If you’ve ever wanted to know how to take minutes at a meeting…
How to take minutes of a meeting?
If you have already read a few articles on the subject of good practices for effective meetings before arriving on this page, you will have noticed that writing minutes of meetings regularly appears in the top 3 things to do. Of course, we’re not going to tell you otherwise, but if we don’t give you the method for taking effective meeting minutes, these tips are useless!
So yes, the meeting minutes are essential in the life of a company because they are the memory of what happened during a meeting but also of its context, and we propose to approach this subject in a practical and educational way.
How to define a meeting report ?
What do the minutes of a meeting look like ? What is its purpose ? What form should they take ? Meeting minutes are generally the formalisation of notes (also called “minutes”) taken during a meeting, whether it is a management meeting, a steering committee meeting, a project meeting, etc. …. They summarise the main issues discussed, the various proposals or amendments made, the decisions made and the actions to be taken.
A designated member of the board or steering committee usually takes the minutes of such an executive meeting. There are different types of meeting minutes, including the executive summary, committee overview, summary report, recommendation and other formalities. The role of the recorder, also known as the recording secretary, is to take notes at the meeting and write up the minutes in which he or she will outline in a plan corresponding to the agenda what decisions have been taken at the meetings and what actions need to be taken to achieve them.
What is the purpose of meeting minutes ?
What is the purpose of meeting minutes ? The purpose of the minutes is to allow readers to remember the information exchanged during the meeting, presented in a simple format, but also to allow members of the company who were not present at the meeting to have a summary of the impact on their activities. Minutes of executive committee meetings have become very important in today’s business world. No matter how well planned, there will always be issues to deal with. Sometimes these problems may be minor and can be easily resolved, but sometimes the damage is already done. These mishaps can have costly consequences for the company. It is therefore very important for managers and other responsible persons to take the lead and write down all important and critical information that concerns the company. The minutes are a very useful document. It serves as a communication tool, a memory aid and as evidence in case of disagreements between employees.
The art of writing meeting minutes
The concept of taking minutes of meetings is not as complex as one might imagine. Many software programs have been designed specifically to help people collaborate better while using real-time communication. A tool that allows users to write, edit, update, delete, search, and collaborate when creating and managing project files. To be effective, a company must use all of these tools and be able to collaborate with others using real-time technology. With these tools, the meeting minutes can be written directly during the meeting with only a review and approval action before being shared. Writing good meeting minutes requires respecting the steps and must take into account the context and all the decisions taken by the board, which means helping the collaborators to read the minutes.
The different types of meetings
There are different types of meetings which include webinars, teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, video conferences, conferences and live events. For businesses that aim to reach as many people as possible, it makes sense to create online meetings. This allows the company to reach its target audience and retain contacts. The theme of each meeting will vary depending on the objectives of the meeting and the people invited will vary depending on the skills required in the agenda topics.
A tool to make good
meeting minutes ?
Steps for writing the report
How do you write good meeting minutes ? The writer must be aware of what is being discussed, what decisions have been made by the decision-making body, and the steps involved in writing them. The first thing to do is to give the document a title, which will remind you of the name, date and sometimes the subject if there is only one topic. For a well-constructed record, it is recommended to use the agenda outline as a basis. At this stage, it would be useful for the person leading the meeting to ask for feedback from the participants. Those attending the meeting should be given the opportunity to write up their notes after the discussion is over. This is because everyone will have different opinions and thoughts on certain issues. It is therefore worth noting who has provided feedback so that the real purpose of the discussion can be achieved.
Once everyone has written their notes, the next step is to pass them through the chain of command. This ensures that nothing is forgotten. The chain of command will ensure that there are no hidden agendas that were not highlighted during the meeting. Once these steps have been completed, a final version of the meeting minutes can be distributed to all members and forwarded to management for approval. You should ensure that you identify the most appropriate means of distribution: email, intranet site, collaborative platform, or corporate social network, so that all participants can easily access this document to prepare for future working meetings.
Who writes the minutes ?
The task of drafting will be assigned to a session secretary, usually appointed by the organiser of the meeting. He or she may be a participant or an outsider present solely for this purpose, without taking part in the discussions. This recording secretary should write up the minutes of the meeting in a specific format that is recognised by all those present at the meeting. These formats are known as items, topics, notes, lists of items, etc. The minutes of the meeting are the memory of the meeting and should meet these requirements.
The best way to learn how to write meeting minutes is to spend some time with a team that has been involved in creating meeting minutes for some time. You will find that they are usually quite comfortable using these formats. However, if you have some free time, you can also write your own notes. The next step is to turn these written notes into concrete, tangible and usable results. It is advisable for the meeting secretary to compile them into points that can be discussed at the minutes conference. A well-organised team is more likely to come up with good ideas and solutions to urgent problems. Once the ideas have been narrowed down to a few key issues, it is time to move on to discussing these issues in detail.