Why You Should Record Meeting Audio

If you are like most people, you have inevitably come out of a meeting with less than perfect notes and had to try to recall important items from the discussion.  Missing important details inevitably leads to wasted time and effort, either by taking the wrong action or by having to circle back with the other attendees to recapture the information.

I started a practice a couple of years ago of bringing an audio recorder with me to all meetings, whether attending via phone or in person.  It has proven to be invaluable, and has saved my backside on more than one occasion.

Here are some great reasons to start recording your meetings:

• It allows you to engage more actively in the meeting, knowing that you can revisit the recording later to take notes and get important details
• You can share meeting audio with other participants who were not able to attend the meeting
• You can have the meeting transcribed by 3rd party transcription services if there are legal (or other) reasons to do so
• By being able to play back the audio, you often get the nuances of the discussion that you never heard or had forgotten
• Settling disputes over what was actually said becomes as easy as playing back the audio

I have two recording devices that I use.  I have an Olympus Digital Voice Recorder that is very small, maybe 1.5”x3”.  I use this when I am only bringing a paper notebook to the meeting.  What I don’t like about this device is that it’s a pain to get the audio off.  Although it’s a USB connection the audio is not easily accessible.  When I have my Macbook Pro with me, I use Evernote’s audio recorder.  It’s fantastic in that the audio is automatically backed up for me.  This is my preferred method.

Everyone dislikes meetings.  Everyone dislikes taking notes during meetings even more.  Having audio is a good way to make meetings more productive and have a record of what actually happened.

Question:  Do you ever record meetings, and if so, what is your methodology?