Glossary
What does “Note-taker” mean?
The person — or software — responsible for writing down what a meeting decided and who will do what.
What it means
The person — or software — responsible for writing down what a meeting decided and who will do what. In formal meetings this role is often the secretary, who writes the minutes.
An example
The note-taker writes: “Decided: hire two support staff in Q1. Action: Ana drafts the job ads by the 10th.” — not a word-for-word account.
Not to be confused with: AI notetaker
A note-taker is a role; an AI notetaker is software that records, transcribes and summarises — sometimes as a bot that joins the call.
Where you will see it
In committee and board meetings (as the secretary), team meetings with a rotating note-taker, and meeting software. See our list of AI notetakers and how to stop them. Some teams also name a note-taker in the calendar invite, so the job is settled before the meeting starts.
Questions
Should the person chairing take notes?
Better not — running a meeting and recording it at the same time means doing both less well.
What should a note-taker write down?
Decisions, action items with owners and dates, key reasons and open questions.
Should the note-taker role rotate?
In many teams, yes: rotating shares the work and stops one person, often the most junior, always taking notes instead of taking part in the discussion.
Other meeting words
Try Meetful
Meetings that take their own notes
Free video meetings in the browser: every line of the transcript under the name of who said it, and the summary and action items when you hang up. Nothing to install — guests just open the link.