Taking notes on people in Obsidian

Taking notes on people in Obsidian is framed as a practical way to keep relationships intentional when life involves frequent travel and mostly online contact. The core idea is simple: instead of relying on memory, a person-focused note system helps prioritize who matters most, refresh context before reconnecting, and turn scattered conversations into reusable information—so meetings and follow-ups feel more personal and less like they’re starting from scratch.

The workflow starts with a “listen first” principle. Notes aren’t taken while someone is speaking face-to-face; attention stays on the person. On calls, there’s more room to type while maintaining eye contact, but the goal remains presence. When a meeting ends, a structured meeting template captures what was discussed and the next action. The template uses Templater strings to auto-fill fields like the date and meeting title, and it organizes content into Agenda, Log, and Next Action—so follow-through doesn’t get lost.

When the person is someone worth investing in, the system shifts from meeting notes to a dedicated “person note.” That note stores practical details (company, location, title), relationship timing (a “date last spoken” field), and a “follow up” flag used later to trigger catch-ups. The notes also include prompts for deeper context: how the conversation went, what topics came up, and background elements such as employment history, where someone has lived, family, and other personal anchors.

To make the notes more memorable—and to help guide future conversations—person notes borrow frameworks from tabletop role-playing games. The OGAS framework (Goal, Attitude, Stake) helps translate a person’s motivations and constraints into something actionable. Additional prompts draw from common RPG character tools like Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws, plus alignment-style axes (e.g., chaotic/neutral/lawful and good/neutral/evil). There’s even a playful “Magic the Gathering” color mapping to generate conversation hooks without turning people into rigid labels. The point isn’t categorization for its own sake; it’s using structured cues to remember what energizes someone and to suggest better ways to connect (for example, choosing hiking over a movie if nature is a strong interest).

The system also handles real-world constraints. At conferences, notes may be impossible in the moment, so thoughts get dumped later into a daily note as bullet points, then converted into person notes once there’s time. For name recall, social media becomes a tool: taking a photo during an event helps remember faces, and LinkedIn QR codes can speed up connection. For people encountered through content rather than in-person interaction, Readwise is used to capture and process articles, tweets, or posts.

Follow-up is automated with Dataview queries that surface people whose “follow up” flag is true and whose “date last spoken” is older than a set threshold (defaulting to a month in the example). A daily note then prompts the user to reach out, with an optional dice-roll string to introduce randomness.

Because these notes can include sensitive personal details, privacy is treated as non-negotiable. Person notes live in a dedicated folder excluded from Obsidian Publish filters, and a `publish:false` flag is set in the person template. For added protection, the vault can be encrypted via Obsidian Sync, and the Meld Encrypt plugin can create password-protected encrypted notes for particularly sensitive entries. The overall message is that this system isn’t weird—it’s a deliberate way to show care, reduce mental load, and maintain genuine connections over time.