When you have been asked to taking notes for a committee or you have been appointed as a secretary to the Board of your organization, preparing minutes of meeting is an arduous task. Here are some tips and ideas that will you help you get started with writing and preparing effective minutes of meeting.
Table of contents:
- Why meeting of minutes is important
- What’s involved in the meeting of minutes
- Preplanning
- Record tasking – at the meeting
- Minutes writing and transcribing
- Distributing or sharing meeting of minutes
- Filing or storage of minutes for future reference
- Conclusions
- Sources
What’s involved with the minutes of meeting?
There are essentially five steps involved in with meeting of minutes:
- Preplanning
- Record taking – at the meeting
- Minutes writing or transcribing
- Distributing or sharing of meeting of minutes
- Filing or storage of minutes for future reference.
Pre planning:
A well-planned meeting helps to ensure the meeting of minutes. If the chair and the secretary or minutes taker work together to ensure the agenda and meeting are well thought out, it makes minutes taking much easier. For example, depending on the meeting structure and the tools you use, the minutes taker can work with the chair to create a document format that works as an agenda and minutes outline as well.
2. Record taking – at the meeting:
Date and time of meeting
Name of the meeting participants and those unable to attend (e.g., regrets)
Acceptance or corrections/amendments previous meetings
Decisions made about each agenda team, for example
Actions taken or agreed to be taken
Next steps
Voting outcomes – e.g. (if necessary, details regarding who made motions, who seconded and approved or via show of hands, etc.)
Motions taken or rejected
Items to be held over
New Business
Next meeting Date and Time
3.Minutes writing or transcibing
Once the meeting is over, it’s time to pull together your notes and write the minutes. Here are some tips that might help:
Try to write the minutes as soon once the meeting is over while everything will stay fresh in your mind.
Review your outline, if necessary, add additional notes or clarify points raised. Also check to ensure all decisions, actions and motions are clearly noted.
Check for sufficient detail:
Include a short statement of each action taken by the board and a brief explanation and rational for the decision.
When there is an extensive deliberation before passing a motion, summarize the major arguments.
Edit to ensure brevity and clarity, so the minutes are easy to read.
What NOT TO INCLUDE:
Be objective.
Write in the same tense throughout
Avoid using people’s name except for motions or seconds. This is a business document, not about who said what.
Avoid inflammatory or personal observations. The fewer adjectives and adverbs you use, the better.
If you need to refer to other documents, attach them in an appendix or indicate where they may be found. Don’t rewrite their intent or try to summarize them.
4. Distributing or sharing of meeting of minutes:
As the official minutes taker, your role include dissemination of the minutes. However before you share these, be sure that the Chair has reviewed and either revised and/or approved the minutes for the circulation.
5.Filing or storage of minutes for future reference
Most committees and Board reviews and either approve or amend the minutes at the beginning of the subsequent meeting. Once you have made any required revisions, then the minutes will then need to be stored for future reference.