A Guide On How To Take Meeting Minutes

The corporate world is all about board meetings. These may be held daily, weekly, or on fortnights. These meetings have many purposes – from keeping track of progress to discussing prospects. Keeping track of these meetings is very important. This is the process which is known as taking meeting minutes.

There are a few strategies that can be used while taking meeting minutes. These small yet practical steps can help you keep a better record of your meetings.

– Go step by step.

Everything seems easy when you plan it ahead of time. You can follow a step-by-step approach to make this process easy. The best way to do this is to divide the whole process into three phases. These three phases are before the meeting, former during the meeting and after its completion.

– Knowing what is noteworthy.

You are never required to note everything that is discussed in a meeting. The main focus is to pay attention to the important facts. If you emphasize your attention on unnecessary things, then the hard work goes in vain.

– Know when to start and end.

Taking meeting minutes does not start with a meeting. The planning must be done before it starts when it is scheduled. Likewise, it ends after the actual conversations about the topic are ended.

After being familiarized with these strategies, you can move on to the actual process of taking meeting minutes. As mentioned earlier, the process is simplified by dividing it into three main steps. Each step is associated with some major points to be paid attention to.

Before the actual meeting –

• Maintain a record of the people who are going to be present in the meeting.
• Be aware of the format that is to be used. Different organizations have their pattern which needs to be known.
• Take help from the previous records of meeting minutes.
• Know what is the meeting is about – whether it aims to discuss existing services or new ones.

During the meeting –

• Make sure to include the date and duration of the meeting as the first thing.
• Take record of the attendees as they arrive. This can help you keep track of members who fail to attend it.
• Mention the agendas discussed and acceptance and rejection votes.
• Write everything in points and make use of abbreviations. This will help you save your time and pay equal attention to everything.
• Mention the problems discussed and solutions put forward by the attendees.
• Try to avoid personal opinions that are not relevant to the discussion.
• Make sure that everyone can easily understand the language you use.

After a meeting –

• Confusions tend to increase the ambiguity of statements. So, make sure to clear your doubts regarding a statement put forward during the meeting.
• Finalize the meeting minutes as soon as possible. Doing it later can cause you to forget some key points which are undesirable.
• Mention the necessary details like the name of the board and the time of finishing up the meeting.
• When one discusses t he steps to be taken, equal vehemence needs to be laid on the don’ts. Avoiding these mistakes will make your work universally acceptable.
• Not using templates can make the work too informal and vague.
• The use of the word-for-word approach can sometimes cause your notes to be too long.
• Maintain a keen observance of all points. There is no use in being biased towards the points put up by the higher-ups.
• Never write false information because it can lead to legal consequences.
• Avoid delaying the documentation of the meeting minutes.
• The documents need to be signed for further use in legal matters. This is one of the most crucial things to remember.