What more documenting its content? However, neglecting the task of documenting and writing the meeting minutes becomes costly to the company when it comes to time and resources. Noting down meeting minutes, especially if management calls out for a good reason to meet with employees, becomes a highly effective documenting tool that keeps everyone on the right track and same page. The featured article provides valuable information to help individuals better understand the document through its definition, components, and a guide on how to write the document to get a better grasp of the minutes of the meeting. A section also supplies answers to frequently asked questions from various people and sectors that want to know more about the document.

38+ Sample Printable Minutes of Meeting

What Are Minutes of Meeting?

Minutes of the meeting or meeting minutes are written records of the conversations and decisions of members and participants during a meeting. The minutes of the meeting apply to any group within an organization, including stakeholder meetings and board meetings, where the parties involve internal and external stakeholders and the board of directors. A company can utilize this classification of meeting notes in any business setting that requires the company to produce official records. The document is a written record that informs team members that are not in attendance valuable information about the meeting or discussion and allows the participants to keep track of decisions and action items that the members can revisit at any time. Therefore, past meeting minutes on record are sources of information to make future organizational decisions. Selecting the right individual to take meeting notes is critical because they must have the discretion to determine which information is pertinent and those that the individual can do without.

According to the website Zippia, businesses in the United States conduct weekly meetings around 55 million times a week. That is 11 million a day and over a billion meetings in a year. The information also reports that an average worker spends at least three hours a week in meetings, with more or less 30 percent of workers reporting more than the average hours. As such, meeting minutes become an essential task and document to record these meetings.

Components of a Minutes of Meeting

Meeting minutes are critical documents that provide historical records of the short-term and long-term planning of the organization. It is a reference record that allows the business to see the progress over the years of implementing plans. The document also provides legal security to a company by having records that contain due diligence. A company must ensure that the person responsible for note-taking and creating the minutes of the meeting know what comprises the document. The section below identifies the different components of meeting minutes together with helpful descriptions to better understand their significance.

Date and time of the meeting: Before the process of writing the meeting minutes for an event, include the date and the time when the meeting starts. It may look like it is the first thing that the recorder must do, but frequently, people tend to overlook this section of the document. It is necessary to indicate the date and time as it serves as a reference point to go back on previous meetings and understand when it happens, the list of accomplishments, and what are the outstanding tasks.Names of the participants: The next section in the meeting minutes documents the name of all participating individuals, including those people that are not present during the meeting. At the beginning of each meeting, there is allotted time that focuses on the amendment or acceptance of the previous meeting minutes to provide an idea of the participants in attendance for a draft version of the attendance list. It is advisable to utilize a weekly or monthly meeting calendar while using calendar invites to check the individuals joining or entering the meeting room.Purpose of the meeting: The company must take note of the purpose of conducting the meeting, as well as the significance of recording and documenting its entirety. In this section of the meeting minutes, the person responsible for note-taking must specify in explaining the call for the meeting and what it intends to achieve or accomplish at the end. The section is especially useful to those individuals who are not able to attend the meeting and to people or teams that need the necessary information from the meeting minutes in making crucial decisions.Agenda items and topic discussion: Many companies utilize a section of the minutes of the meeting as a meeting agenda that forms the general outline of writing down minute notes. Utilize each agenda item as a section to record meeting notes, including all the outcomes or decisions that the participants make during the meeting. It is also advisable to send out copies of the meeting agenda before the meeting itself so that everyone has the opportunity to make suggestions and contributions to the matter. It also guarantees that every person walking into the meeting becomes well informed about the topics of discussion. Utilizing minutes of meeting template that the company can use recurrently aids the recorder to save a lot of time and energy, fostering familiarity in recording the document. The meeting agenda becomes irrelevant if there is no opportunity to discuss significant and pertinent information that engages people. Action items: Many productive company meetings result in assigning different action items to participants present. The minutes of the meeting must record all decisions and actions items as they are unfolding to make it easier for the recorder to transcribe the information accurately. Capturing every minute detail during the meeting is impossible. Instead, the recorder must decipher and listen for the crucial actions that can greatly impact major decisions, recommendations, solutions, and challenges that the group identifies. Documenting the action items talked about in the meeting enables the members and the team to hold each other accountable for responsibilities. At the same time, it gives each person the support and guidance to accomplish each task to bring everyone to achieving larger organizational goals.Next meeting date and place: When taking formal meeting minutes for the organization, the members must know when the next call to order session is happening regarding a similar topic of discussion. Through it, the recorder gets an idea of a possible timeline of the duration they can prepare for the next meeting and the members to accomplish the assigned action items and tasks during the meeting. Understanding when the next session happens provides sufficient time to manage activities and actions appropriately while prioritizing all related tasks appropriately. It is also necessary to know the location of the next meeting, whether it is an in-person meeting or an online meeting. It gives the participants sufficient time to download the necessary software or applications if it is online. If it is an in-person meeting, the participants can decide the time that will be the most convenient for everyone.Included documents: The last section to indicate in the minutes of the meeting are supplementary documents that are valuable attachments when the recorder sends out copies to respective individuals. Guarantee that documents that the team lists as references during the meeting are available to all the members in the attachment. These references can be in the form of action or issue logs, key performance indicators, and any updates or revisions to the project. It is also necessary for the recorder to send out copies of the minutes as soon as possible as every piece of information is still fresh, lessening the chances for errors or mistakes and allowing the recorder to reach out to participants for questions.

How To Write the Minutes of Meeting

Meeting minutes are valuable documents within an organization because it contains discussions about meetings. It serves to inform individuals that are not present during the meeting of the discussions and decisions. It is also a record for future references, provides informational insights, and supply critical action items. There are different ways for note takes to improve their skills when it comes to taking notes during meetings. The section below details useful tips for recorders or transcribers that take the meeting minutes.

  • 1. Keep the Minutes of Meeting Readily Accessible

    Up until recently, the sharing and distribution of minutes are in the form of email attachments. There are still companies that distribute meeting notes similarly. Despite its convenience, there are downsides to sending these documents as email attachments. For one, it easily gets lost in inboxes. Getting additional information from each individual requires multiple email loops as well, which makes it difficult to track. At present, companies utilize various tools to organize and collaborate the meeting minutes efficiently where members can edit the document in real-time, find information, leave comments, and organize data with ease.

  • 2. Prepare the Meeting Agenda Beforehand

    As mentioned earlier, individuals tend to overlook the significance of meeting agendas. However, it is one of the most useful tools to guarantee that everyone stays on track and keeps their focus to prevent the unproductivity of meetings. The meeting agenda serves as a roadmap that sets the pace for the meeting and the discussions, acting as a time and management tool during the duration of the meeting. It also acts as a recorded timeline and outline when writing the minutes.

  • 3. Record the Attendance and Meeting Participants

    Don’t forget to identify the participants of the meeting through a participant list or attendance sheet, whether they are present or absent during the meeting proper. It allows the recorder to keep track of the individuals to receive a copy of the meeting minutes. There are different apps that the recorder can use to send the minutes to participants, and it is helpful to utilize the available software.

  • 4. Follow a Simple and Clear Structure

    Use the meeting agenda as an outline of the meeting to help you separate concept notes into different and more specific sections. Utilize templates for regular business meetings, note participants as they come into the meeting room, indicate notes simply instead of writing word per word, clarify and ask questions as necessary, and record the discussion using a phone when appropriate.

  • 5. Make the Participants Review the Content of the Minutes

    As a recorder or transcribers of the meeting minutes, taking notes for reference is a crucial role. To guarantee that the content of the minutes is complete and accurate, ask the participants to review them. The official meeting minutes for board meetings must have the approval of the chairperson for filing to make it an official record.

  • 6. Share and Distribute the Minutes

    After the approval and completion of the minutes, share the documents with individuals who will find its contents relevant, whether they are present or not during the actual meeting. Guarantee that the people that need to accomplish daily tasks and action items are aware of the next step to take and the project deadlines to complete these activities.

FAQs

What are the types of minutes?

There are three types of minutes that organizations use during their meetings. They are action verbatim, action, and discussion minutes.

What is the format for writing minutes?

When writing meeting minutes, ensure that you write clear and concise statements in the past tense. Remember to utilize active instead of passive voice and specific language instead of vague phrases.

What are the don’ts when writing minutes?

In writing meeting minutes, do not include personal observations or judgemental comments. Avoid writing every word in discussions and conversations. Do not disseminate information with the approval of the preceding chairperson.

Writing meeting minutes is tedious work, especially if the recorder or transcriber is fairly new to the job. However, it becomes manageable with the proper guidance and perseverance. Keeping up with business meetings will become easier as days pass. Most recorders or transcribers utilize different techniques and methods to help them produce accurate and comprehensive meeting minutes for the company. There is no one procedure for creating the minutes of the meeting, and it is the discretion of the recorder which ones to use to make the job more convenient. For individuals who are new to taking meeting notes, agendas, and minutes, Sample.net provides different templates. Download from 38+ SAMPLE Printable Minutes of Meeting in PDF for your next meeting, and ensure you have all the vital information you need.