It is always useful to have the minutes of a past meeting. Whether it is to review the list of decisions taken or the person in charge of a specific task. It is also a good source of information and reference to the people present, but also for the absentees. Avoid neglecting this task, detailed meeting minutes may be helpful in case of disagreement on a topic.

At the end of a meeting, take a few minutes to write clear minutes and then send it to all participants rapidly. This document can also inform absentees of what they have missed.

Basic Minutes of Meeting Template

1. Basic Information: Date, TIme of beginning and end, Address, # meeting room,
2. Attendees, Absent and guests name
3. Meeting Purpose: Overall goal
4. A summary and purpose of each topic on the agenda: Inform / Exchange Views / Generate Ideas / Consult / Decide
5. The actions & tasks that have been assigned, responsable, to whom it is addressed as well as the due date and priority level.
6. Taken decisions if necessary.
7. Attach the necessary documents, pictures or web address (URL)
8. Approval: It is important that people approve their subject before formally concluding your minutes of meeting.
9. Email the minutes or use a meeting management tool to centralize all your minutes.

 

Continue Reading ↓ Infographic of the essential steps of the minutes of meeting ↓

How to write a minutes of meeting effectively? 3 simple steps

 1. Take notes

If you want complete and detailed minutes, you should take notes during the meeting. Otherwise, it is obvious that you will forget important information. To help you, you can use abbreviations, this greatly facilitates the way to taking notes. You could also record the meeting so you do not forget anything.

2. Have a good structure

Before the meeting, be sure to prepare a detailed agenda. This will help you greatly when writing your minutes by using this template. Then, you will be able to add your notes directly under each title, which will allow a quick layout when the meeting is over.

You can even use a meeting management software to help you in writing of the minutes. How? In your meeting, bring your favorite technological tool (notebook, tablet, phone …) and immediately transcribe your notes under the subjects discussed. At the end of the meeting, your minutes will be practically done. You will only have to take a few minutes of your time in post-meeting to reread and correct your texts and that’s it!

3. Send the minutes quickly

If you want your minutes to be used for something, do not forget to pass it on to all the participants once the writing is complete! The sooner the better, because memory is a faculty that forgets quickly.

 

Then what do we do?

Of course, once the minutes is written and read by everyone, the ongoing project and the completion of the tasks and the follow-up to the actions remain to be done. Go to work!