One of the worst scenarios in a meeting is drifting off. You end up missing crucial points. You risk repeating the same discussion to gather information again. Hence, it may force the team to delay action. Therefore, reconsider your approach to meetings. For instance, do you take notes?

Below, we discuss why you should consider investing in a smart note-taking tool. Discover the features and functions that boost meeting efficiency.

How to enhance Meeting Efficiency with a Smart Note-Taking Tool

Accuracy is one of the most significant factors when taking down notes during a meeting. You want to capture the correct decisions, deadlines, and action pointers. Additionally, you want notes in a format you can reference later. Therefore, taking notes by hand can be limiting. You likely miss some crucial details, or write too fast and end up with illegible text. A smart note-taking tool is a suitable alternative. Here are detailed reasons.

Real-time Transcription

Traditional note-taking requires a human transcriber to listen and write fast. But what happens when the speaker lists figures and dates or uses technical terms that confuse the transcriber? Crucial data slips through the process as they attempt to understand the speaker.

Hence, instead of taking such risks that may cost your business, get an AI-powered note-taking tool. For instance, Notta records the meeting word-for-word. Such tools capture the language and numbers as spoken, and their speed and accuracy do not require the speaker to slow down or repeat statements for clarity. 

Hence, the team can review the transcript without fear that they may have to compare notes to ensure they captured the correct details. Additionally, having such real-time efficiency enables the team to focus on the meeting. They can ask questions and contribute to the discussion.

Automated Summaries and Key Points Extraction

A long meeting with several speakers can be tiresome for a human transcriber to capture the insights amid the lengthy explanations and conversations. Additionally, even if they capture all the information, you end up with a transcript that may take several hours of reading to find the valuable insights. It can delay action.

Therefore, use a note-taking app with a summarization feature. It automatically identifies and extracts the most relevant information from the discussion. Natural language processing helps it understand human language. As such, it can scan and isolate the decisions and deadlines discussed and organize them.

Searchable, Centralized Records

Meeting notes are only valuable if you can refer to them whenever necessary. Nonetheless, it becomes impossible to keep track of all the documents from monthly or annual meetings. You end up with numerous filled notebooks or lengthy email threads. Hunting for meeting information in several notebooks wastes time. You also risk overlooking important details as you peruse all the pages to find what you need.

Therefore, a smart note-taking tool provides a centralized platform, where you can search for information faster using tags. For instance, you can use a topic or project tag. You can also tag your meetings by date.

Such centralized storage also gives the team access to the same information. It can reduce miscommunication.

Integration with Task Management Platforms

You may have genuinely great points in your notes, but if you fail to act on them, they have no impact. The process of transferring those tasks into the project management tool is prone to errors that may impact effectiveness. For instance, you may assign tasks to the wrong person. You may also skip the deadlines. Such errors affect execution, and that means the meeting was not fully beneficial.

You can avoid such scenarios with a note-taking tool that integrates with various project management platforms. It can convert the action items from the meeting into tasks. As such, you assign all the actions and also set the deadlines. This process is real-time, which ensures a seamless progression from meeting to action. Additionally, it makes the process transparent, which can reduce misunderstandings on tasks assigned and priorities.

Collaborative Editing and Shared Access

Manual note-taking may be biased because the transcriber may base the information on their understanding of the discussion. They may omit some points used as examples because they presume these are irrelevant or repetitive. Additionally, the notes may end up in a personal file or email threads to attendees as a static document. There are no opportunities to clarify or enrich the document.

However, a meeting should capture the collective thoughts of the team involved. There should be sufficient opportunities to edit the record. A smarter note-taking tool provides such collaborative editing features. These turn what could be a static representation of the meeting into a dynamic, team-led account.

For instance, multiple meeting participants can access the notes in real time. They can contribute missing details or even reword statements. It also allows them to attach relevant documents they may have mentioned in the meeting. Additionally, they can attach reference links to support proposed actions.

Such collaboration also ensures that even those who did not attend the meeting can access the deliberations. It reduces the need to clarify information using lengthy email threads.

Multi-Language Support for Global Teams

There may still be unintentional barriers despite global organizations using an official language of communication during meetings. These barriers can affect the engagement of less fluent participants. Thus, you use a note-taking tool with real-time multilingual translation or transcription.

As such, participants who are not fluent in the official business language can follow the discussion in their preferred language. It can make them more active and give their valuable insights. Additionally, the meeting records the deliberations in multiple languages to accommodate a diverse team.

Conclusion

Hosting a successful meeting means capturing the deliberations and acting on them. However, when you rely on manual notes, you are likely to lose crucial information that should inform team activities. For instance, the transcriber may miss some details because the speaker was too fast. 

Additionally, after note-taking, it becomes difficult to trace key points when you have endless notebooks. Therefore, eliminate the tedious work during and after meetings through technology. A note-taking tool captures the key points and also provides a summary. You can access these notes with other team members in real time.

Aron Kantor

Hey there! I am Aron, the founder of Thebusinessdive. With my website & YouTube channel, I reach 25.000 -35.000 people monthly with the mission to help you find the perfect productivity apps. Subscribe to my YouTube channel to hear more about the best productivity tools. Let’s dive in!