How To Write Minutes Of Meeting

Minutes of a meeting can be described as the summary or record of everything that happens in a meeting. Minutes of the meeting (mom) will be used to inform others who were absent of what took place during the meeting. They are also used to keep track of notable events that took place, so they can be revisited in the next meeting.

What are the things that should be included when writing minutes of meetings?  Here are five basic things that should be included.

• Minutes writing or transcribing
• Distributing or sharing of

Record taking – at the meeting

• meeting minutes
• Filing or storage of minutes for future reference
• Pre-Planning

Want to know more about each step? Kindly read on.

New to writing minutes of meetings? Not to worry. Writing minutes of a meeting isn’t an arduous task, nor does it require much professionalism.

Have you just been assigned minutes taking tasks at your place of work, or organization? Let’s reach the general way of taking minutes. However, bear in mind that content requirements, style, and format differs based on what your organization wants.

What Is The Purpose Of Minutes Taking?

Don’t be carried away by the word minutes, this doesn’t mean you are to record everything that happens in the meeting minutes by minutes, however, to capture the importance of the meeting, which includes.

• decisions made (votes made, motions, etc.)
• identification and tracking of action items
• next steps planned

Pre-planning

To ensure the success of a meeting it’s of utmost importance to pre-plan the meeting. This will ensure everything goes on well in the absence of unforeseen circumstances.

What is the purpose of a meeting? A meeting agenda is called an outline.

As a minute taker, you should get a copy of what the meeting will be all about, so you will be able to prepare ahead and be able to give the best report.

What Should Be Included In Meeting Minutes?

Each organization does have its meeting minutes format, and content requirements, so you could understand the kind of information to record during a meeting. However, general minutes must include the following.

• Record of those present at the meeting, and those who were unable to attend.
• Amendment and presentation of previous meeting minutes.
• Time and date of the meeting.
• Motions rejected or accepted.
• Items to be held over
• New business
• Next meeting time and date

Meeting Minutes Template

Here is a simple minute template you can refer to in your next meeting.

You can explore more templates made for Microsoft Word here

Still doubting if you are taking the minutes the right way, here is a sample of how well-structured minutes should look like.

The Minutes Writing Process

Once the meeting has come to an end. It’s time to pull together everything that occurred during the meeting, here are some tips to help you.

• Jot the record of the meeting down as soon as you can, while the Infos are still fresh in your mind.
• Edit to ensure clarity, brevity, and readability.
• Write in the same tense throughout
• Be objective.

Conclusion

Minutes taken are an important part of a meeting. These will ensure the jotting down of notable occurrences during the meeting