[Norine]

I am anticipating that I will be the chief note taker during negotiations. I tried but was unable to master shorthand so I plan on taking notes with my laptop. I am looking for tips and/or techniques for shortcuts I can set up in advance in Word in order to be as effective as possible. I know about auto-correcting in Word, so I can preload people's intials and key words.

What I am most interested in is formatting the raw notes. Would it be most efficient to type in the speakers intials tab and then type their comments with a indent to wrap subsequent lines under the the first line of comments (I hope you can picture this). I am planning on setting up a template with the appropriate styles to make it faster and uniform.

All comments are welcome. Thanks for your help. nt

[GeeBee]

The method of note taking you have described will be successful if you are familiar with the participants before hand and have assigned proper initials to names. If this is an informal negotiation with an agreed upon conclusion that will be noted and encapsulated at the end this method may work.

Negotiations that have a legal connotation or that may be required for continutity or archiving should be recorded. If recording ensure that the equipment you obtain will be able to cover all speakers. Ask an information technology or media professional about type of tape/recorder, number of speakers, noise reduction, room size, voice cancellation (will more than one speaker be able to speak at one time)and recording placemarker/counter.

The negotiation process can sometimes become emotional. It is important to get the facts and just the facts - not allowing for personal perception. The best way to do this is to have a recording for reference until such time as the minutes are approved and signed.

If recording, quickly place the recording placemarkercounter infront of each individual's comments. That way you will be able to quickly refer back to that placemarker on the tape if required.

If the negotiation follows a formal agenda, it is still best to set up your minute taking template following the agenda format and to encorporate your initial/TAB/comment ideas behind each agenda topic.

Good luck!

[Patricia]

This helped me.

Laughing All the Way to Work: A Survival Blog for Today's Administrative Assistant: The Art of Minute Taking