Have you ever felt disappointed because you couldn't take notes of important details at a meeting? This can happen for several reasons, from being too busy to getting distracted by your coworkers, or not having writing tools.
Having an effective app for writing meeting recaps helps you to capture the relevant information in a meeting with ease.
Read on as we discuss the common features to look out for in an app for writing meeting recaps and identify the most effective ones.
Features of Apps for Writing Meeting Recaps
The main purpose of a meeting recap app is to take notes during the meeting using smart devices. After the event has ended, the information is summarized and stored in the device to help team members keep up with everything discussed or agreed on.
For instance, you can conduct a project kick-off meeting and jot the details of the meeting with an effective meeting recap tool. Most of these apps come with certain features that make documentation easier and more accessible. These features include:
1. Good Interface
The interface of an effective meeting recap app is easy to access without being complicated. Having good interfaces promotes prompt navigation for both tech savvies and non-tech savvies. Since meeting writing needs to be quick, users shouldn't waste time locating items in the app.
A good meeting recap app is also designed to allow you to organize productive virtual meetings and still take note of everything discussed.
2. Proper Designation
Most of these apps have a proper designation for accountability. These include the title of the meeting, meeting date, meeting agenda, the duration of the meeting, and the meeting location. These features make documentation of new and existing meetings easier for quick finds.
3. Addition of Team Members
Since teams work together, an effective app for writing meeting recaps allows the addition of multiple users to make input. Everyone granted access to the document can view, read and make changes to the meeting if needed. Features like these prevent the need to print out hard copies of the last meeting for your team.
4. Integration of Other Apps
Another feature that some of these apps have is integrating them with other productivity apps. You can add apps like Zoom, iCal, Google Calendar, and a few others to serve as a great tool for a reminder or meeting schedule or reschedule.
5 Apps You Can Use to Write an Effective Meeting Recap
There's only so much the human brain can remember, especially with several things to think about. Using the right meeting recap app for your meetings ensures that no information is left out or forgotten.
Now that you're aware of some features available in meeting recaps apps, here are a few you might consider.
1. Hypercontext
Hypercontext is built for collaborating teams committed to accomplishing set goals by communicating effectively in meetings.
With Hypercontext, you can track every meeting minute and assign responsibilities to team members as a team leader or manager. It also aids in promoting healthy conversations between you and your team members by suggesting various questions related to your meeting agenda.
If you’re a senior manager in your workplace, Hypercontext can help you bridge the gap between you and the employees who don’t have direct access to you. It helps to better understand new and remote employees to build a productive working relationship.
You have the opportunity to integrate Hypercontext with other apps or tools like Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zapier, and Outlook.
Pricing:
- Free basic plan.
- Pro version that bills $5.60 per person monthly for the yearly plan and $7 for the monthly payment.
- A business version that bills $8.80 per person monthly for the yearly plan and $11 for the monthly payment.
2. Beenote
Beenote is a meeting management software created with directors, project managers, and board members in mind. It enables you to document the different phases of meetings. This ranges from the initiation stage of planning, action, and follow-up.
The Beenote app allows you to you can initiate an active collaboration between you and the participants (employees) with no physical contact. It also permits you to write down collaborative notes, decisions, and tasks during a meeting that will be automatically combined into your meeting minutes.
You can efficiently monitor team members' progress during a project for accountability.
Pricing:
- Beenote payment depends on the number of users.
- The payment is calculated monthly, but with a yearly invoice.
- Each package has a free trial period.
3. nTask
nTask is a productive project management app with numerous team management features, including meeting management, task management, risk management, time tracking, and issue tracking.
With nTask, you can schedule and manage meetings with your team seamlessly on the go, without the need to switch between apps. You can fix the meeting agenda, record discussion points, establish follow-up actions, and craft recurring meetings.
During the recording process, it allows the meeting minutes to be estimated and revised before publication. This ensures that you and your team are on the same page about the meeting details.
Another outstanding feature of nTask is that it gives you the choice of emailing your meeting minutes to attendees or team members that aren't part of your nTask boards.
Pricing:
- It has a basic free plan.
- The premium plan is priced at $3/month, per user.
- The business plan is accessible for $8/month per user.
4. Magic Minutes
Magic Minutes offers a platform where you can take meeting minutes' notes and equally create tasks that can be allocated to team members with scheduled dates and explanations.
You can create agendas instantly or set up one ahead of time to guarantee that your meetings are focused without any distractions. You can easily add pictures or screenshots to your minutes to make things more understandable—this aids in demonstrating your points and capturing the moments of a whiteboard session.
After your meeting, a record of your minutes can be sent to members through email or viewed directly on their dashboard when using Magic Minutes. To ensure the purpose of the meeting is resourceful, you can set up a follow-up meeting. A simple button tap activates this feature. All members will be invited, and you will also request reports if needed.
Pricing:
- Magic Minutes offers a free plan to meeting attendees. They can view and perform functions, but can't create or run meetings.
- Its premium plan is £12 per month per user.
- Its team plan is £6 per month per user
5. MeetingBooster
What makes Meeting Booster unique is that it centralizes everything in meeting minutes. It offers search and merge features that allow you to search for specific meeting minutes and choose topics, notes, or tasks. You can then combine the results into one consolidated document. This makes the evaluation process effortless and increases the efficiency of your meetings.
Pricing:
- It offers a free trial. Users can choose a paid option afterward.
Write Effective Meeting Recaps for Reference
Meetings are critical events where important decisions are made, and plans are set in motion. It's essential to take note of the points discussed for reference. Otherwise, team members may end up offering conflicting information or ideas later down the road.
To ensure that a meeting is followed up adequately, it’s best to use an appropriate meeting recap app to effectively capture and summarize relevant information.