Effective Minute-Taking
Whether you are asked for the first time to take minutes at an approaching meeting or whether you are a seasoned minute-taker with experience in formal and informal meetings, there are relevant skills and knowledge bases that can be learned and improved upon.
Duration: 1 Day
Objectives
After this workshop participants will be able to:
- Prepare to take meeting minutes
- Explain the roles of the people in a meeting
- Distinguish between different types and purposes of business meetings
- Use one of the three categories of meeting minutes
- Take effective agenda-based notes
- Draft, proof, correct and distribute accurate, timely, complete minutes
- Handle common minute-taking problems
Methodology
Learning methods include individual and group case studies and worksheets; lecturettes, practice meetings, question and answer sessions and class discussion of issues brought by participants.
Outline
This workshop covers the following topics:- General Information about Meetings and Taking Minutes
- Definition of terms: “minutes” “motion” “quorum” “point of order”
- Reasons for taking minutes
- Cost analysis of a meeting
- Advantages to the minute-taker
- When is appropriate to take verbatim minutes?
- Roles and Responsibilities of Meeting Members
- Role and responsibilities of the chairperson or moderator
- Role and responsibilities of the minute-taker
- Role and responsibilities of the participants
- The Meeting Agenda
- How is it prepared and by whom?
- Components of a working agenda
- Sample template of a meeting agenda
- Techniques for Taking Notes
- Know which of the three types of minutes you will be taking
- Formal minutes (parliamentary procedure: Robert’s Rules of Order)
- Informal minutes
- Action minutes
- Preparing for the meeting
- Your secret weapon: knowing the topics, terms and
- Setting up your note page using the prepared meeting agenda
- Pens and highlighters
- Advantages and disadvantages of taping, laptops and computer notes
- Virtual meetings, teleconferences and video conferences
- Schedule a block of time immediately after the meeting to draft minutes
- When to arrive at the meeting and why
- Checklist of items to assemble and take with you
- Prepare your own work to ensure focus on the meeting
- During the meeting
- Agree on a “meeting contract” regarding your role and rights
- Coordinate each topic heading in your minutes with the agenda items
- Listening techniques: what to listen for
- How to record a decision
- What to do if you need clarification or miss an important point
- After the meeting
- Importance of drafting minutes right after the meeting
- Attaching documents, reports and other relevant data
- Conform to your organization’s style norms: font, bolding, underlining
- Proofread draft minutes for spelling, grammar, punctuation, mechanics
- Techniques for Preparing and Distributing Minutes
- Sample template of draft minutes
- What to include; what to omit
- Follow your notes and coordinate topic headings with agenda items
- Who signs off on the minutes and when?
- Methods of distribution
- Filing the minutes
- How to handle corrections
- Handling Common Problems
- Lack of an agenda
- Incompetent chairing: skipping items, moving on before a decision is taken
- Rambling, repetitive discussion
- Late arrivals
- Introduction of items not on the agenda
- “Parked” items
- Other issues
- Personal Action Plan for Improving Minute-Taking
- Course Closure and Evaluation