Minute-taking: What’s the best way to approach it?

I use a laptop with some great software called Mindmapper. It allows you to use their format to list topics and subtopics and details to each and then will convert it into a Word document for you. I have improved my speed and now I can get the minutes out before the close of the day. Mindmapper has a website – just Google it and check it out!

Minute-taking is probably the hardest thing that you do as an admin, until you develop your own style.

Depending on the type of meeting, be it formal or informal, I usually ask the meeting leader what they expect to see in the minutes.

For example, rather than giving a play-by-play of all the discussions that went on, you can take the agenda and capture action items following each agenda item.

You would note what the action is, who is responsible for it, and a deadline for the result (this is usually the next meeting date). Sometimes it takes a few meetings before everyone is happy with the outcome, but make sure you work with the team.

I am responsible for the minutes at two weekly one-hour meetings for our project management office, and each one is done differently. One is done on a per-project basis and the other one lists discussion items that are sometimes closed off in the very same meeting.

Once you develop an understanding with the team involved, it can be fun. Just don’t stress over it without involving the team.

Rhonda Scharf is a seminar leader and puts on a seminar for minute-taking. Here is her contact information taken from a recent email: “Send an email to Rhonda@on-the-right-track.com or call direct at 1-877-213-8608 to speak to Rhonda directly.

Hope this helps.

I HATE taking minutes. What do I write down? How do I know what is important? I used to ask myself. Now, I try to think about those things during the meeting. In my experience, you do not have to write things down word-for-word. The main thing is to get down the gist of each conversation, the pros and cons, the disenting viewpoints and most importantly to end every section with an “action log”: What was the decision made? Who is responsible? By when? Any other follow-up steps?

I now also use bullet points in each meeting section and people find it more readable. In the example below it might have taken half hour to come up with the first bullet point, but none of that discussion needs to be chronicled.

Company Picnic
* Date picked: June 15
* Discussion around to hold at Mercer County park again. It is convenient but some felt it was too crowded.
* Food will be handled by the committee again – J.T. volunteered to chair.
Action: L.K. will look into other venues and book the park again if nothing else is available; she will let us know at next meeting.

I HATE taking minutes. What do I write down? How do I know what is important? I used to ask myself. Now, I try to think about those things during the meeting. In my experience, you do not have to write things down word-for-word. The main thing is to get down the gist of each conversation, the pros and cons, the dissenting viewpoints and most importantly to end every section with an “action log”: What was the decision made? Who is responsible? By when? Any other follow-up steps?

I now also use bullet points in each meeting section and people find it more readable. In the example below it might have taken half hour to come up with the first bullet point, but none of that discussion needs to be chronicled.

Company Picnic
* Date picked: June 15
* Discussion around to hold at Mercer County park again. It is convenient but some felt it was too crowded.
* Food will be handled by the committee again – J.T. volunteered to chair.
Action: L.K. will look into other venues and book the park again if nothing else is available; she will let us know at next meeting.

I have been taking minutes at several different meetings for several months. I started with writing notes at first but it was very difficult to catch all the key points and get them down on paper. Now I take notes on a lap top. I find I can type the key points faster than I can write them. I do not stop to correct mistakes or format until I get ready to prepare the actual minutes after the meeting. I have also found by typing the minutes I save a lot of time because I only need to edit not type them from scratch.

I agree about a good agenda is the key to easier meeting minutes. I gather what the meeting agenda is and I also then create it and then organize the handouts for everyone. That way I just make notes in addition to the agenda bullets. It is really easier and less writing. Then the agenda is also attached to the meeting minutes, a clean copy of course and kept in a binder.

All of these suggestions are good ones. Unfortunately, every entity records minutes in their own way so there is no “one size fits all”. Just take the time to research how they like things recorded and go from there. I format my minutes based on the agenda items. The general information provided is a little summary of the agenda item and discussion and then any motions, directives or important comments made. I also take detailed notes on paper if I feel like something might need more added to it later and we record all meetings just for backup. One very helpful hint is to enter autowords, phrases, names, etc. that you use all the time in your minutes into the computer so that they auto fill as you type; it saves a lot of time.(example: “motion made by”, “Motion carried with no objections”, “expressed a concern about”, etc.).

Practice and figuring out your best way to understand your notes is pretty much the only way to ‘master’ note taking.

In high school i did this a lot and i always had to recap my notes at the end of the ‘meeting’ to make sure everyone agreed on what was covered. You could think of that when you take notes to give you a clue as to whether or not you are covering everything.

Before the meeting starts, I ask the “leader” what type of minutes they want, i.e., in-depth, word-for-word, or the “gist” of the matter. Most managers agree that the gist method captures enough information to remind attendees what was discussed without revealing their communication foibles.

If you record the meeting that is to be stored with the minutes, it because part of the legal document. Another piece of information — any notes you take become part of the minutes and should be saved also. This really makes you think about what to do to capture the initial notes for your Minutes.