If you’ve ever left a meeting and realized a week later you forgot to follow up—yeah, you’re not alone. Keeping track of action items and follow-ups is one of those things that sounds easy, but in reality, it gets messy, fast. Especially if your team is using Avoma to record, transcribe, and review meetings.
This guide is for people who actually want their action items to get done, and don’t want to spend more time tracking work than actually doing it. I’ll share how to use Avoma’s features for tracking action items—what’s useful, what’s not, and how to avoid common traps.
Why bother tracking action items in the first place?
Let’s be honest: Most meetings generate more “let’s circle back” than actual results. Tracking action items isn’t about looking busy—it’s about making sure important stuff actually gets done. If you use Avoma for your calls, it can help take some of the grunt work out of capturing and following up, but only if you set it up right.
Step 1: Set up your Avoma workspace to make action items easy to spot
Before you even start worrying about tracking, get the basics right. Here’s how:
- Standardize your meeting templates. Avoma lets you create templates for recurring meetings (like weekly standups or customer calls). Add a clear “Action Items” section to every template. Make it mandatory—future you will thank you.
- Decide on a consistent format. Action items get lost in rambling notes. Stick to a simple format, like:
- What needs to be done
- Who’s responsible
- Due date (if any)
- Train your team. Not everyone will read the manual. Walk through one meeting together and show how you expect action items to be captured. Don’t assume people “get it”—show them.
What not to bother with:
Don’t create a dozen templates for every possible meeting type. Pick a few, keep them simple, and actually use them.
Step 2: Capture action items in real-time (don’t leave it for later)
This is where many teams slip up. It’s tempting to say “I’ll add action items after the call,” but let’s be honest—most of us forget.
- Type action items during the meeting. Use Avoma’s live notes feature to jot them down as soon as they come up.
- Assign owners on the spot. Don’t write “follow up with client”—write “Sarah: Follow up with client by Friday.” No owner, no action.
- Don’t worry about perfection. It’s better to capture something rough in real time than forget it entirely.
Pro tip:
If someone says “I’ll take care of that,” call it out and put their name in the notes right then. It avoids confusion later.
Step 3: Use Avoma’s highlights and action item tagging
Avoma automatically tries to detect action items from your meeting transcript. It’s not perfect—AI still gets tripped up by vague language or if you’re not clear about what’s being assigned.
- Review suggested action items after the meeting. Avoma highlights possible follow-ups. Scan them and clean up any that are wrong or unclear.
- Manually tag action items. If the AI misses something, highlight the text and tag it as an “Action Item.” This keeps everything in one place.
- Be specific. “Send proposal” is vague. “John: Send the updated proposal to ACME by Wednesday” is clear.
What doesn’t work:
Don’t rely solely on Avoma’s automatic detection. It’s a helper, not a replacement for common sense.
Step 4: Assign, track, and remind—don’t let action items die in the notes
A note buried in Avoma is still a note you’ll forget. Make sure your action items actually see daylight.
- Assign tasks in Avoma. Use the assignment feature to tag team members. It’ll send them an email summary with their tasks.
- Set reminders (if you really need them). Avoma can send reminders, but don’t overdo it—no one wants an inbox full of “Just checking in…” emails.
- Integrate with your real task system. If your team uses tools like Asana, Trello, or Jira, push action items from Avoma into those systems. Manual copy-paste is annoying, but more reliable than waiting for a magical integration that “just works.”
- Keep a regular review habit. Spend 5 minutes at the start of each week reviewing open action items in Avoma. If something is old, either close it out or nudge the owner.
What to ignore:
Don’t try to use Avoma as your only task manager. It’s good for surfacing action items, but most teams need to track work elsewhere.
Step 5: Make follow-ups part of your meeting culture
The best tools in the world won’t help if your team shrugs off follow-ups.
- Review previous action items at the start of meetings. Pull up Avoma and quickly run through last week’s to-dos. It keeps everyone honest.
- Close the loop. When an action item is done, mark it as complete in Avoma (or in your main task system). Don’t let your list turn into a graveyard of forgotten promises.
- Celebrate follow-through. Even a simple “Thanks, that’s done” goes a long way.
Pro tip:
If action items linger for weeks, ask why. Maybe it wasn’t that important—or maybe someone needs help. Either way, don’t let them rot.
Step 6: Avoid common traps
A lot of people overcomplicate things and end up frustrated. Here’s what to watch out for:
- Don’t try to automate everything. AI is helpful, but you still need a human eye to make sure action items actually make sense.
- Don’t create too many categories, tags, or labels. Keep it simple: Action Item, Owner, Due Date. That’s it.
- Don’t treat notes as gospel. If something’s important, make sure it’s assigned and tracked—not just buried in a transcript.
- Don’t ignore follow-up. A note without follow-up is just a nice idea that goes nowhere.
Step 7: Keep improving the process
What works for one team might not work for another. Don’t be afraid to tweak your Avoma setup as you go.
- Ask for feedback. Every month or so, check in: What’s working? What’s not? Adjust your templates or process.
- Watch for bottlenecks. If action items keep getting missed, look for the root cause—unclear notes, no owner, or people not reviewing after meetings.
- Stay flexible. The goal isn’t to have the fanciest system. It’s to make sure important things get done, with as little hassle as possible.
Wrapping up
At the end of the day, tracking action items in Avoma is just about building a habit: capture things clearly, assign them, and follow up. Don’t get lost in features or overthink your setup. Start simple, watch what actually works, and adjust as you go. Meetings are only valuable if they lead to action—and a few basic habits will go a long way to making sure they do.