A few years ago I noticed that despite spending time in numerous conference sessions I often did not recall very much at the end of the day.

I would typically have my laptop open, ostensibly to take notes, but the ease of distraction was too great for me. Too easy to get caught up Googling stuff or writing code or following the live tweet stream.

I then tried keeping the device closed while taking notes on a small paper notepad. My notes were so much better. If I really did not care for the talk I would draw pictures; I'd still have a better recall of the talk than if I was using a laptop.

Using a tablet (as Htsthbjig mentioned) seems like a good alternative since you then have digital storage, if you are still hand-writing the content. At least for me that difference in action (writing versus typing, and using assorted pen-lines and sizes/styles/placement of content) is key for helping me recall things.