Take a Minute! – Minute Taking Skills Made Easy

Whether you work for a government department, community group, charity or private company, chances are, at some time in your career, you’ll be called upon to take minutes at a meeting. There’s no getting away from it. When you assemble a group for a meeting it can be an expensive exercise; meetings need to be productive to justify the effort and expense.

A good meeting needs a strong chairperson, or facilitator, and an accurate record of what transpired. Being able to take good minutes is, in fact, a great advantage for advancing your career prospects.

Does the idea of being asked to take minutes fill you with dread?

Do you question what information you should record and what you should leave out?

If the idea of taking minutes leaves you trembling, believe me, you are not alone.

Most of us have sat madly scribbling notes at a meeting feeling totally uncertain that we are taking down the relevant points.

In this short article we’ll cover some introductory tips to keep you on track to producing a relevant and useful record of proceedings.

It is the record of the meeting that keeps individuals accountable for following through on the actions delegated to them.

A well written set of meeting minutes records the designs and assigns actions. They eliminate confusion about what was discussed and the decisions reached. A good set of minutes leaves readers in no doubt. They provide an ongoing record of progress; they generally document why decisions were made and, what’s more, they keep participants accountable for follow up action.

The type of meeting will dictate the style of minutes that will be adopted. In this article, we’ll focus on the action style minutes although we cover other styles in our workshop Minute Taking Skills. Action style minutes are generally used when recording the minutes for project groups, steering committees and working parties.

With accurate minutes to refer to, everyone is clear.

What most people don’t know is that meeting minutes shouldn’t be an exact recording of everything that happened during a session. They are simply a summary of discussion; they document the decisions made and assign actions for follow up. They are saved and used as a reference or background information for future meetings and discussions around the same topic.

The following are some useful tips to guide your initial minute taking experience.

Before the Meeting

It can be difficult to participate in a meeting and record the minutes at the same time, so generally it is preferable to appoint a minute taker whose sole duty is to record proceedings. This isn’t always practical of course and so you may find yourself participating in a meeting at the same time as taking the records. On the other hand, you may not have the authority to participate in the meeting so check with your chairperson before throwing your opinion or ideas into the meeting discussion.

Sometimes the introduction of a newly designated minute taker heralds an opportunity to adopt a new minute format. Check with the chairperson that they with the current format or whether they would like to make some changes.

Next create yourself a minute template. Providing your chairperson was happy with the previous layout, you can do this by following the structure used by previous minute takers. Be sure to include space for:

• date and time of the meeting
• the name of the meeting, committee or group
• the purpose of the meeting
• the meeting lead or chair’s name
• assigned action items
• decisions made

Before the meeting, gather as much information from the chairperson as you can. Ask for a list of attendees, as well as some information on the purpose of the meeting. Read over the previous meeting records. They will give you some clarity on what has transpired at previous meetings. Check out who usually attends the meetings along with their role. Read through the account of any previous decisions and why they were taken.

During the Meeting

As people enter the room, check off their names on your attendee list. Introduce yourself to meeting participants as they arrive and, if necessary, check with them that you have the correct spelling of their name. This will be helpful later when you are recording assigned tasks or decisions.

Don’t try to record notes verbatim. Minutes are a summary of what happened in the meeting, not a verbatim account, he said – she said. Focus on understanding what’s being discussed and on recording what actions have been assigned and to whom.

Record action items and decisions in your template as they happen – don’t wait until after the meeting. As the meeting progresses, highlight them in your notes so you don’t overlook important decisions and delegations when you transcribe them later. If you don’t understand exactly what decision has been made, or what action has been assigned, ask the chairperson directly after the meeting.

Immediately after the Meeting

• Immediately after the meeting, and while your memory is still fresh, type out a rough draft of your notes. You can tidy up the finer detail later but getting down the initial summary is half the battle.
• It is not always necessary to write the minutes in the actual order of discussion. Sometimes discussion at a meeting goes off track and so the sequence may not read logically on paper. Assemble the content into logical, readable order.
• If you are taking action style minutes, you may simply need to define the decisions and record what actions have been assigned and when those particular actions need to be completed.
• Avoid writing inflammatory or personal observations. The fewer adjectives or adverbs you use, the better. Dull writing is generally the key to appropriate minutes.
• If you need to refer to other documents such as reports that were tabled at the meeting, attach them in an appendix or indicate where they may be found. Don’t rewrite their intent or try to summarize them.
• When you finish typing the minutes, ask the chairperson to review the document for errors. Send the final copy of the minutes to attendees as soon after the meeting as possible. Retain a copy of your original notes in case someone wants to clarify a point at some later time.

Recording meeting minutes ensures that the decisions and actions aren’t overlooked. By taking the time to record proper meeting notes you’ll make sure the time and effort that goes into a meeting isn’t wasted.

In our workshop Take a Minute! — Effective Minute Taking Skills, we cover much more to help you take minutes with confidence. This workshop, and many others, can also be tailored specifically for your organisation and delivered in-house. Feel free to contact us for more info.