The discussions are over, the participants have left, the work seems finished… Yet, there is still one essential aspect to effectively close the meeting: how to write good meeting minutes ? Here are some tips for writers who want to present an attractive and useful summary to their readers.
What is the role of a meeting report?
Regardless of the company’s requirements, a good synthesis must follow certain rules. The purpose of this is to remind each employee of the essential points discussed during the meeting. This document also serves to inform those who were not present and therefore not informed of the purpose of the discussions and the decisions taken. As is often the case, there are key steps to follow.
When you ask yourself how to take minutes of a meetingThe first step is to decide in what form to present the document. It can be more or less detailed and contain the decisions taken and the actions planned as a result, the details of the debates that led to these decisions, or even the entirety of the comments made. Depending on the form chosen, the work of the writer will be more or less substantial.
A tool to make good
meeting minutes ?
Steps for writing meeting minutes
It is advisable to start drafting as soon as possible after the meeting, when the elements are still in memory and the exchanges are in mind. The ideal is to prepare the summary beforehand by taking effective notes during the meetings.
Good meeting minutes are based on the agenda and the notes taken during the meeting. The secretary must follow a rigorous format, including:
- a header with a title, purpose, date and time of the meeting;
- the names of the participants and their functions, as well as those of the absentees;
- On the agenda;
- the themes covered, presented chronologically;
- possible questions ;
- decisions made by the members present ;
- the actions envisaged, with the means planned, the deadlines and the persons concerned ;
- closing time of the meeting;
- the date and place of the next meetings if they have been defined.
The report, a tool with multiple objectives
By following a few basic tips, it is easy to produce a clear and useful report. The template for meeting minutes The title of the meeting should enable the reader to locate the meeting instantly, to know who the participants are, to understand the content of the discussions, to identify the essential information and to prepare for the next meeting by recalling the points raised previously.
When you are a novice in the development of this kind of tool, it can be interesting to learn how to make a meeting report with a template by asking professionals or by using a dedicated software.
