If you’re tired of scribbling meeting notes or leaving calls thinking, “What did we just agree to?”—this guide’s for you. Whether you run sales calls, customer interviews, or endless internal check-ins, automated notes can save your sanity. Here’s how to actually set up Avoma so it does the hard work and you get notes that are actually useful.
Before You Start: What’s Avoma, and Should You Bother?
Avoma is a meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes calls. It plugs into your calendar and video conferencing tool, listens in, and spits out notes. In theory, it means less typing and more focus.
But real talk: Avoma isn’t magic. You’ll still need to tweak settings, check transcripts, and sometimes fix things. The notes are usually good, not perfect. Also, if your meetings are mostly small talk or you’re very privacy-sensitive, it might feel like overkill. For everyone else, it’s a solid time-saver.
Step 1: Get the Right Avoma Plan and Permissions
You’ll need: - An Avoma account (starts with a free trial, but automated notes are a paid feature) - Admin or user permissions to connect your calendar and meeting tools
Checklist: - Sign up at Avoma and verify your email. - Make sure you’ve got a paid plan if you want unlimited note-taking. - If your company already uses Avoma, ask your admin to add you.
Pro tip: If you’re evaluating, start with a trial. Don’t pay until you’re sure it works with your meetings and tools.
Step 2: Connect Your Calendar
Avoma needs access to your calendar so it can “see” your meetings and join them.
Supported calendars: Google Calendar, Outlook/Office 365, and a few others.
How to connect: 1. In Avoma, go to Settings > Calendar Integration. 2. Choose your provider (Google or Microsoft). 3. Authorize Avoma to read your events.
What matters: - Avoma can only join meetings that have a video link (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, etc.) in the invite. - Double-check your privacy settings—Avoma can see your calendar details.
Ignore: Any “AI scheduling” features unless you actually want them. They’re separate from meeting notes.
Step 3: Link Your Video Conferencing Tool
Now Avoma needs to actually join your calls to record and transcribe.
Supported platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex.
How to connect: 1. Go to Settings > Conferencing Integrations. 2. Click your video tool (e.g., Zoom). 3. Authorize with your account.
Zoom users: You may need admin permission to install the Avoma app in your organization's Zoom account. If you hit a wall, talk to your IT person.
Heads up: If you use multiple meeting platforms, connect them all. Avoma’s bot can only join if it has access.
Step 4: Set Up Automated Recording and Join Settings
By default, Avoma doesn’t join every meeting—unless you tell it to.
Decide When Avoma Joins
- All meetings: Avoma joins everything on your calendar.
- Only meetings you host: Useful if you don’t want Avoma popping into every invite.
- Specific meetings or keywords: Only joins meetings with certain words in the title (e.g., “demo,” “review”).
How to set this: 1. In Avoma, go to Settings > Recording & Join Preferences. 2. Pick your preferred mode: - Auto-join all meetings - Auto-join meetings I organize - Auto-join meetings with specific keywords 3. Save changes.
Pro tip: Start with “meetings I organize.” It’s less intrusive and less likely to annoy clients or coworkers.
Control Who Gets Notified
Avoma can email attendees to say it’s recording. Most people like a heads-up, but you can turn this off.
- Go to Settings > Notifications
- Turn attendee notifications on or off
Be honest: If you’re in a regulated industry or deal with sensitive info, you must notify attendees.
Step 5: Set Up Automated Note-Taking
This is where Avoma moves from “recording bot” to “note assistant.”
Enable Automated Notes
- Go to Settings > Notes & Summaries.
- Turn on Automated Notes.
- Choose your language and note style (sales, customer success, general, etc.).
What’s actually happening: Avoma uses speech recognition and some AI magic to pull out action items, questions, and summaries. It’s not perfect, but it’s usually better than nothing.
Customize Note Templates (Optional)
If you want Avoma’s notes to match your workflow:
- Go to Settings > Note Templates
- Edit the structure (e.g., “Next Steps,” “Questions,” “Decisions”)
- Save your template
When to bother: If your team is religious about certain note formats (say, sales calls with BANT or MEDDIC frameworks), templates help. Otherwise, the default is fine.
Step 6: Test Your Setup with a Dummy Meeting
Don’t roll this out for a real client or exec meeting first. Run a quick test:
- Create a calendar invite with a video call link.
- Make sure Avoma is set to join.
- Join the call. Talk for a minute or two.
- End the meeting, then check Avoma for the recording, transcript, and notes.
What to look for: - Did Avoma join the meeting? - Is the audio clear in the transcript? - Are the automated notes actually useful?
If something’s off: Double-check your calendar and conferencing connections. Sometimes, permissions get lost or meeting links aren’t recognized.
Step 7: Share, Edit, and Use Your Automated Notes
Once your meetings are rolling and Avoma’s taking notes, here’s what you can (and should) do:
Review and Clean Up
- Skim the automated notes after each meeting.
- Edit anything that’s wrong or missing. (AI still mishears names and jargon.)
- Add context if you need to.
Reality check: Don’t skip this. Avoma is good, but it’s not a mind reader. You’ll catch errors.
Share Notes with Your Team
- Use Avoma’s built-in sharing features (send via email, copy a link, or export to Notion/CRM).
- You can also set up automations to push notes to Slack, Salesforce, or HubSpot.
Don’t overthink it: Most teams just email or Slack a link. The fancy integrations are nice, but not essential.
Search and Revisit Meetings
- Avoma indexes your transcripts, so you can search for terms later (“renewal,” “pricing,” etc.).
- This is way faster than digging through Google Docs or old emails.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
Works well: - Saving time on repetitive note-taking - Keeping a searchable archive of conversations - Staying on top of follow-ups and action items
Doesn’t work so well: - Capturing nuance or tone (AI can’t always tell when someone’s joking or hedging) - Transcribing heavy accents or poor audio - Handling meetings without video links (Avoma can’t join phone-only calls)
Ignore: - Over-customizing every template. Start simple. - Relying 100% on automation. Human review is still a must. - Every new “AI feature” Avoma releases—chase value, not hype.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Automated meeting notes are supposed to make your life easier, not add another layer of busywork. Start with the basics: get Avoma recording and note-taking, test it, and see what actually helps your workflow. Tweak as you go. You’ll spend less time typing and more time actually moving projects forward. And that’s the whole point.