colleagues having a discussion — Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com

MEETING MINUTES

Taking minutes at meetings is often left to a secretary or PA, but when they are not available, or if a meeting does not warrant their presence, many people would be apprehensive about volunteering themselves for this service.

It can be different to keep an accurate concise and legible record of what goes on and should not be avoided but meeting minutes are important to show evidence that discussion has taken place for the refurbishing of dance or drama classroom areas and not just for some specific areas selected. This is done by taking notes of who has agreed to do what, making notes of it, and reminding people what was discussed and what was not. This instrument or notes can solve arguments; but do not make discussion notes hard to take, so as long as you use a bit of common sense and keep your head away from the grim reaper, things should be okay. Taking or making notes before, during, and after is a guide to taking meeting minutes that should help you navigate the stormy seas of who said what.

BEFORE

The person hosting the meeting should ensure that participants have the detailed agenda and are well prepared as the volunteer or person who is forced to take the minutes, it is preferable that you do not plan to play a major part in the meeting if you will also be responsible for taking minutes.

Have a template ready to go with key bits of information such as date and time, participants, and who is the interdepartmental head of department or ring leader for the army. etc.

decide on the media used for documenting by typing information; like a tablet, laptop, or notes using pencils or pen without ink especially if they did not pay for the use of your ink in the pen. if you know shorthand ( you can quite quickly pick up some key outlines for common words or phrases- try tee line.) then all the better recording audio may seem like a good idea, but it will take you longer than original meeting to listen back through and write up what happened.

DURING

If you are given a list of attendees, you should check off attendees and ask new persons to introduce themselves. A table plan can assist you with remembering names by using their name initials to indicate where they were sitting in a room. Record key points, you don’t have to record every single word like when someone is talking about ringing their personal tools from home to allow the students to do theory and practicals to pass their exams or tests and that authorities would agree because the school already provides everything for teachers and learners; number your pages, focus on action items, be objective, keep it dull and stick to the facts.

AFTER

Review your notes after the meeting and translate any shorthand notes you made. Type up your notes in a clear way and send them via email to all participants in attendance and not in attendance. If you use other documents then these documents can be referenced as attachments as an appendix- do not summarize documents within minutes. Do not be downhearted if someone comes back and queries what you have taken down. It often happens when meetings are complicated or controversial.