say.
Research shows that when you take notes by hand, you’ll have better recall of phrases and you’ll perform better in tasks where you need to remember key concepts. On the other hand, if you type, you’re more likely to slip into “in verbatim” note-taking, in which you type every single thing a person says instead of deciding which ideas are most important. [10] X Research source Even if you’re able to write quickly by hand, try not to record everything in verbatim. Instead, jot down key details so you retain those and become very familiar with them.
Remember to make a note when you have an action item, too. Action items can come up in the beginning, middle, or end of a meeting. Bring up when there are important points of contact (times people need to follow up with each other). For example, write, “Our web designer needs to consult with our brand strategist to make sure our landing page is effective. " For easy reference, group all the action items together at the end of your meeting notes. Everyone will be able to find them and know what to work on next.
In addition to writing notes, you can use Google Sheets to type key takeaways and action items into a shareable spreadsheet. Remember to remind anyone who’s out of the office to check their inbox for the meeting notes. Check if there’s a central hub or cloud server where you can upload your meeting notes.
What went right: “Our updated landing page drove up web traffic by 200%. Based on our meeting notes, we should continue to pair our web developer with our brand strategist. " Assessments to tweak: “In our last meeting, we thought that Halloween was an ideal time to roll out a new lineup of accessories, but our sales reports suggest that consumers spend more money after Black Friday. " Goals for the future: “Next holiday season, we’ll focus more of our resources on ad campaigns that we’ll release between Thanksgiving and Christmas. "
Allow collaboration and feedback Make sure every attendee understands main takeaways Document decisions everyone agreed to Bring attention to specific action items people need to make Increase motivation and drive a project forward Help facilitate communication among multiple teams in a company Improve recall so team members remember important standards and goals Create chances for people to participate at different times (known as “asynchronous participation”)
Typically, most businesses or organizations don’t need meeting minutes—team members usually just want to review more abstract ideas like themes, topics, and goals.
