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- Minutes Of The Meeting Sample Pdf
- Minutes Of The Meeting Meaning
- Minutes Of The Meeting Sample Template
- Minutes Of The Meeting Format
How do you condense a meeting that may last several hours into a few pages of concise, understandable minutes? Meeting minutes are the official record of what decisions were made, who was in attendance and all other consequential events that occurred during the board meeting. As a matter of law, minutes must be taken to legally prove that a meeting was held.
While it might seem like a challenging task, there are certain strategies and tips to keep in mind if you’re assigned as the note taker or secretary of the board for an organization.
Meeting minutes are the notes that capture what happened at a meeting! Different than a meeting agenda, it records the decisions made and actions requested by the group. Despite the team, they are not a minute-by-minute record but include the key details that the team will want to know.
Check weekly minutes meeting templates that are available online to get a better idea of how to create the needed details you want. Future – These meeting minutes can also be used to remind an organization of the activities it has planned for success in the future. Importance of Writing Minutes of the Meetings: Motivate members to get things done. Minutes of meeting allow you to ensure that everyone in the meeting is on the same page and that there is no ambiguity about what was agreed. This is essential when working on projects with clients so that you ensure that you have an agreement on the scope of a project and how you are progressing against that scope. The minutes of the meeting can be recorded manually or on an electronic device such as a laptop or iPad. After the meeting, the recorder reviews the minutes and makes edits where necessary. The meeting minutes are then shared with the group participants. Apart from distribution, the minutes are also saved for future reference. Meeting minutes are a document that captures the value created by a meeting. This can include knowledge, requirements, designs, decisions, agreements, risk identification, issues and action items. The format of meeting minutes varies considerably from meeting to meeting.
For a complete in-depth discussion at what meeting minutes are, why are they important, how to write effective minutes to drive good governance: Download our Comprehensive White Paper: Everything You Need to Know About Meeting Minutes.
Here’s a closer look at how to write effective board meeting minutes:
Create a Note-Taking Outline
A few days before the meeting, get your hands on a copy of the meeting agenda. This will help you get an idea of what issues are going to be covered and help you organize a note-taking outline. Creating a note-taking outline will enable you to be a better listener and note-taker. You will not need to worry about notating each change in topic because you already know what topics will be discussed and when. Instead, you can focus on what is being said.
If you use a cloud based board portal likeOnBoard, you can export the agenda and use it as a template for note-taking. OnBoard saves any notes you take in the cloud which allows you to access your notes anytime and anywhere.
Be Selective
It is not advisable that minutes be taken in significant detail. Taking notes on the entire meeting will result in disorganized, messy minutes, so – rather than typing furiously – listen carefully to the topics being discussed and document the significant points of the discussion.
Meeting minutes should be specific enough to prove the board was focused on the business at hand, but not so detailed as to pose a liability to the company. But keep in mind that, while you want your them to be “short and sweet,” they should not be so minimal that suspicions are raised in an audit over the lack of discussion over a major decision.
To achieve this balancing act, it is important to paraphrase each topic that’s being discussed before identifying the action that was taken.
If you are having trouble distilling your meeting, use the example below of how an easy but sufficiently detailed set of meeting minutes may look like:
—
[Company]
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
[Date]
Present:
[Name of CEO] [Name of director 1][Name of director 2][Name of director 3][Name of director 4]
Absent:
[Name of director 5] [Name of director 6]
Also Present:
[Name of legal counsel]
Call to Order
[Name of the The CEO or chairman of the board] called the meeting to order and presided. [Name of secretary or legal counsel] recorded the minutes. A quorum of directors being present, the meeting proceeded with business
Approval of Minutes
[Name] presented the board the minutes of [date of meeting]. A motion was made by [Name] to accept the minutes as presented and was seconded and unanimously approved as presented.
CEO Report
[Name of CEO] discussed the agenda and reported on progress since last meeting. A discussion began after several board members asked questions.
Sales & Business Development Update
[name] displayed a brief presentation displaying an update of the sales. He discussed about plans for the future quarter and answered questions.
Financial Review
[Name] provided an update on the financial status of the company and presented a forecast. Questions were raised about certain metrics. Discussion ensued.
Financial Planning
The Board turned to the issue of [year] operating plan. [Name] suggested further information would be provided for the next meeting.
Closed Session
The Board turned to the discussion of strategic initiatives. A discussion ensued where questions were asked and answered.
Adjournment
Business was concluded, the meeting adjourned at [time].
Respectfully submitted,
[name of secretary,] [title]
—
As you can see, the minutes provide sufficient information to demonstrate that the board was focused on pertinent business. Always be sure you’re writing notes objectively, summarizing any debate on issues, and using names when motions are presented and seconded.
Distribution
The final step is distribution to all parties in preparation of the next board meeting. There are many ways to do this, including sending them through email, mail, or using board portal software like OnBoard.
The most sophisticated method developed to instantly submit and review minutes is through the board portal, OnBoard. By leveraging Microsoft Office, OnBoard instantly connects to the board portal, seamlessly uploading the notes when they are finished. The advanced plugin, OnBoard Connect for Office, creates an OnBoard tab within your Word environment. Once securely logged in, you can draft minutes in Word and they will instantly sync with every directors board book.
Filing Minutes
After the minutes have been approved and shared with the board members, they need to be safely stored for future reference and potential audits. While physical storage of notes seems logical, depending on the sensitivity of the information, saving your notes on an encrypted external hard drive and with a backup within a secure cloud environment is the most secure option. Any minutes created and saved in board portals like OnBoard can be saved and protected for reference with little hassle.
In Conclusion
While creating meeting minutes may often seems tedious, they are critical for maintaining a company backlog of all important decisions made and ensuring you are sufficiently meeting legal requirements. Quality minutes will be worth the time and effort you put into them – and may save you time and money dealing with legal issues down the line.
More Information
About The Author
- Passageways is a SaaS provider of collaboration solutions for boards and employees. OnBoard is a board governance solution, designed to improve collaboration for directors and administrators throughout the meeting life cycle. OnSemble's a lovable, drag and drop, Employee Intranet that connects an entire workplace to one central collaboration hub, builds your culture, and inspires employee engagement.
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Meetings are held on a continuous basis within the business world. Many of these meetings would be of a casual basis and between a couple of people. However, in important meetings, or when there are many stakeholders involved “minutes of meeting” become a necessity.
By recording minutes of meeting, you will assure that everything in the meeting has been documented to help in documenting decisions and taking actions. In project meetings, this is an essential tool to move the project forward. It’s also a key part of business etiquette.
Minutes of meeting allow you to ensure that everyone in the meeting is on the same page and that there is no ambiguity about what was agreed. This is essential when working on projects with clients so that you ensure that you have an agreement on the scope of a project and how you are progressing against that scope.
Minutes Of The Meeting Sample Pdf
Related content: Setting a project scope
So, let’s move on to the steps you can follow to prepare your minutes of meeting.
Minutes of Meeting
Step 1. Before the Meeting
Create a template to record minutes of meeting this; template should include:
- Date and time of the meeting
- The purpose of the meeting
- The meeting lead’s name
- Assigned action items
- Decisions made
Step 2: During the meeting
- Write notes or record the meeting. If you are recording the meeting, make sure you have informed everyone that you will be doing so
- Check if all attendees are present and take their business cards.
- Try and take an outline of what is said or done and don’t go too much into detail.
- Record all notes directly into the template so you don’t get confused later
- Number the pages so the sequence of the meeting is identified
Step 3: After the meeting
- Review the notes and add additional comments, or clarify what you didn’t understand right after the meeting.
- Type your notes on the template so it is easier for everyone to read
- Assure that your document is reviewed with the meeting lead before sending it across
Try to send the minutes of the meeting to all participants, as close to the actual meeting time as possible. The minutes of meeting document is like an ice cube, the more it is delayed the more its value melts away.
If you would like to see a video of the above tips, check it out here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QToMCbIgT7EVideo can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: How to Record Minutes of Meeting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QToMCbIgT7E)Following these three steps will help you create a clear and concise “minutes of meeting” document.
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Minutes Of The Meeting Sample Template
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