What are Minutes?
Minutes are the written record of everything that’s happened during a meeting. They are used to inform people who did not attend the meeting about what happened. They are also used to keep track of what was decided, and to inform future decisions. Minutes can also serve to notify (or remind) individuals of tasks assigned to them and/or timelines
Are you New to writing minutes?
Have you been appointed Secretary to the Board of your organization or committee? Preparing meeting minutes doesn’t have to be an arduous task. Here are some tips and ideas that will help you get started with writing and preparing effective meeting minutes.
Please note that the format, style and content requirements for meeting minutes varies depending on the organization. Thus, this article offers only general guidelines to help get you started.
To write effective meeting minutes you should include the names of the participants, agenda items, and the major points discussed. You also add decisions made by the participants, Actions or tasks with due dates, and next steps the participants plan to take.
Before the meeting:
A well-planned meeting helps ensure effective meeting minutes. If the Chair and the Secretary work together to organize the agenda, it makes minutes taking much easier. At the very least, it’s important to get a copy of the agenda and use it as a guide for preparing the minutes. The order and numbering of items on the minutes should match those of the agenda.
You need to prepare the different topics to be addressed during the meeting. Note what you know about them in order to save time and focus on important topic. If not, you might end up on the margins, being too busy taking notes.
During the Discussions
Minutes are an effective contributor to successful meetings, yet they need to be appropriately written and distributed in time. The main problem with reports is that they take a long time to be written down properly. Also, they must be sent quickly after the meetings to let everyone know their next projects or actions.
A good way of organizing your note-taking is to differentiate actions from remarks. You should also note the different actions per person with a deadline.
After the meeting:
Type out your notes in a logical manner and not chronologically. It needs to be organized to be sent out to your colleagues. Also, it helps to add a short summary organized per person and per project along with the minutes. This helps your colleagues quickly glance at the minutes and spot the actions they need to realize within seconds.
Minutes are important – after all, they capture the essential information of a meeting. But taking and preparing minutes doesn’t have to be a daunting task. We hope this article helps meeting you in creating effective minutes for your organization.
