how to write meeting minutes?

Right then - it’s quarter end.  The sales guys are humming today and in the quiet before you close the books you are pulling together the agenda for your next Board of Directors meeting that will follow shortly after you have prepared the quarter’s financial statements.  Problem is, this is your first board meeting and you’ve been asked to attend and take the minutes.

how do I write meeting minutes?

Ah yes, the art of writing minutes.  Whether it is a board meeting, audit committee meeting or other sub-committee meeting, meeting minutes serve as a record of what was discussed, and approved actions, and in some cases (e.g. board meeting minutes), in the eyes of the government and investors, is considered a legal document.  Because of this, there is an art to writing meeting minutes:

capture the fine balance between the essence of what was discussed yet not providing a complete word-for-word transcript of the meeting.

Seems simple and it is.  Here are a few tips which can help make writing meeting minutes easier:

• Remember that meeting minutes are for future and outside readers as much as they are for the people present.  Try to make sure what you write is clear to people coming into the process at a later date;
• Use the meeting agenda as an outline for the minutes;
• Details do NOT belong in meeting minutes but do write down any motions and decisions made.  Feel free to keep notes as a participant but minutes are just a general confirmation of what was discussed and resolved;
• Use bullet points to make the minutes easier to read.  Each bullet statement should represent a different finding, discussion or decision;
• Write your minutes as soon as possible after the meeting while your memory of what happened is still fresh;
• Always have the chairman/CEO review the meeting minutes before you submit to the Board for approval.

If you are still looking for guidance, feel free to download the Business Ready Meeting Minute template to make sure your first board meeting minutes look like, well, meeting minutes!