Meeting notes template

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Set meeting agendas, take notes, and share action items with your team.

What are meeting notes?

Meeting notes are an official record of discussions and actions taken during a meeting. They typically contain the following information:

Meeting date and time
Participants and contact details
Meeting goals
Discussion topics
Action items
Decisions
Next meeting date and time

Meeting notes aren't simply meeting transcripts. They cover essential meeting highlights and summarize what was discussed and accomplished during the meeting.

Meeting notes tips

Use the Confluence meeting notes template to capture notes, track discussions, and document next steps. Some other ways to ensure your meeting notes don't go to waste include:

Promptly sharing meeting notes

Ensure meeting notes are shared with relevant coworkers and team members as soon as possible. Quick distribution can keep the action items relevant and remind people of their responsibilities.

Gathering feedback and confirmation

Depending on the scope and purpose of your meeting, you may want to invite participants to review the meeting notes beforehand. Encourage team members to leave notes or confirm they understand their assignments.

Making multiple meeting notes templates

You can make separate meeting notes templates for different purposes. For example, you may have one meeting notes template for informal meetings and a different template for team meetings. You'll want all your meeting notes templates to have a similar format for consistency.

Use AI tools

Consider using AI tools or virtual meeting assistants to assist with note-taking. Various tools use AI to pull key meeting takeaways and produce action items. Leveraging these tools is an effective way to record your meeting notes without having to designate a note-taker.

Why use a meeting notes template?

There are several benefits to using a meeting notes template. And, no, it's not just another document that your colleagues won't use. An effective meeting notes template can become a useful record-keeping tool. Some of the benefits include:

Captures key decisions

Meeting notes preserve critical outcomes for future reference, reducing the risk of miscommunication later on. When team members can refer back to documented decisions, there's less chance of conflicting interpretations or forgotten agreements. This becomes especially valuable during strategic planning sessions, where decisions impact the long-term direction. Quick decision-making is easier when you have documented context from previous meetings.

For teams that meet weekly, consider using our weekly meeting notes template to maintain consistent documentation of ongoing projects and decisions.

Clarifies responsibilities

Well-written meeting notes help assign and track task ownership by clearly documenting who committed to what deliverables. This clarity supports follow-through because team members have a written record of their commitments. When responsibilities are documented, monitoring progress and providing support where needed becomes much easier.

Tracks progress

Meeting notes are a running log of team progress, enhancing project visibility across your organization. You can review previous meeting notes to see how decisions evolved, obstacles were encountered, and solutions were developed. This historical perspective proves invaluable during project collaboration efforts.

Supports accountability

Documented action items encourage people to deliver on their commitments because there's a clear record of what was promised and when. This transparency within teams creates a positive pressure that helps ensure follow-through. When everyone knows their tasks are documented, they're more likely to prioritize completion.

Provides a reference

Meeting notes are a reliable record for those who missed the meeting, helping them stay informed about important decisions and upcoming deadlines. They're also valuable when revisiting decisions or timelines weeks or months later. This reference point prevents teams from rehashing old discussions or questioning previously agreed-upon directions.

How to use the meeting notes template

1
Know the meeting agenda items
Before sending out the invitation, take a moment to craft a meeting agenda. This ensures you have all the necessary elements to make the meeting productive for yourself and your attendees. Whether you're planning brainstorming sessions or status updates, having a clear agenda keeps everyone focused.
Be sure to add the agenda items to the meeting notes template to provide structure and clarity before the meeting. When planning agenda items, consider your meeting cadence.
2
Put some prep in your step before the meeting
Include the meeting date, tag participants, and list discussion topics with their respective owners in the table. Similar to how you handle contracts, instruction pages, and any content longer than a tweet, notify attendees if there are materials requiring mandatory pre-reading. Additionally, add informational links that attendees may find helpful, such as past meeting notes.
This preparation step is crucial when working with cross-functional teams where participants might not be familiar with all discussion topics or background context.
3
Share meeting notes now, save countless minutes later
Once someone is tagged on the meeting notes page, they will be notified in Confluence and via email so they can review your notes. Avoid search-induced headaches by adding the notes page to the meeting invite.
If data is your lifeline, you can view the analytics for the meeting notes page, showing everyone who has viewed it. If someone still has it on their to-do list, you can send them a friendly notice to review the page before the meeting.
4
Time-box discussion items and designate a note-taker
Make your meetings effective by maintaining structure and purpose. If you don’t plan on taking notes yourself, assign a team member to take notes during the meeting. Task them with recording key discussions, action items, and any decisions made.
As the meeting organizer, you must ensure discussions stay on track by implementing time-boxes. Don't hesitate to table non-relevant topics for discussion at the next meeting.
Once you've covered everything in your agenda, review key takeaways, decide on the next steps, and apply deadlines to essential action items. You may also decide when the next meeting date should take place.
5
Organize the way that works for you
Our meeting notes template is easy to use. Simply create a page using the meeting notes template and let Confluence handle the rest. Confluence automatically records and indexes meeting notes in the sidebar for easy access.
Set up a parent page in the page tree and organize meeting pages by dragging and dropping them in any order you like. Inform your attendees about this page so they can use it for future reference.

Streamline your meetings with the free meeting notes template in Confluence

Using the Confluence meeting notes template ensures your meetings are productive and organized. This structured document helps capture essential information such as attendees, agenda, discussion topics, and action items, leading to better preparation and follow-up. It also enhances clarity, accountability, and consistency, making it easy for team members to stay informed and on track.

Confluence's integration with other tools and its easy sharing capabilities streamline the process, saving time and helping your team drive results effectively.

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