Despite the name, meeting minutes don't have to be a record of every single 'minute.' On the contrary, it is vital to learn how to include the most relevant pieces of information, while staying synthetic and structured. Check weekly minutes meeting templates that are available online to get a better idea of how to create the needed details you want. Future – These meeting minutes can also be used to remind an organization of the activities it has planned for success in the future. Importance of Writing Minutes of the Meetings: Motivate members to get things done.
Minutes of meetings are important documents that actually record in writing what was discussed in a meeting and what action items came out of the meeting. In most organizations a review of the minutes of the primary management meetings over time would reveal an excellent record of the history of that organization.
In general, “minutes of a meeting” is a document that contains a point-form summary of the key discussion points that occurred during a meeting and any conclusions stated, or decisions made. Minutes should be prepared for any formal meeting that takes place, at any level of an organization.
The minutes should NOT be a long verbatim “he said” – “she said”. It should record only major points discussed and/or major decisions reached from a “bottom line” perspective.
Minutes of meetings are an “official” record of corporate decision-making and are thus often referred back to many months after the fact to determine what specifically led to a certain decision. So, the key items to record are decisions made or deferred and the specific reasons for that decision.
In most organizations, a corporate “meeting secretary” is made responsible for organizing meeting logistics, drafting of minutes, and distribution of meeting-related documents such as agendas and minutes. Once the “secretary” has drafted the minutes they are normally signed-off by the person who chaired the meeting before being distributed.
The sample meeting minutes document below was set up in MS-Word and contains all of the key information elements that you should include when developing your own meeting minutes. As mentioned above, the minutes below are based on an actual meeting that took place.
The above business form sample was copied directly from a Bonus Book that is included with my business writing style guide Instant Business Letter Kit. That Kit contains more than 200 pages of business letter writing tips, techniques and information, including more than 125 real-life fully-formatted business letter templates that you can instantly download into your word processing program and work with as you please.
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What is meeting minutes?
Meeting minutes serve an important purpose in a discussion or meeting. It provides an overall idea of what will be discussed at the meeting, who will host the meeting, what is the purpose of the meeting, what actions will be taken and so on. These minutes also include a list of people who are going to attend the meeting.Why do you need meeting minutes template?
Basically, meeting minutes template acts as a journal for those attending the meeting and also at the same time used as a summary for those who failed to attend the meeting. Every person attending the meeting needs to sign the document to confirm that anything that is discussed in the meeting is reliable. This helps preventing further confusions regarding the actions that need to be taken to deal with a particular issue or problem.Before conducting a regular meeting on any project, it is good to check meeting minutes at the very beginning to note what actions were agreed upon. This is an important thing of a successful agenda. However, preparing meeting templates is not an easy task. You need to create a proper format to note the important points of a meeting in an organized way. This seems to be a tedious task. Right? Well, you have a solution now as meeting minutes template is available online which you can download easily from your computer or desktop and organize it in a way you like.However, if you still have doubts regarding the use of meeting minutes in a discussion or project meeting, the following are five important reasons why you should make use of meeting minutes templates in your next meeting.Reasons to use meeting minutes templates
They offer a structure
- Though there is no particular structure or format is followed in meeting minutes, the court makes it necessary for companies to give reasonable effort on reporting the important facts of the meeting in an organized way. Therefore, while formatting meeting minutes of your company, make sure it clearly describes how the attendants or board members of your company arrive at a mutual decision. This minute template should include a space for the name of the organization, name of the members who are invited to attend the meeting, date and time of the meeting and the name of the person who will host it.
They ensure legal protection
Minutes Of The Meeting
- Meeting minutes play an important role if you want to run your business as per state laws and taxation policy. These minutes represent the actions taken by the board members or company regarding its internal revenue service, legal documents, and the courts. The legal experts also make sure that if an action is not mentioned in the minute, it means it did not happen.
They are used as measuring sticks
- Meeting minutes are used as an important review document as it requires measuring progress on a particular issue or project. These are mainly used as accountability tools that make it clear whose responsibility is it to perform a particular function. So, be sure to structure meeting minutes while organizing a meeting of the board of directors.
They are helpful in driving action
- Meeting minutes help to follow a plan of action for employees and leadership team. They make it clear as to why, how, when and by whom legal actions are taken. They also help in framing an action plan that can make it easy to get work done in less time and yields better results. It offers valuable information to those team members who are unable to attend a particular meeting.
What are the main elements to consider in a meeting minutes template?
Heading
- The heading of the template must include the name of the company or committee, the location where the meeting is going to be held and date and time of the meeting.
Meeting attendees
- It must include the names of those who are invited to take part in the meeting along with the apologies sent by those people who could not attend the meeting and thereby require minutes copies.
Name of the action items
- The items or issues that require action should clearly be mentioned in the template. These minutes templates must include a detailed report on each issue discussed in the meeting. For each topic, make sure that the subject of the topic, the name of the person who raised the issue and a decision taken by the committee is clearly mentioned in the document.
Announcement
- This is an important section of this document that includes important announcements on the part of the participants or others who have sent their apologies along with proposed agenda for next discussion.
Signature
- This place must include the signature of the person who prepares meeting minutes along with the date when the document is submitted. Some minutes documents require more than one authorized signature to consider it from legal perspectives.
Important meeting minutes tips
- Select an individual as note taker
- Include specific information in the document as per the meeting type
- Mention the meeting start time and location if required
- Choose a particular style for writing your meeting minutes such as discussion, verbatim, and action
- Record necessary discussions, conclusions and statements regarding meeting action items
- Distribute the minutes among all attendees who attend the meeting
Types of meeting minutes format
There are mainly three types of meeting minutes format followed in a meeting or discussion. Each of these formats have their own style and elements. Let’s have a look at them –Action minute
- It includes the actions and decisions that are agreed upon to resolve a particular issue.
Discussion minute
- It includes both actions and discussions that were carried out in the meeting. It also defines the facts that led to the actions decided to be taken upon.
Minutes Of The Meeting 2020
Verbatim minute
Minutes Of The Meeting Sample Format
- It includes every single details of what took place in the meeting.
How to write meeting minute?
Meeting minutes are used as a document that records everything about a meeting such as what were the decisions taken, what actions were agreed to be taken upon, who must take an action and when.In today’s age, key meetings take place in every organization or office, and a number of decisions and actions were decided to be taken upon that may involve million dollars. Therefore, keeping records of every meeting in a detailed manner is very important and only a meeting minute can do this task in an organized way. Here, you will get some helpful tips on how to write meeting minutes. Let’s have a look at them –Prepare an outline
- For preparing a meeting minute, you need to create an outline based on the subject of the meeting. It will make your task easier to jot down the decisions and actions that are agreed to be taken in the meeting. If you are writing these notes by hand, make sure you leave enough space after each item so that you can include additional points if the topic is further discussed.
Check the presence of all attendees
- As soon as the attendees enter the meeting room, you must check them off before the meeting starts. If the attendees do not introduce themselves, circulate the attendee list among them so that they can check them off.
Record actions and decisions to take up for a certain item
- When the committee members or board of directors arrive at a decision or make an important note, make sure that they are recorded accurately in the document.
Ask for amplification if it requires
- If the committee members or attendees of the meeting switch to another topic without taking any clear note or decision on an important issue, you have the right to ask for clarification.
No need to include each and every detail in the document
- You will not be able to include important points in the doc if you aim at writing down the entire conversation. Make sure to include only important points, assignments, decisions and actions discussed in the meeting.
10 questions you must ask while taking minute notes
- When is the meeting going to be held?2. Who will attend the meeting?3. Who will not be able to attend the meeting?4. What are the topics will be discussed?5. What are the decisions taken?6. What actions are decided to be taken upon?7. Who will be responsible for taking those actions and when?8. Are minutes notes distributed among the attendees?9. Is there anything special to be mentioned in the minutes of meeting?10. Is there a follow-up meeting scheduled? If yes, when, where and at what time?
Do’s and don’ts to follow in writing minutes of meeting
- Write meeting minutes right after the meeting, preferably within 48 hours.
- Do not skip writing the notes just because everyone attended the meeting. Always remember, this is an important document to keep records of every discussion and actions decided to be taken upon.
- No need to describe a statement as he said, or she said. However, if anyone made any important point, in that case, you can put the name of the person to make it specific.
- Do not include any information that looks irrelevant to the content
- Always use a positive language rather than making it a heated discussion.
Download meeting minutes templates online
Since it requires much time and effort to structure a meeting minute, in today’s age, the task of meet organizers has been made easier with the help of meeting minutes templates online. Yes! There are different formats of these templates available online which can make this task much easier and less time consuming. Just download a template from your computer or laptop and make it the way you like. Besides this, you can also check out meeting minutes examples that will help you to know what points you should include in the document and what not. A meeting minute sample is also available in different formats such as Word Doc. PDF, Excel and so on. You can print innumerable copies as per your requirement.So, stop using tape recorder, writing pads or any other things, make it easy and convenient with online meeting minutes templates. You can get the things done in the way you want.