Have problems managing due-outs from meetings?

I had a conversation with a coworker about managing due-outs (taskers and other assignments mentioned) from meetings throughout the week.  I mentioned a note taking process that I discovered some time ago.  I actually found a notepad that used it (maybe at Office Depot, Staples, or Office Max- couldn't find a link online for the same one) and I made a lot of meeting notes that way until the pad ran out. 

I had already planned going back to that method and found an Microsoft Word template that I modified slightly to use instead of the pad.  You can save it as a straight document or as a template in your Word software.

To modify yours like mine, open the template.  I deleted the Student Name at the top.  I changed the heading of the next section to "Meeting Topic/Name" and added a line (pressed the ENTER key) added a heading for "Attendees".  The Subject, I changed to "Date".  Where the template says Summary, I changed that to "To-Do's and Due Outs" and tabbed to the next table cell and typed, "Summary and Take Aways."  In this cell, I found the "borders" button within "paragraphs" in the Word Home ribbon and added the "left margin" to that cell.  The result is the wide lower section is divided into two separate sections.  Next SAVE-AS a document or template, your choice.

The beauty of this note keeping system is that this seems perfect for typical business meetings that we all seem to attend.  There are five sections: one is where you note the details of the meeting, such as name/topic, date, who attended, etc; the next section is a lined area to make your notes, much like your regular notepads have; a section for adding arrows, stars, main keyword(s) and other cues to draw attention to a particular place in the note (you can just doodle here if there are no key ideas in the meeting yet); a section to summarize or note the main points to remember which you would add when you got back to your desk (usually) and finally- and to me the best part- is a section that you can note the to-do’s or due outs that are mentioned throughout the meeting.  Flipping through the past few sets of notes, you can see the due-outs and make sure you have taken care of them.

After looking at this, you might find it of use.  If you plan to save your meeting notes in a binder, place your cursor along the long edge of the table until it changes into a pair of parallel lines, then click and drag the margin to accomodate holes (save, as before)  and then make sure you tell the printer to punch holes in it.

Questions about this?  I’ll be glad to answer if I can.  Want to modify it?  I can assist with that, too.

This is called the Cornell Note Taking System (actually a modified version) if you want to Google it and learn more.