Use Google NotebookLLM for Smarter Everything
TLDR: Google NotebookLM is an AI assistant built into Google Workspace that organises notes, summarises podcasts, creates mind maps, generates study guides and FAQs, and connects ideas across documents. It helps teams save hours usually spent searching and reading, boosts collaboration, and speeds up decision-making. This article breaks down what NotebookLM does and how your team can put it to work effectively.
Teams collect knowledge everywhere: meeting notes, research, documents, audio recordings, and chat threads. Without a tool to organise and make sense of this scattered information, they spend too much time hunting for facts or duplicating work. This drags down decision speed, wastes effort, and probably frustrates employees, but what if you could use the power of AI and the nuance of a specific database to interact with?
What Google NotebookLLM Does
Google NotebookLM goes far beyond simple note-taking by applying AI to make your knowledge work smarter:
- AI-Powered Organisation: It scans and auto-groups related notes and documents, removing the need for manual filing or tagging.
- Podcast and Meeting Summaries: Instead of re-listening to long audio, get AI-generated summaries highlighting key points.
- Mind Maps: Visualise ideas and their relationships to understand complex subjects and project scopes better.
- Study Guides and FAQs: Transform scattered notes into structured learning materials or quick-reference FAQs for easy onboarding and knowledge sharing.
- Conversational AI Interface: Ask questions in natural language to find precise answers across all your notes instantly.
- Because it’s integrated into Google Workspace, it fits seamlessly into your team’s existing workflow without adding systems or traaining complexity.
How NotebookLM Works in Practice
Rather than spending hours searching documents or listening to meetings again, your team can ask NotebookLM to summarise content, create mind maps for brainstorming, or generate FAQs for training. AI finds connections across files you might miss, helping teams discover new insights and work together more effectively.
What Your Team Gains
- Cuts note and document search time by up to 50%
- Speeds up understanding through summaries and visuals
- Improves collaboration with a shared, organised knowledge base
- Prevents lost information and duplicated effort
- Frees your team to focus on decisions and creative work
A mid-sized consulting firm was drowning in scattered notes and recordings, with different teams storing crucial information in separate folders and apps. Finding the right details was a constant headache, which led to duplication of effort. Then we rolled out NotebookLLM for them - an AI tool that finally pulled everything together. It summarised long meeting recordings, sketched mind maps of complex client problems, and churned out FAQs to onboard new staff. Researchers and consultants started finding answers (as each output is sourced) twice as fast, projects ran smoother, and client work got noticeably sharper, a massive gain at the margin for the teams involved.
How to Get Going
Start by identifying teams overwhelmed with unstructured notes and multimedia content. Pilot NotebookLLM with these groups, focusing on podcast summaries or mind map creation. Train users to ask questions and generate study guides or FAQs. Measure the time saved and improvements in collaboration. Use feedback to expand NotebookLLM use across the organisation gradually, and then launch your first audio interview on the subject matter you have uploaded!
Quickstart Checklist
- Select a project or team with heavy note and document use, including audio.
- Enable NotebookLLM and upload relevant files.
- Demonstrate how to summarise podcasts, create mind maps, and generate FAQs.
- Train users on using natural language queries to find information quickly.
- Collect feedback on productivity gains and ease of use.
- Scale rollout based on success and user feedback.
If you want expert help integrating Google NotebookLLM into your workflows and unlocking its full potential, our AI Business Workshop offers tailored guidance designed for your team’s needs.