Make yourself an even more valuable member of your team with this complete training package.
Have you been asked to take minutes at a meeting? Congratulations! It isn't a chore, it's an honor, and Taking Effective Meeting Minutes is ready to help you excel in this important role.
Available as a CD or MP3, this 75-minute audio training gives you detailed guidance on taking minutes for any type of meeting. You also receive 13 handouts that streamline the entire experience, from preparation to meeting duties to creating the final report.
- I'm ready to step up. Send me Taking Effective Meeting Minutes so I'll be ready to take minutes if asked. Who knows, I may even volunteer! In any event, there's no risk, because I'll have your 100% money-back guarantee.
Dear Colleague:
It’s time to go from panic to pleasure.
Instead of worrying about the responsibility of taking minutes at a meeting, you will actually enjoy playing a vital role.
You see, taking minutes is not like taking dictation – not about what people said. It’s about what was decided, what actions must be taken and who must take them. Big money is often at stake, and people’s careers hang in the balance.
If accurate minutes are not taken at a meeting, it’s as if the meeting never happened. No wonder employers prize accurate, professional minute-taking skills.
That’s why Taking Effective Meeting Minutes is much more than training. It’s a way to boost your value within your organization and become a key player at important meetings. Whether you’ve never taken minutes before or you want to take your skills to the next level, trainer Patricia Robb will you help master the role.
With nearly 30 years as an administrative assistant, including her current position as Executive Assistant to a CEO, Patricia is a renowned expert on minute-taking. She’s also the author of Laughing All the Way to Work: A Survival Blog for Today’s Administrative Assistant, and a member of the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
Patricia gave a webinar on Taking Effective Meeting Minutes for the readers of our Administrative Professional Today newsletter. The webinar was so popular, we decided to offer the complete audio of the session in your choice of CD or MP3, so you can learn at your convenience. It even includes the Q&A. (Example: “How do I deal with fast talkers?”)
You also get the PowerPoint from the webinar and a transcript of Patricia’s audio for easy reference. Plus 13 handouts in Word, so you can use the very documents that have served Patricia so well over the years. This training package is complete!
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- Yes, I want to make myself even more valuable. Send me Taking Effective Meeting Minutes. I'll review the audio recording and presentation materials risk-free. If I'm dissatisfied for any reason, I'll get a 100% refund.
The guidelines and checklists in Taking Effective Meeting Minutes will give you the confidence you need – not only to take minutes, but also, in many ways, to take charge of the meeting. A well-run, well-recorded meeting is your chance to shine.
While the Chairperson of the meeting is ultimately in charge, the Chair (and everyone else in the room) will look to you if anything goes wrong at the meeting – or sing your praises when everything goes right.
The secret to making sure things go right – and eliminating your stress – is to be totally prepared for the meeting in general and your specific role.
Patricia starts you on the right path by addressing the type of meeting you’ll be covering. She reveals the key differences of operational, formal (or semi-formal) and in-camera meetings. (That last one has nothing to do with video. It means confidential – with no notes taken – and usually refers to just part of a meeting.)
Then Patricia gives you detailed advice on everything you need to do:
- Review previous minutes. This brings you up-to-date on the subject material, and you can focus on what’s being decided, instead of wondering what people are talking about.
- Draft the agenda. Could the Chair do this? Yes. Will the Chair do it? Probably not. Here’s your chance to put your best foot forward.
- Obtain meeting materials. And, of course, include them in handouts for all attendees. Hint: Read the handouts ahead of time, unless they’re long, detailed financial or technical reports.
- Prepare a template for your minutes. You can use the one provided (more on that later).
- Arrive early. There are bound to be some last-minute items that need your attention. Patricia gives you a checklist.
- Determine your position. First decide where the Chair sits, then choose your place – usually to one side, for good eye contact and within easy listening distance. Hint: Take extra space for yourself so you have room to spread out and take notes. This also prevents other attendees from looking over your shoulder and offering suggestions.
By the way, you did book the meeting room, didn’t you? It’s surprising how often that gets overlooked. Don’t worry, it’s on Patricia’s checklist – just one of more than a dozen handouts included with the training.
Your 100% Money-Back Guarantee
- Yes, I want to make myself even more valuable. Send me Taking Effective Meeting Minutes. I'll review the audio recording and presentation materials risk-free. If I'm dissatisfied for any reason, I'll get a 100% refund.
Taking Effective Meeting Minutes would be a terrific value with the audio alone. But Patricia also includes 13 handouts to help you get up to speed fast, eliminate unnecessary work and focus on what’s important when you’re in the thick of a meeting … with every document in Word and ready to be customized by you.
As an admin assistant herself, Patricia knows you have better things to do than reinvent the wheel when taking minutes. So she’s included the complete set of 13 documents she uses for taking minutes – and in this case, 13 is a very lucky number! Your resources include:
- Agenda for a team meeting. With the specific language you’ll typically need, such as “Adoption of Previous Meeting Minutes.”
- Agenda for a Board of Directors’ meeting. Complete with sections for typical committee reports.
- Operational meeting template. With columns for Topic and Discussion, Decision/Action, etc.
- Formal meeting template. Including Patricia’s handy, foolproof method of recording motions.
- Look-forward agenda. To help make sure nothing is missed at quarterly meetings that address recurring issues.
- Senior leadership team action registry. Who’s responsible, when action is due, when it was completed.
- Pre-meeting checklist. This one’s a lifesaver! Everything from refreshments to audiovisual needs to laptop safeguards. (Hit Ctrl+S frequently and use a memory stick.)
- Sample terms of reference. The rules of the group: mission, mandate, membership, etc. Patricia’s example is for an administrative team – yes, you can be the minute-taker for meetings of your fellow admins.
- Sample minutes. An example of the finished product, from attendees to covered business to items requiring action. (Caution: Never assign an action to someone who wasn’t there.)
- Meeting minutes template. This is the one you’ll use most often. Simply fill in the blanks.
- Tips for minute-takers. Including 25 frequently used, professional phrases (“The Director provided handouts” instead of “The Director gave handouts”) … how to list attendees … what to record … what not to record … the hazards of audio recording … when to speak up (for example, if the action to be taken is unclear, or someone left the room and a quorum was lost)… and more.
- The transcript of the audio presentation. After you’ve listened to Patricia – or while you listen – grab a highlighter and make this document your customized reference. You’ll return to it often.
BONUS: The transcript includes a chart of the pros and cons of taking minutes by hand or on a laptop. Example: While you type faster than you write, the increased speed can actually be a disadvantage, because you may take down too much information.
Your 100% Money-Back Guarantee
- Yes, I want to make myself even more valuable. Send me Taking Effective Meeting Minutes. I'll review the audio recording and presentation materials risk-free. If I'm dissatisfied for any reason, I'll get a 100% refund.
You thoroughly prepared for the meeting … wrote down the decisions and actions… and now it’s time to produce the final report. Let Taking Effective Meeting Minutes take you across the finish line.
Whew! All your preparation paid off, and a successful meeting is over – but a big part of your job remains: producing the minutes themselves. In writing. For all the world to see. Not only the meeting attendees, but also future auditors of the organization’s records. Yes, written minutes are that important.
Stay relaxed. Patricia’s training has you covered all the way to the end. She advises you on:
- Getting a draft to the Chair within 24 hours. It’s the best way to make sure you don’t leave anything out.
- Making corrections. Patricia tells you when it’s appropriate to include the reason for changes, and when it isn’t.
- Keeping a book of minutes. Did you know it’s a legal requirement to keep a signed copy of the minutes of your meetings? (Usually just the Chair signs.)
- Keeping a record of motions. You’ll be glad you have Patricia’s easy numbering system to link motions and minutes. Plus: You’ll know the difference between a motion and a resolution.
- Keeping an action registry. Not a history of actions, but the current tracking of actions. This is how you help make sure actions are taken instead of overlooked.
Are you seeing the big picture? The person who takes minutes is a key player. Taking minutes requires you to be thorough and professional, from pre-meeting preparation to helping the Chair run the meeting to post-meeting reports and recordkeeping.
But of course, being thorough and professional is what a good administrative assistant is all about. You are ready for this.
You can learn all the skills you need quickly and easily by spending a couple of hours with the audio training and support materials of Taking Effective Meeting Minutes. You’ll gain the know-how and confidence to accept the responsibility of taking minutes. And soon you’ll reap the reward: being an even more important member of the team.
Having chaired a few meetings myself, I can tell you that a professional minute-taker is absolutely essential. I urge you to seize this opportunity to become an even more competent, confident, respected member of your organization. Become the go-to minute-taker.
As Patricia points out, you’ll even enjoy it!
Sincerely,
Phillip Ash
Publisher
Your 100% Money-Back Guarantee
- Yes, I want to make myself even more valuable. Send me Taking Effective Meeting Minutes. I'll review the audio recording and presentation materials risk-free. If I'm dissatisfied for any reason, I'll get a 100% refund.
P.S. Patricia gives you her email address, so you can ask her a question about Taking Effective Meeting Minutes – whether you’ve just taken minutes and want help with the write-up, or you have an important meeting on the horizon. Patricia’s availability is a FREE bonus for you.
P.P.S. Remember, all 13 handouts will be yours to use and share as you please. And if you need budget approval from your boss to purchase this training, be sure to mention that it includes all the materials you will ever need to take effective minutes. What an outstanding value!