AI note taker for in person meetings: the options for client meetings in Australia

The best AI note taker for in person meetings depends on one question

Do you want a recording of the whole conversation, or just a good note of it? If you want the recording, you need a device or an app that listens to the room, and the client's consent. If you only need the note, you can skip recording the client altogether and dictate your own recap after the meeting. For most client meetings in professional services, the file needs the note. The recording is optional.

• AI note taker device: a dedicated recorder like the Plaud Note Pro or NotePin S. Good microphones, long battery, works without your phone screen on. Records everyone in the room.
• Phone or laptop app: Otter, Granola or Microsoft Word's Transcribe. Nothing extra to buy. Also records everyone in the room.
• Microsoft Copilot in a meeting room: Copilot in Teams Rooms can recap what was discussed in the room, if your firm has Teams Rooms hardware and Copilot licences.
• Dictated recap: after the client leaves, you talk through what happened for a minute or two and an AI tool turns it into the file note. Records only you.

Before you record a client meeting: the consent rules

A device or app that records the room is a listening device under state and territory law, and a client meeting is usually a private conversation. The rules differ across Australia:

• All parties generally need to consent: New South Wales (Surveillance Devices Act 2007, s 7), Western Australia (Surveillance Devices Act 1998, s 5), South Australia (Surveillance Devices Act 2016, s 4), Tasmania (Listening Devices Act 1991, s 5) and the ACT (Listening Devices Act 1992, s 4). Each Act has narrow exceptions.
• A party may record, but sharing is restricted: Victoria (Surveillance Devices Act 1999), Queensland (Invasion of Privacy Act 1971) and the Northern Territory (Surveillance Devices Act 2007). Passing the recording or a transcript to others generally needs consent or a listed exception.

In practice, ask at the start of every meeting, say why, and note the answer. If the client says no, do not record. The free can I record this call? tool walks through the rules for your state, and our guide to recording law in Australia has the detail and the exceptions. If you need wording, see call recording disclosure wording examples. The same rules apply in person as on the phone.

Consent is only half of it. Whatever records the meeting also sends the audio and transcript somewhere to be processed. Ask each vendor where that happens and how long they keep it. The recording holds the client's personal information, and if your firm is covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) the Australian Privacy Principles apply to it. Most businesses with annual turnover over $3 million are covered, and some smaller ones are too.

In person meeting AI note takers compared

Sources: Plaud Note Pro (Australia), Plaud plan pricing, Otter pricing, Otter privacy policy, Granola, Granola pricing, Granola security, Transcribe in Word and OneNote AI in Microsoft Teams and Copilot in Teams meetings.

AI note taker devices, and using one without a subscription

A dedicated device is the most reliable way to capture a meeting around a table. Phone microphones are built for one voice close up. A recorder with several microphones picks up the person across the desk much better, and it does not drain your phone or stop when a call comes in.

Plaud is the device most Australians search for, and it sells locally through au.plaud.ai in Australian dollars. On the question of using one without a subscription: every Plaud device comes with the free Starter plan, which Plaud lists as 300 transcription minutes a month. That is five one-hour meetings. Past that, you buy a plan or a block of extra minutes. If you see clients face to face most days, budget for a paid plan.

A device does not change the consent position. A small recorder on the table is easy to miss, and a client may not know what it is, so tell them before you start. We cover this for law firms in detail in Plaud for lawyers in Australia, and for phone use in can you record phone calls with a Plaud in Australia?.

In person meeting notes with an AI app on your phone or laptop

If you would rather not carry another gadget, an app does the same job with the microphone you already have. Put the phone flat on the table between you and the client, not in your pocket.

• Otter records from your phone, desktop or browser and gives you a searchable transcript and summary. Otter's privacy policy names Amazon Web Services in the United States for storage.
• Granola is best known as a laptop app that listens to video calls without a bot. Its iPhone and Android apps extend that to in-person meetings, and Granola says it keeps the transcript and your notes but not the audio.
• Microsoft Word Transcribe is the one many firms already pay for. Open Word for the web or Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, go to Home > Dictate > Transcribe, and press Start recording. Microsoft's own tip is to check which microphone is selected: a headset microphone will not pick up a meeting in the room.

All three produce a transcript and a general summary. None of them produces a file note in your firm's format out of the box, so plan for that step.

Copilot meeting notes in person: what Microsoft offers

People ask whether Copilot can take notes in an in-person meeting. On the Microsoft pages we read in October 2026, there are three routes:

1. Copilot in Teams Rooms. Microsoft says Copilot can recap what was discussed in a Teams Room and answer questions about it, and its Facilitator agent can help in in-person, unscheduled meetings held in Teams Rooms. Microsoft says Facilitator needs a Microsoft Copilot licence, and both need a Teams Room, which most small firms do not have.
2. A Teams meeting in the room. Start a Teams meeting on a laptop in the room and turn on transcription. Microsoft says a transcript must be available for Copilot to answer questions about a meeting after it ends.
3. Transcribe in Word or OneNote. Record the meeting in Word, get a transcript, then ask Copilot to summarise it if you have a licence. Transcribe itself is included with Microsoft 365, without Copilot.

Each of these records the room, so the consent rules above apply. If your Teams meeting has transcription on, CallNote can also receive that transcript once you connect your Microsoft account and your Teams admin has switched on transcript access, as described in AI note taker for Microsoft Teams.

The option that records nobody but you: dictate a recap

Plenty of professionals do not want a recorder on the table at all. Some clients go quiet when they see one. Some firms do not want a full recording of every meeting sitting in a third-party cloud. And for many meetings the file only needs the note.

The alternative is to dictate. When the client leaves, spend a minute or two talking through what happened: who was there, what they want, what you advised, what happens next. You are only recording yourself, so the rules about recording a private conversation with the client do not come into it.

This is what CallNote's voice memo is for. You press "Dictate a voice memo instead" in your browser, talk, and stop. CallNote transcribes your recap, shows you the text so you can fix a name, then writes the note in your template. A memo can run to about 20 minutes. The audio is not kept. The note is only as good as your recap, so name the things that matter: amounts, dates, documents, and what the client decided.

From a transcript to a file note

Whichever route you take, a transcript is raw material. A file note is the record a reviewer, a regulator or a court can rely on, in the order and under the headings your practice uses. A sixty-minute transcript of a home loan meeting is not a file note. Neither is a generic AI summary with "Key topics" and "Action items".

CallNote takes any of these inputs and writes the note:

• A transcript from a device or app. Paste it, or upload a .txt, .vtt or .srt file. CallNote has no direct connection to Plaud, Otter or Granola; you export the transcript and bring it in.
• A Microsoft Teams transcript. Arrives automatically once you connect your Microsoft account, if transcription was on in the meeting and your Teams admin has switched on transcript access.
• A dictated recap. As above.

The note follows your template. Paste one of your own past notes and CallNote builds a template with your headings, order and shorthand in about 20 seconds, without keeping anything about the client. Mortgage brokers can also use the built-in broking templates, such as the NCCP Compliance Note and Initial Discovery Call. Lawyers and financial advisers build theirs from a past note, or use the General Call Note or Chronological Call Note. You review the draft, then publish: the note is sealed with a SHA-256 checksum and locked, and later changes are dated amendments with a full audit log. It can go to Clio, HubSpot or Microsoft Dynamics 365, or out as a PDF.

To see the output before you sign up, look at real attendance note examples or try the free attendance note generator.

Checklist before you use an AI note taker in a client meeting

1. Decide if you need a recording or only a note. If only a note, a dictated recap avoids the consent question.
2. Ask for consent at the start, every time, and record the answer in your note. If the client says no, stop.
3. Check where the audio and transcript go, and how long the vendor keeps them. Read the vendor's privacy and security pages, not the marketing page.
4. Check your profession's rules. Lawyers have confidentiality duties under rule 9 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules. Brokers and advisers have record-keeping obligations that the note, not the recording, usually has to meet.
5. Test the microphone in your actual meeting room. Air conditioning and a glass table make a big difference.
6. Plan the note step. Decide who turns the transcript into the file note, and how long it should take.

Which one to pick

• You want a full recording of every meeting and clients are comfortable with it: a Plaud device, with the paid plan if you meet clients daily.
• You already pay for Microsoft 365: try Transcribe in Word first. It costs nothing extra.
• Your firm has Teams Rooms and Copilot: use Copilot in the room, and keep the transcript.
• You want the note, not the recording: dictate a recap and let CallNote write the note. See how it works for law firms, mortgage brokers and financial advisers.

For the wider question of tools that join meetings versus tools that only take a transcript, see meeting bots vs transcript-only note tools.

Common questions