Usually, at the beginning of the meeting, there’s some time dedicated to the acceptance or amendment to previous meeting minutes so you can take a look at who attended last time to have a draft version of an attendee list.
The next step is to document the names of all of the participants and any other people who weren’t able to attend. Seems like a no-brainer, but it’s worth a mention seeing as it’s so important to be able to go back to previous meetings and understand when they happened, what’s been accomplished, and what’s still outstanding. Organization of notes is key, since you’ll be sharing the notes with everyone afterwards.ħ things to include when writing meeting minutes 1 Date and time of the meetingīefore you actually start writing your meeting minutes, note the date and time of the meeting. It’s smart to use a meeting template for more formal conversations to give them the structure that you’re looking for. If you’re writing minutes for a formal meeting, it’s important to document as much information as possible, and keep the meeting format consistent from meeting to meeting. In fact, most trade unions, schools, city and county governments model their meeting minutes based on Robert’s Rules of Order. These meeting minutes use formal language and are structured with the purpose of being shared with all of the meeting participants afterwards.įormal meeting minutes are commonly used by nonprofits, government, schools, and public companies. They are a benefit for people who are absent when decisions are madeįree Meeting Minutes Templates 1 Formal Board Meeting Minutes Exampleįormal meeting minutes are used to document big or official decisions that often require approval.They are a reminder of who was given assignments.They are a record of a group’s decisions and actions.
In a recent article about how to take better minutes, Business Training Works highlights the importance of meeting minutes: This is going to be helpful in answering any questions that arise in reference to decisions that have been made. Meeting notes also serve as proof of why and how a company came to certain decisions. Many times, due diligence is captured in companies’ meeting minutes, which can then be officiated and documented to confirm the ethical, fair practices of the organization. Minutes also provide legal protection for the organization. Participants have the ability to use the meeting minutes as a record for future reference, to understand what kinds of progression has taken place. So what’s all the hype around meeting minutes? To start, they provide a historical record of the company’s short and long-term planning. Learn how Fellow can help you manage meeting minutes Meeting notes aren’t meant to be difficult so let’s take a look at how to get them right. We’ve also included a list of 7 essential things to include when writing meeting minutes, so that no detail gets left behind.
We’ve made it to-the-point and excluded the fluff so that you can understand once and for all what meeting minutes are, what their purpose is, and look at some concrete meeting agenda examples of formal versus informal meeting minutes (along with helpful templates). Since writing meeting minutes is so important, Fellow has created the best meeting minutes example in the game. It’s a shame, because the opposite is true: Meeting notes are a powerful resource for teams and are an essential means to share and disseminate information throughout your organization.
Because of this influx of information that’s not always straight-forward, writing meeting notes can seem like a bit of a burden. There’s so much information available about how to write effective meeting minutes that it’s sort of getting confusing.