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From World Champion to Coach: How I Use AI Meeting Notes to Stay Present
Max Planer
In coaching, the most valuable sentence is rarely the loudest one.
It might be a passing remark about a difficult employee. A hesitation before answering a question. Or a familiar problem that returns for the third week in a row.
As a coach, I want to notice those moments. That becomes harder when part of my attention is occupied with taking notes.
“I can still write something down by hand when I want to. But I no longer have to type everything.”
I use Weeve to record and transcribe my coaching sessions, with the client’s knowledge and consent. Afterwards, it creates a structured summary. The practical benefit is simple: I can spend more of the session listening, asking questions and observing what is happening beneath the first answer.
A coach needs to be present, not produce structured notes
My role in a coaching conversation is to act as a mirror.
The client brings their goals, problems, doubts and fears. I ask questions that help them see their situation from a different angle and decide where they want to go.
“I see myself as a mirror in which the person I coach can perceive themselves.”
That requires attention. I need to hear the words, but also notice when someone avoids a subject, becomes emotional or repeats a familiar explanation.
Detailed manual note-taking competes with that attention. It pulls me towards the keyboard and encourages me to interpret the conversation before it has fully unfolded.
A transcript gives me another option. I can stay with the conversation and return to the exact wording later.
The real value appears between sessions
I work with many clients every week. A single session can be useful, but sustained coaching depends on continuity.
We often work on resilience, handling pressure, leadership and mental strength. With founders, these areas are closely connected. When a founder becomes reactive under pressure, that reaction can affect how they communicate criticism and how safe employees feel around them.
We may also explore goals, emotional blocks and blind spots. These are rarely resolved in one conversation. The same pattern may return in a different situation several weeks later.
“Some things keep coming back. We run into the same problems, react to the same triggers and wonder why we are not moving forward.”
Those repetitions are valuable. They can reveal where conscious explanations end and a deeper pattern begins.
This is why I review previous sessions. The goal of this exercise is to recover the thread:
What mattered most to this client?
What triggered pressure or uncertainty?
What did they decide to try?
What remained unresolved?
How does this connect to the long-term goal?
Weeve gives me the full transcript alongside a summary of important points, decisions, action items and open questions. Before the next session, I can revisit the summary or search the transcript when I need the original context.
A summary should support judgment
An AI-generated summary is still a draft.
Coaching conversations contain ambiguity. A sentence that looks minor in isolation may carry considerable weight because of how it was said or because it connects to something from an earlier session.
I therefore review the notes rather than treating them as the final interpretation. I correct anything that sounds too certain, remove unnecessary personal detail and decide what should shape the next conversation.
This distinction matters. The tool preserves the conversation. The coach remains responsible for understanding it.
“For the first time, I have a tool that captures the conversation in a way that feels realistic to me, including what was actually said and what the important points were.”
My weekly coaching workflow
My process has three simple stages.
Before the session
I review the previous summary and identify:
the client’s longer-term goal;
last week’s commitments;
unresolved questions;
recurring patterns worth observing.
This gives me orientation without forcing the session into a rigid agenda.
During the session
I begin by asking whether something urgent has happened. If so, we work with what is present. If not, we continue with the themes we previously identified.
I take occasional handwritten notes, especially when a phrase or observation feels important. I do not try to document the entire conversation.
After the session
I review the transcript and summary. I check the action items, clarify anything ambiguous and record the questions I may want to revisit.
Where appropriate, I send the client a concise summary of their decisions and next steps. I do not automatically share the complete transcript or my private coaching observations.
Copy-and-paste coaching session template
The following template reflects the questions I use to maintain continuity. You can use it as a checklist when reviewing a Weeve note. If your version supports custom summary instructions, paste it there.
Better notes create a better starting point
The biggest change in my work is that I begin the next session with a clearer view of what came before.
I can stay present without trusting my memory to hold every detail. I can notice patterns across weeks. And I can return to the client’s own words when something important resurfaces.
For me, that is what useful coaching notes should do: preserve the thread while leaving the real work inside the conversation.
Weeve is the local AI notetaker Max uses. It records, transcribes and summarises on your Mac, and nothing is uploaded. The free Starter plan covers 10 recordings a month. Download Weeve for Mac, or start from our meeting template for coaches.
About Max
https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-planer/
https://maxplaner.com/
