How to Make Effective Meeting Notes (How We Do It At Least…)

Meetings are usually unproductive but sometimes indispensable. That’s why at Cleverclip we are constantly striving to get the most out of our meetings. Below I explain how we prepare for meetings and create effective meeting notes.

Informations vs. To-Dos

Each meeting agenda item is either a) information or b) a to-do:
a) Information: Information is always a statement to be forwarded and distributed, or a question to be discussed.
b) A to-do is a task that needs to be done. It should always contain at least the following two attributes: A deadline and a responsible person. To-dos can either be fixed before the meeting or be created in discussion groups during the meeting.

Good preparation – an example of effective meeting notes

At Cleverclip, we prepare for every meeting by writing down all the information and to-do’s and putting them together in a common list. We use Basecamp for this, but basically anything can be used. And this is what such a list looks like:

Everyone who attends the meeting enters the information and to-do’s to be discussed in their section. In addition, there is an “Open” section. But more about that later. Thanks to this list, everyone knows before the meeting which items need to be discussed.

Efficient handling of agenda items during the meeting

During the meeting, only the previously written points are processed. If it is information, it is discussed and ticked off. If further information is required, it can be added with the note function. This way all necessary information is always available for reading.

To-dos are also discussed and always delegated to the appropriate person. Delegated to-dos are moved to the “Open” section. Basecamp also automatically creates a list of to-dos for each user. So everybody knows at any time what there is to do.

Shortly before the end of the meeting, the group devotes itself to the “Open” section and briefly looks at which to-do’s are still open and which have already been completed.

Due to the good preparation and the efficient note system we make our meetings much more efficient. Do you know any other clever meeting tricks? Then please let us know via mail or Twitter!