Stop recording every teleconference meeting (especially with me)

We rarely record meetings we have in person with others. But based on my experience, lots of people record their online meetings by default. This is dumb. Please stop.

Please don’t record your meeting with me

I am very precise when I communicate in writing. Whether it’s an email or any other textual communication, you can count on what I say. I try to make things very clear.

But when I meet by videoconference, I am informal and fluid, often saying things that I change later as we develop a shared understanding. And I make jokes. This fluidity is valuable to both of us. Ask to record the meeting and you create an impediment to that flow. It’s rude to do it without asking, just as it would be to put out a recording device if were meeting in person.

Here why I don’t want you to record our meeting.

• I worry that recording of me speaking informally could be used against me. Even if you would never do that, there may be people in your organization who would, or people who have hacked your systems. Embarrassing recordings get shared publicly all the time.
• If you record me, I won’t be as honest or blunt as I might otherwise be. You hire me to be honest and not pull punches. Don’t undermine that.
• I pay close attention to what you say and take notes. I would like you to pay close attention to what I say as well. If you’re multitasking and hoping to get value out of the conversation later from the summary, instead of paying attention now, I find that rude. I’m meeting with you, not your AI assistant. Let’s treat each other as if all of our time is valuable.
• I’ll succinctly summarize the takeaways from the conversation and share that with you. What I write in that summary, you can count on me understanding. An AI’s judgment about what’s important may miss or distort things.
• If your AI assistant records meetings automatically, and you never use the recordings, but “you never know,” I’m sorry, but that’s just lazy.
• If you don’t completely understand what’s being said, ask a question. If I don’t understand, I will ask the question. Don’t imagine that you can make things clearer by listening again a second time.
• If there is a specific reason to record the meeting — for example, English is not your first language and you need extra time with it — ask first. I’ll certainly understand. But don’t just assume I’m fine with it.

There are exceptions, of course. If I am interviewing you for research purposes and may be quoting you later, I may record the meeting and refer to the transcript later. The same applies if you’re hoping to quote me. This will be an on-the-record conversation, and we’ll agree on that ahead of time. That’s very different from an informal meeting.

Should you record corporate meetings by default?

You probably have meetings in your company. Do you record them as a matter of course? Do you listen to the recordings?

Here are the results of a poll I conducted on LinkedIn about meeting recordings:

This direct quote from one of my contacts seemed instructive:

If there’s any greater impetus to gouging one’s eyes out with sharp objects than viewing a video recording of a Teams meeting at 1:1 playback speed, I’m not aware of it.

My little survey is far from definitive, but I found it interesting. Like me, one in four people in my poll never check the recording from the meeting. Combining the first three answers, two-thirds of people either never listen to the recording or only listen to it rarely.

On the other hand, four people out of 55 said they often view meeting recordings. Three of them are writers or researchers who, presumably, review meetings for research purposes. The fourth is an oddball. (I know, because I took notes during my last meeting with him.)

The 12 people (22%) who sometimes view meeting recordings were more typical, with jobs across sales, marketing, design, and IT. I’d love to hear why these people tend to view the meeting recordings.

If you record meetings by default within your organization, I have a few questions for you:

• Do you know how often people listen to them? (Why are you doing this if you aren’t measuring it?)
• Do you have evidence that these recordings are making your staff more productive?
• Can you cite examples where the existence of these recordings was helpful, for example, in clarifying what actually happened at the meeting?
• Do you have too many meetings at your company? Does making recordings of the meetings help with that problem?
• Does anyone at the meeting take notes and publish a summary? Or do you feel that the summaries created by AI tools are actually dependable for business purposes?
• Do people record meetings to “cover their asses” or do they actually refer back to the content?
• Do people record meetings to make things easier for people who missed the meeting? Do you have evidence that people who missed these meetings actually review the recorded meetings?
• Have you considered that recorded meeting content is “discoverable” and could be used against you in a lawsuit?

Once again, there are exceptions. If you hold an all-day kickoff meeting to discuss strategy and get the troops charged up once a year, record that meeting. If someone comes in to give an informational lecture that will be valuable to everyone (and if you have asked that person’s permission!), record the meeting.

But recording every meeting by default seems foolish to me. If I’m wrong about that, can you explain what I’m missing?