Answer: When you attend a conference or workshop of any kind, you often take notes about your key takeaways.  Some of us take notes on everything we hear because we are tactile learners – meaning we need to write down what we are hearing in the moment because the act of writing helps us embed what we are hearing.

Others make notes of key takeaways because we are oral learners and don’t need a written transcript of everything that was said, but just salient points that we want to recall. Either way, what we heard at the conference that we want to apply gets put on the back burner as soon as we get back to work.  Emails are unanswered. Meetings about projects assume our time, etc.

Here’s a simple notetaking solution known as ACT that will help you quickly mine your notes for the good stuff.

Act. For little things you learned that you could start doing immediately, write the letter A in the margin as you’re making that note.

Change. For things that you would like to change over time – a behavior, a process, a technology, for example – write the letter C in the margin as you’re making the note.

Teach.  For things that you learned that you want to pass on to your team, write the letter T in the margin as you’re making the note.

When you get back to your office, you’ll be able to quickly scan your notes and go directly to salient parts of the conference that you can start putting into place.