3 tips for taking notes at a conference
At any conference with education sessions (such as ASAE & The Center's Annual Meeting & Expo or any other), learning is a key objective. But unless you have a photographic memory, you'll need to take notes to maximize that learning.
So, here are my three tips for making your notes more effective, based on my personal, entirely non-expert experience:
- Pick the right notepad (or computer, if you like). Why do news reporters use those narrow, 4" x 8", top-bound notepads? Because they fit firmly into the palm of the hand, which reporters need when they're often doing stand-up interviews out in the field. You don't have to use a reporter's notebook (unless you plan on standing for an entire conference), but you should take a moment to consider what notepad or note-taking device will work best for you. Go with whatever feels the most comfortable, convenient, and easy to carry around. Then you can focus on taking good notes.
Go back to fill in and mark important items. As can be seen at right, my handwriting is messy, and I often can't decipher it later. This, of course, is a problem for information retention. But handwriting issues aside, when you take notes, you leave out a lot of detail and context. Something like "take people to the movie" probably made sense when I wrote it, but it sure doesn't now. So, immediately after a session is over, do what I neglected to do in this case and go back over your notes to:- Fill in extra context and detail while it's fresh in mind;
- Clearly rewrite any sloppy writing while you can still decipher it; and
- Circle or star any major ideas that you want to be sure not to miss upon later review.
- Set a date for review or sharing notes with others. Unlike our school days, we're not tested on what we hear and see at a conference, so there's no built-in mechanism that leads us to review notes at a later date. You have to build that process yourself. So, before you leave for the conference, set an appointment, reminder, or alert in your calendar for a short time after the conference to review your notes and, even better, share what you learned with your colleagues. If you're a supervisor, you may even want to ask your conference-bound employees to provide a report back to you or your department somehow when they return. You might feel like a bit like a school teacher, but it will help your employees better retain and share what they learned.
Have any other note-taking tips to offer? Add them in the comments.
| | Permalink |
Comments
Great post - can I use it (with proper credit!) for my attendees?
Posted by: Cathi Eifert | July 9, 2010 3:24 PM
After reviewing your notes, as Joe advised, sort them and put notes in files for follow-up. For ex., if you attended a session on redesigning a publication and you're planning a magazine redesign next year, put your session notes in the file so you'll be sure to find/use them next year. If you're looking for a new job and attended a session on careers, start a careers file.
Posted by: Gerry Romano | July 9, 2010 6:49 PM
Good post and maybe you are right about setting a date for review, or making an action points from it would be even more useful.
I just realized that when I make notes I seldom use them afterwords, however the reason I do it, its because it stays better in my memory and I dont need to look through it after the event, I had already added some of the values in my head and I will use it in practice.
And again, if I would not right it, it would not make such impact on me. I need to see it in writhing in order to digest is fully.
Another tip where you can use these notes: make a blog post, and then share it with your colleagues, supervisor, etc, it will save times and will give a bigger reach.
Posted by: Irina | July 11, 2010 5:24 AM
Thanks for the comments, all. Gerry, I like your idea of filing notes. I try to go back over my notes when I get back to the office, but after that, they just stay in my notebook, which means I have to go flipping back through countless pages if I want to go back to something later. Good idea.
Irina, I've heard of studies that show memory is enhanced through the act of writing, so your point about seeing it in writing is something we can all relate to. Given that, it also makes sense that sharing notes with colleagues in a discussion or assembling them into a blog post later helps the writer learn the material even more. Beyond just the act of writing the notes down, that additional step of synthesis requires you to devote a significant amount of critical thought to the material and how it applies to you and your organization, so you're learning it more and more along the way, while sharing it with others as well.
Posted by: Joe Rominiecki | July 13, 2010 4:26 PM
This is a great post Joe. After attending maybe 150 conferences in my lifetime, I still wonder why I bother taking notes at all given how infrequently I refer back to them (probably a testimony to handwriting that was bad and has goteen worse over time). I have gotten into the habit of using my Blackberry to record things and I STILL see speakers who glare at me in my seat in the front row ... so I guess most people who are typing are tweeting or taking care of their other work, but for me it's so much easier than trying to write.
Posted by: Kevin Whorton | July 15, 2010 8:46 AM
Okay, I am guilty - I take lots of notes that I don't necessary share or file. But I can retrieve them because my habit is using the same notebook (its an asae learning journal) for all meetings I attend until its filled - so its a diary if you will. I have a stack of them and yes I do go back through them.
Posted by: Peggy Hoffman | July 22, 2010 10:48 PM