After preparing your meeting resources and confirming the presence of these resources, your Chairperson can then commence the meeting. As the minute-taker, you are expected to record the proceeds of the meeting and take note of the meeting attendees.
Recording meeting proceeds does not only include what happened during the meeting; it also includes the outcomes of your meeting. This involves decisions that all attendees agreed upon, action items to be taken, who must carry out these action items, and when these action items must be carried out.
Once you have recorded the meeting outcomes, you must review your minutes to ensure that your minutes accurately portray what happened during the meeting. Following your review, you must then finalise your minutes and submit them for approval to your Chairperson.
Finally, you must distribute your minutes and any relevant post-meeting documentation to your meeting attendees once your minutes have been approved.
The minute-taker produces a written summary of the meeting. To do this effectively, they will need to:
- Familiarise yourself with the agenda before the meeting
- Record attendance
- Check for a Quorum if needed
- Hand out any materials required
- Read apologies
- Summarise the discussion
- Note all decisions and action items carefully
- Have minutes checked for accuracy by the Chairperson
- Distribute minutes along with any other required documents
The following video will help you understand how to take minutes.
The accuracy of the notes of the meeting is crucial. Notes are informal and typically do not require approval from the Chairperson. Notes can be taken in various ways, such as the following:
Detailed notes
These refer to notes where every single detail is recorded. These notes can be made easier to understand through coloured fonts or highlighted words to emphasise key points. Key points can also be encircled or underlined so that they can be singled out.
Mind mapping
This is a visual approach that involves creating a graphic to note down informationThis image generally comprises the meeting themes, which are then subdivided into subtopics to add important details. These topics and subtopics must be separated in the mind map so that details do not look confusing to attendees. An example of a mind map is provided below:
Audio transcriptions
- Active listening
- Timelines
- Visuals
- Written communication
- Verbal communication
These refer to notes where the speech in an audio recording of the meeting is converted into text. This can be done through written means or digital means (e.g. Microsoft Word). In addition, these transcriptions can help in taking detailed notes as all details are captured in audio. However, you must take note of any legislative requirements that are relevant to recording your meeting. Depending on your state and territory, you may need to ask for consent from your participants before recording the meeting.
Videotaping
Another approach to ensure an accurate record is to tape a meeting. Similar to audio transcriptions, all participants must agree in advance to this as, depending on your state and territory, it is illegal to record people without their approval.
The notes must be comprehensive as the minutes will be derived from the notes. Minutes serve as action plans for participants, guaranteeing that everyone knows what they must do and when. They are a legal requirement of some meetings and are actually evidence of the actions intended to be taken. There is no room for error.
Notes may be taken on a rotational basis or may be assigned to one person. In larger organisations, specialists are employed to undertake this task. What information is captured is also dependent on the meeting structure. For instance, motions are typically used in formal meetings.
You must consider a number of guidelines when producing notes to reflect a true and accurate account of your meeting. These guidelines include:
- Make yourself thoroughly familiar with the business and pre-reading papers before the meeting. This will make it easier to understand the discussion and take accurate notes.
- Ensure you know the format and how much information is to be recorded, and use this guide when taking your notes.
- When the participants have arrived, pass around a sheet of paper requesting they identify themselves. This will allow you to enter their names later. It can be helpful also to draw a map of the seating and add names. This will make it easier to identify the speakers.
- Prepare an outline using the agenda and leave white space for making notes. Make notes in each section as the business is transacted.
- Note all essential elements, motions, proposer, seconder, amendments etc. Accuracy of the wording of motions is crucial.
- Never be afraid to ask if you are lost, need assistance, or do not understand. Better to gently interrupt than be inaccurate.
Guidelines aside, there are also several communication techniques that you can use to take accurate notes for your meeting. These techniques include the following:
This technique involves giving your full attention to the speaker by using verbal and non-verbal cues. These include maintaining eye contact, nodding your head, smiling, agreeing, and encouraging the speaker to continue.
This technique allows you to take an accurate portrayal of the meeting by recording the meeting duration. This includes the duration of each discussion topic on the agenda. Keeping note of the timelines for each discussion allows you to keep track of the progress of the meeting and ensure that the meeting is progressing smoothly.
Notes can also be recorded using illustrations, which can help present information in a more interesting and digestible format. Taking notes with illustrations helps stimulate creativity and participation. In addition, these illustrations can help facilitate the work of teams working on complex problems by providing the overall picture.
The proceeds of the meeting can be recorded through handwritten or typewritten means. When taking notes of the meeting, you must check for proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. The lack of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors allows for your notes to be read and understood better by the meeting attendees.
When taking notes of the meeting, you may need to use verbal communication techniques to provide a more accurate representation of the meeting.
These verbal communication techniques include the following:
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Reinforcement
Reinforcement refers to the use of non-verbal cues, along with words of encouragement. This helps build rapport among attendees and is called as such because it reinforces openness in others. In addition, reinforcement shows that you are interested in what other people have to discuss and can help reduce anxiety, shyness, or nervousness in others.
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Questioning
Questioning is a technique that allows you to gather information and encourage further discussion of a topic. This technique also allows you to clarify any unclear discussion items, reducing misunderstandings and making communication more effective
There are two main types of questions that you can use:
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Closed questions
This type of question typically seeks a one- or two-word answer, such as yes or no. This is ideal for obtaining clarification and focusing on discussion topics.
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Open questions
This type of question requires a more complex answer and facilitates further discussion and elaboration of a topic. Open questions encourage more involvement in a discussion and often start with ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘why.’
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Similar to questioning, reflecting is a technique that allows you to obtain clarification on discussion topics. Reflecting involves the use of paraphrasing by having you repeat the speaker’s message in your own words. This allows both you and the speaker to check if you have understood the message clearly, and the speaker can provide clarification if needed. In addition, reflecting shows that you have an interest in what the speaker has to say.
This technique involves presenting an overview of the main points that were discussed. Summarising can be used for clarification, as this allows both you and the attendees to review discussion topics and ensure that communication in the meeting has been effective. When used effectively, this technique can guide the next steps forward in the meeting.
For instance, your meeting’s discussion topics so far included an issue in the workplace and what action item must be done to resolve the issue. The discussion topics that can follow include who must execute the action item and when they must execute it.
The notes of the meeting can include the following items:
During meetings, key decisions and actions for implementation will be discussed and agreed upon to solve a given issue or contribute to a relevant cause. These decisions and actions are known as action items. Action items provide a clear idea of what needs to be done and are typically handled by one person. Depending on the situation, this person can be you, your fellow employee, your supervisor, or an external stakeholder.
In this context, arrangements refer to plans or preparations for a future meeting. These can include the following:
- Date and time
- Venue
- Issues and concerns for discussion
- Persons involved (e.g. who will be chairing the next meeting, who are required to attend)
These are sometimes called resolutions and refer to any judgments made after considering a given concern or situation. These can include action items, arrangements, motions, and preferences. Decisions must be discussed with attendees and may need votes to be finalised. It is important that this information, together with the minutes of the meeting (resolutions should be recorded within minutes), are accepted and endorsed by meeting participants and then stored appropriately for any future reference.
Decisions are often involved in activities such as the following:
- Information gathering and sharing
- Brainstorming
- Evaluating options
- Ranking preferences
- Voting on options
Future actions refer to actionable decisions that have been finalised and agreed upon to be carried out on a specific future date. As discussed previously with decisions, these can include action items, arrangements, motions, and preferences.
These refer to topics or situations that are up for discussion or debate. These issues provide context to the action items and decisions that will be discussed during the meeting. These issues are typically discussed in detail to ensure that all attendees have a common understanding of what must be solved. When all attendees understand the issue, they will provide specific and clear action items and decisions for discussion.
These refer to discussion items of particular importance and are highlighted to provide an outline of the meeting’s discussion. These points can be noted down as a set of clear and memorable phrases that can be repeated at the end of a discussion to ensure that the attendees understand the discussion.
This refers to a list of the meeting’s attendees and absentees. When noting absentees, apologies are typically included; apologies are notifications from absentees indicating that they cannot attend the meeting. These are usually noted at the beginning of the meeting and are included in the meeting minutes.
These refer to ideas, action items, and decisions that are proposed during the meeting for consideration. When noting down suggestions, the note-taker must ensure to identify the attendee who put forward the suggestion and the decisions that were discussed regarding the suggestion (e.g. the suggestion was agreed upon, the suggestion was turned down, etc.).
The Minutes are an important part of meetings. They are the record of the information discussed at the meeting, usually typed up and distributed in note form.
Without them, there would be no official record of what occurred at the meeting.
Your meeting minutes must be finalised as soon as possible. Before doing this, you must outline your key decisions and actions for implementation. Key decisions and actions for implementation are referred to as action items. Action items provide a clear idea of what must be done and are typically handled by one person. Outlining action items is a process that fosters accountability among individuals involved in the issue being discussed.
This process includes the following steps:
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Provide a short description of the issue.
This will provide context for the action items that you must outline. Make a point of noting only the most relevant aspects; too much information might complicate the problem. However, you must also be careful not to put too little information. A lack of information regarding the issue can make it seem like the action items are being made without a solid basis.
To ensure that this does not happen, take some time to gather the necessary details within the meeting. During this time, you can identify which information is most important to describe the issue.
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Note down the action item.
Identify the action item being discussed. When outlining action items, ensure to be specific as to what needs to be done. For instance, the action item being discussed involves reviewing the product backlog for the month of December. Instead of simply outlining the action item as ‘Review product backlog,’ include the specific month. This can be outlined as either of the following:
- Review product backlog for December 20x
- Review December 20xx product backlog
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Identify the person/s responsible for the action item.
Now that you have noted the action item, you must also outline who will be responsible for carrying out the action item. This includes identifying other individuals who are involved in performing the action item.
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Identify timeframes for the action item.
During this step, you must note down when the action item must be carried out. This includes the date when the action item will be done and the time at which it will be done. If there are any delays in carrying out the action item, you can use these timeframes as a reference to help you identify these delays and why they happened.
Based on the steps previously discussed, your action item should look like this:
| Issue | Action Item | Person in Charge |
|---|---|---|
| Policy section of the personnel policy and procedures document is outdated | Update the policy section in the personnel policy and procedures document by October 12, 20xx | Human Resources officer |
Once the action items have been outlined, the meeting minutes can be written. When writing your meeting minutes, the following items must always be included:
Meeting details
This includes items such as the title, date, time, and location of the meeting. Other details can include who presided over the meeting and other relevant personnel, such as the minute-taker.
Agenda items
Agenda items include all discussion topics that were covered in the meeting. This can also include the objectives of the meeting, the speaker for each discussion topic, and how long each topic was discussed.
Formal motions
Formal motions must be recorded properly. A formal motion is a suggestion made by an attendee at the meeting that has been seconded by another attendee and then passed by a vote. Formal motions typically include key decisions and actions discussed and debated by meeting attendees. The note-taker may need to restate a motion after a lengthy discussion. It is, therefore, very important to record these motions exactly as they have been stated. Be sure to list the names of all attendees making and seconding any motions.
An example of how to document a formal motion is as follows:
| Motion |
|---|
|
There may be instances where formal motions put forward by attendees are not seconded. These are known as failed motions and are typically included in the minutes.
An example of how to document a failed motion is as follows:
| Motion |
|---|
|
However, keep in mind that seconded formal motions can still fail if there are not enough votes to pass them. Failed motions also occur if the majority of the attendees are not in favour of passing the motion.
This can be recorded in your notes as follows:
| Motion |
|---|
|
In addition to recording who introduced and seconded the motion, you must also note who will be responsible for carrying out the motion, should the motion be passed. You must also record when the motion will be carried out and how the motion will be carried out.
For instance, in continuation with the examples, the appropriate personnel must furnish new and current models of workplace computers. This can include the office manager and the finance officer, who will need to coordinate with each other on purchasing new workplace computers so that the office can be furnished.
Further Reading
Robert’s Rules of Order is an excellent tool to help familiarise you with the format for making, seconding and amending motions.
Apologies from meeting participants that are unable to attend
Apologies refer to notifications from participants who are unable to attend the meeting. This does not immediately mean that apologies are a list of people who cannot show up for the meeting; apologies are a list of individuals who have requested their apologies to be submitted to the meeting.
Names of those in attendance and those absent
This can be found in your meeting’s attendance sheet. This shows all participants who were able to attend your meeting and those who were not.
Previous minutes
These documents cover matters arising from the previous meetings. This can include action items and ongoing discussion topics and who is responsible for carrying out these action items and discussing ongoing topics.
Correspondence
These documents refer to any letters and facsimiles that are relevant to the meeting’s agenda. The Chairperson typically presents these by putting a motion for the meeting to ‘receive the correspondence.’ This shows that the meeting acknowledges that the correspondence has been officially received and that it may now be discussed and acted upon if needed.
New business
Also known as any other business (AOB), this covers discussions for topics attendees wish to include for a future agenda. This allows attendees to change the whole atmosphere of a meeting and allows them to hijack the meeting for their own purposes. AOBs are typically conducted last, making them the most memorable part of the meeting for attendees.
Date of the next meeting
Should your meeting duration be insufficient for your discussion topics, your Chairperson and attendees can agree on a date for the next meeting. Writing down the date for the next meeting confirms that all individuals present in the meeting agreed on the date.
Reports (if required)
These include progress reports. Progress reports are documents written by your team members at the end of a timeframe. These can be written weekly, monthly, or even yearly. These reports help facilitate discussion and effective project management during meetings.
After the meeting has finished, the minutes must be created according to the organisation’s policies and procedures, which may mean the usage of templates.
Below is an example:
| Name of Organisation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of Meeting | ||
| Date/Time | ||
| Chair | ||
| Attendees | ||
| Discussion | Action | Person Responsible |
| 1. | ||
| 2. | ||
| 3. | ||
Every action taken should be recorded in the notes during the meeting, whether they seem trivial or not. Once the notes have been created, key decisions and actions for implementation must be outlined and emphasised. This finalises the notes and creates the meeting minutes. This should be done as soon as possible after the meeting while the memory is still fresh.
After creating your minutes, you must proceed with reviewing the minutes for accuracy. There are several reasons why the meeting minutes must be reviewed. These reasons include:
- Meeting minutes provide legal protection
- Meeting minutes provide structure
- Meeting minutes facilitate action
- Meeting minutes allow you to measure progress
- Meeting minutes indicate ownership
Meeting minutes are considered legal documents by auditors and the courts. Your meeting minutes will often contain details crucial to keeping your organisation in line with state laws and backing up tax returns. Legal officials and experts will maintain that if a specific action is not covered in your meeting minutes, then it did not happen.
247Meeting has an article that offers additional discussion as to why meeting minutes provide legal protection: The Importance of Taking Minutes and What to Include in Yours
The Importance of Taking Minutes and What to Include in Yours 247meeting.com/blog/the-importance-of-taking-minutes/
While there is no exact, standardised format for meeting minutes, you must report the facts of your meeting in a clear and logical order. Your meeting minutes must contain sufficient detail on how you and relevant personnel in your meeting arrived at specific decisions.
An accurate meeting minutes helps promote action for your team and employees in the organisation. Your meeting minutes clearly describe how, when, why, and by whom specific decisions were made. These help map out a plan for action items and provide important information to relevant personnel who could not attend the meeting.
Because meeting minutes record key decisions, this makes your meeting minutes a useful review document when it comes to measuring progress. Your meeting minutes also act as a tool for accountability due to clearly specifying who was responsible for a specific task or action item.
Depending on the progression of your meeting, your meeting minutes can be long and detailed or short and straightforward. During instances when documentation is significant, you may need to take detailed meeting minutes. This can include votes, specific decisions, action items, and the persons responsible for these action items and decisions.
Your review of the meeting minutes is typically done upon completion of the meeting. When reviewing the minutes, the information you will review can include the discussed timeframes, project information, failed and passed motions, assigned tasks, and so on. Should there be any inaccuracies, you must edit them to ensure that your meeting minutes are a truthful and accurate representation of what was discussed during the meeting.
A good method of reviewing the minutes can be cross-checking the meeting minutes against an audio or video recording of the meeting. An audio or video recording of the meeting provides an accurate and precise representation of the meeting, which you can use to check if the minutes are inaccurate.
If there are any questions regarding the importance of action items, the nominated person (also known as a designated individual) should be spoken to as soon as possible after the meeting. The nominated person refers to an individual present during the meeting and can affirm that the minutes are accurate. This can include a fellow employee, supervisor, or a third party present during the meeting.
Once reviewed, the minutes are given to the nominated person for approval. They may then be dispatched to the participants if required.
Your organisation may have requirements for reviewing and submitting minutes for approval. Be sure to check your organisation’s policies and procedures relevant to meetings and meeting minutes before conducting a review.
Post-meeting materials should be distributed as soon as possible after the meeting so that:
- Attendees (and those who were unable to attend) have a record of what was discussed
- Action items can be completed by the persons they were assigned to
- Everyone is aware of who is responsible for what items
- While the meeting is still fresh in everyone’s minds.
These materials include the following:
These copies must be given to the attendees as soon as possible after the meeting. Any corrections or additions should be recorded in the minutes of the next meeting. The group should then approve the minutes, meaning they agree that they are accurate and complete, either as read or amended.
These can include audio, video, or audio-visual recordings of the meeting. Similar to meeting minutes, these must be reviewed to check their quality and ensure that all attendees are heard and seen clearly.
These refer to documents that were used for the meeting. These can include presentation slides, handouts, supplementary videos, etc. These materials help illustrate the points of the meeting effectively and support specific statements made during the meeting. For example, presentation slides with graphs detailing improvements can be used if the meeting discusses annual performance improvements.
Keep in mind that your distribution methods are typically aligned with the format of the post-meeting materials. For instance, if these materials are in a digital format (e.g. Word documents, audio recordings, or videos), these materials can simply be distributed to participants through email. In addition, the post-meeting materials can be uploaded onto the organisation’s cloud storage and their links distributed through email.
Should the post-meeting materials consist of physical documents, copies can be distributed personally to the participants. Other methods include faxing or mailing copies of the documents to participants who were unable to participate and lack access or knowledge to operate the necessary technology.
When distributing and storing post-meeting materials, make sure to check your organisation’s policies and procedures for specific requirements.
In order to ensure that the Minutes can be retrieved easily at a later date, it is a good idea to have a consistent naming convention and one that makes sense for the content. For example, “Minutes - Finance AGM - January 2020” is more informative than “Finance Minutes”. The first naming convention also allows for a standardised format, for example, “Agenda – HR Performance Agreement Policy Review – February 2020”. When deciding on the naming convention, the trick is to consider what people will search for when trying to find a particular piece of information
