Recording minutes of meetings have been a procedure businesses go through to have a permanent record of the subjects discussed during a meeting. Minutes of meetings are written records of what happened during the meetings to inform the people who did not attend the meeting what was discussed or to use the records during decision making. The question of, “are minutes of minutes actually used?” then arises.

A lot of time is allotted by the person writing the minutes, mostly the general secretary, during and after the meeting to bring the information discussed into written form and most of the information discussed by the presenter, the discussion it brought about, and the decisions agreed upon may be lost during this writing process. These minutes are mostly not seen or heard of until the next meeting, and during this, it is quickly read to bring the attendants up to speed. Deciphering what is important enough to be written about is another problem minutes writing faces. Other problems faced when taking minutes can be found here.

The challenges of minutes of meeting writing, coupled with the disconnection from the presentation delivered is what makes Graphic Recording such an appealing alternative.

“There is no more powerful way to prove that we know something well than to draw a simple picture of it. And there is no more powerful way to see hidden solutions than to pick up a pen and draw out the pieces of our problem.” So writes Dan Roam in The Back of the Napkin, the international bestseller that proves that a simple drawing on a humble napkin can be more powerful than the slickest PowerPoint presentation.

Graphic Recordings capture the words of the speaker by using words, images, and texts to represent what was being said during the meeting but an argument can be made that Meeting minutes can do exactly what Graphic Recordings do but this is not so. 70% or more of Millennials, Gen-Zs, and baby boomers have agreed that animated visuals are effective at keeping viewers engaged. 

This study also emphasizes that though attention may be constantly divided, “it is still up for grabs. The more we attempt to divide it, the more lose focus and struggle to retain what we learn”. What this tells us is that though we may become better and better at multitasking, we have to relearn what was already learned and still struggle to retain the information.

Graphic Recordings prove to be better than the manual recording of a meeting’s minutes because:

• According to a post on The Wall Street Journal, Doodling helps people retain memory: keeps people focused, and understand new concepts. Little images with texts help spice up boring hours and make listeners very interested through long hours of conversation.
• The information has a higher chance of being understood when presented using texts and words.
• Whether on whiteboards or sketch notes can be snapped and shared very easily and have a higher chance of being viewed.
• Graphic Recordings take place during the presentation and important points are immediately recorded which reduces the loss of information.
• Can be posted in offices to remind employees of the goals and points discussed during the meetings and the decisions arrived upon to keep them on the right track to achieving the brand’s objectives.

Graphic Recordings have proven to be a valuable addition to recording meetings and attracting listeners’ attentions to enable the complete dissemination of information.