taking minutes

[thommo]

Hi

There's a job i'm interested in that would involve taking minutes. I've never had to do this before so am naturally a little anxious. Can anyone tell me what's involved? Is it difficult? Is it a skill that can be learnt fairly quickly?
Are there any hints you can give me?

Thanks!

[gee4]

Firstly, you do not need a shorthand qualification like in olden days.  I have RSA Stage 3 shorthand (100wpm) and have never used it.  Minutes nowadays are mostly noted as follows -

-Date
-Topic/Issue
-Action - details of action to be taken and by whom
-Target Date - to be completed by

There is no reason to detail who said what and who disagreed.  It is mainly the topic that is discussed and the action taken.  I have designed and revamped our internal meeting and minutes templates until each individual is happy as to how their minutes are noted.  It is important that your template is easy to use and has all the details you need - it may include the agenda of the meeting so that when the minutes are read by attendees, they can see clearly what topics were discussed.

Hope this helps.

G

[spitfire78]

I always make sure I have the agenda of the meeting right in front of me.  Our agenda usually goes something like this:

1) Old business
2) Announcements
3) Budget report
4) New business
5) Next meeting

When I start writing the minutes - I use the numbers on the agenda.  On my tablet I write "1" and then the notes on that subject.  When that subject is completed, I do a double line in my notes, and then write "2" and go on with that topic, and so on.  Then when I type my notes later on, I know exactly which notes go with which agenda topic.  This can be important if they decide to skip a certain topic and go back to it later in the meeting.

Sometimes, it is important to state, "Joe Smith mentioned an error in the budget report presented at the last meeting".  However, if there is a lengthy general discussion, you will go crazy if you try to right down who said exactly what.  I usually put, "In the ensuing discussion, the following points were mentioned..."

It is always important to keep the minutes from the previous meetings handy as well.  You never know when they will request information from past meetings.

Taking minutes is very nerve-wracking when you are just starting out.  However, after a few meetings, you will get a feeling for what is expected and I'm sure it will all work out.  I also certainly never have a qualm about saying to the person running the meeting, "I've never taken minutes for this meeting before, please feel free to review and critique these.  By reviewing the changes you make, I will learn what you require and will be able to improve with each meeting."

[gee4]

One other thing is that sometimes minutes are noted according to the agenda AND according to the number of meetings.

So for example if you have just had meeting 15, your items could be -

-15.1 Apologies
-15.2 Minutes of previous meeting
-15.3 First Topic

G

[tina_h]

I always take my laptop with me to the meetings.  I'm able to capture the information they need.  This has really been a time saver.  I usually take an additional 5 minutes to proof the document prior to posting the minutes.

[countrigal]

The main issue I see with doing minutes is getting with the Chair(s) and finding out the expectations.  What format do they desire?  How much information do they want included in the minutes?  What is the desired turn-around time on the minutes?  How much technical or topical knowledge will you be expected to have when doing the minutes (applying to the topics you are responsible for understanding and summarizing)?

I generally have found most minutes I've done to follow the formats provided by the other posters, with the only additional piece being a short narrative discussion field, which is where I am expected to summarize the discussion.  The recommendations and actions each have their own heading and are not included in the discussion field.  Oh, and the dates all of these are required goes in the minutes too.

Generally, if the meeting is well-run, you can take minutes on any meeting with or without knowledge of the topics, though it is easier if you have some knowledge.  I generally ask those who are due to report to submit me their handouts prior to the meeting (to ensure I get them to all members and to give myself an opportunity to review them) and a summary of what they will be stating during their presentation.  This usually ends up being the discussion portion of my minutes.  Generally they can take say a budget report of 8 pages and summarize it up into 1 paragraph of the highlights which they will be focusing on.  That eliminates a lot of actual note-taking during the meeting, requiring only the actions and recommendations to be actually written down.  If a meeting is not well-run, then it's definitely harder to walk into cold-turkey and take good minutes, but hopefully those Chairs would then be more willing to work with you on getting the minutes the way that they like them.

Main thing I always tell folks... if you can take notes in a class (high school or college level) and use them to help study for a test, then you can take minutes.  The same basic concept is there.  Good luck!

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[Susan V]

How do you handle taking minutes when there is no agenda.  I find this very taxing.  Although these meetings are very informal, there are about 8 people which attend and no one brings in any documents to share.  They generally just look at their calenders and notes that they've made through the week.

[countrigal]

What is the reason for the minutes being done then?  If nothing is on a scheduled agenda to be reported/presented, is there really a need for the minutes?  This sounds like just an informal meeting where 8 people get together and share information and it really doesn't require minutes.  If it does, I'd simply ask each person to provide a brief summary of what they'll be presenting either before or directly following the meeting.  If it's nothing that involved, then I'd just simply state that Person X informed the group of x,y, and z.  Person Y shared information on a,b, and c.  And so forth.   Sometimes it strikes me that people want minutes from meetings that aren't really meetings and really wouldn't normally require documentation of discussion except as a CYA, therefore the most basic of minutes would suffice.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[Jackie G]

You've had some good advice.

I would definitely recommend NOT using shorthand to take notes unless you're comfortable with not taking direct dictation.  The danger however is that you miss something you need, and write something you don't.

Getting the 'language' of the meeting may take a couple of meetins - try to read old minutes and check with the Chairman if they want to continue in that style.

I minute a monthly meeting for clients where it's important to note down practically everything so that the minutes are very full - this is because some of the members aren't able to attend, and they need to be able to read the minutes and understand everything as if they were there.  So a lot depends on the style of the meeting.

I agree about the minuting of a meeting if there's no agenda.  I would not minute this as such, rather take notes and distribute like that.

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

[peana]

If there is no agenda it might be best to do a simple action log rather than minutes.  Then the status of the actions can be checked on a regular basis, either at the next meeting, or external to it.

[bethalize]

All to often I've had to say: "Is that a decision, Chair?". This can start it off all over again!

My tip for taking minutes at meetings is to have a diagram in front of you with people's initials on them showing where they are sitting at the table. That way, if someone I don't know starts talking I can write down their initials and look them up later.

So long as you get all the action points and decisions, no one can really fuss too much. Any more than that and it's not minutes, it's a transcript.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

[Susan V]

You guys are right, there not minutes, but just notes that need to be shared with other staff at 7 different locations not counting the 80 or so people at our main building.

I guess I've been doing the notes the right way.  Thanks for your imput.

[thommo]

Thank you all so much for your responses - they are very helpful indeed.

Would anyone be prepared to post a copy of their minutes template so I can see the sort of thing I may need to use?