Monday, May 23, 2011

Meeting Minutes Template

Minute is a business document that is usually maintained during meetings. This document includes overview of meeting. Writing meeting minutes that will be useful in further business operations or next meeting requires a great deal of attention. Meeting minutes can serve as legal evidences in many cases therefore there is no flexibility to compromise with rules of writing meeting minutes. You need to be very careful in summarizing meeting discussions accurately. Once the meeting is over and you have made necessary editing in meeting minutes, create several copies of this document and distribute in relevant parties. Make sure to have some extra copies of meeting minutes save for future uses.

Old meeting minutes are sometime used as references in new meetings. New parties may need to view old meeting minutes to know about company’s rules and regulations. Meeting minutes will also be used as vouchers in facts finding work. Meeting minutes should be simple and easily understandable. You need to keep some important points in mind while taking meeting minutes. These important points are discussed below:

You should create meeting minutes in word document. You can make a sketch for meeting minutes that will serve as a minute template. Using this template in every meeting you will just need to replace items that will change keeping other elements same.

Your meeting minutes form should include organization name, nature of meeting, meeting location, meeting date, start and end time of meeting, attendees of meeting, facilitator and suitable space to record notes about different agenda topics. You can prepare minutes form beforehand according to meeting agenda. Suppose meeting agenda you are using to create minutes form includes 7 topics then you will make 7 sections with headings agenda topic 1, agenda topic 2 and so on. Every agenda topic section will include:

· Few lines for discussion

· Few lines for conclusion

· Action items

· Person responsible for each action and deadline

Having a well prepared meeting minute form, you will just need to record information during meeting without creating headings. Create meeting minutes immediately after meeting. This will help you to remember and clarify specific points that you could not record clearly during meeting. Proofread the minutes before submitting them.

Make a separate heading for notes for next meeting. Where and when it will be held and what will be agenda for next meeting.

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