Table of Contents
- Meeting Minutes Template Bundle
- Meeting Minutes Definition & Meaning
- What Are Meeting Minutes?
- 10 Types of Meeting Minutes
- Meeting Minutes Uses, Purpose, Importance
- What’s in a Meeting Minutes? Parts?
- How to Design Meeting Minutes
- Meeting Minutes vs. Notes
- What’s The Difference Between Meeting Minutes, Resolution, and Agenda
- Meeting Minutes Sizes
- Meeting Minutes Ideas & Examples
- FAQs
- More in Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes
Meeting minutes are formal notes written by an appointed person from the staff, usually a secretary, conducted during a professional meeting. These notes will often highlight issues, ideas, problems, and other keynotes that will pop up during the meeting and might help provide the next meeting’s agenda.
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Meeting Minutes Definition & Meaning
Meeting minutes are defined as a written record of a meeting that will indicate the attendees of a specific business, project, or organization and will describe the topics discussed during the meeting.
This means that by design, meeting minutes act as a retrospective tool for people in the company to keep track of important discussions.
What Are Meeting Minutes?
Meeting minutes are records from a meeting that a formal or informal organization, be it an office, school board, council, nonprofit organization, or gentleman’s club, can use to track discussed matters. Meeting minutes act as a report of anything that occurred in the meeting and may be used as data to solve problems. These notes are either written down on paper or encoded on a digital device and will be disseminated by photocopy or email.
10 Types of Meeting Minutes
Church Meeting Minutes
Church groups are hard-pressed to ensure that their place of worship is in the best state as it can be. This means keeping track of different problems and issues that come up during meetings within that group. A public church committee can use church meeting minutes to help record their meetings as a way to ensure that all affairs have been brought up and talked about.
Company Meeting Minutes
A company or business can have micro-groups within its organizational structure, both important and unimportant. Whether it is an annual company meeting of the upper management, a small zoom ream meeting between employees and their managers, or an important meeting between a corporate board of directors, the business may use company meeting minutes as a way to help jot down important information in the meeting minutes.
Freelancer Meeting Minutes
Freelancers have to juggle a lot when being onboarded or introduced to their new workplace or client. Freelancer meeting minutes may be used during the first onboarding or meeting as a way to keep track of their new task and expectation set by their boss. The meeting minutes may be used to also record specific bits or minutiae of a contract.
HR Meeting Minutes
Human resources (HR) is an important set of people to have in an organizational structure. They act as liaisons between the everyday worker and the upper management, often forwarding or solving problems brought forward from both sides. A scheduled or unscheduled HR meeting should include HR meeting minutes as a way to keep track of their agendas and action points.
Management Meeting Minutes
The best way to ensure that the quality of work within the business is at its peak management should have a good grasp on the thoughts and ideas of everyone in their team. This is a very important point to keep track of during a meeting as it can become quite a confusing task. Management meeting minutes are used during the meeting so that they may be used as a point of reference or data in the near future.
Project Meeting Minutes
Project meeting minutes are great sources of solutions that can be applied to problems that may come up in the future of a project. Thus it is important to make one every time an important meeting may occur within the project. This can also provide a good way to gauge the views of the personnel or people within the project.
Restaurant Meeting Minutes
It is optimal to ensure that a restaurant is running smoothly, as one mistake can cause the business to fail. The employees of a restaurant should be knowledgeable of the food within the restaurant and should be adequately trained. During training or a meeting, it is important to let an employee work on the restaurant meeting minutes as it can provide a good structure for guidelines for employees both new and old.
Shareholder Meeting Minutes
Good leadership is a hallmark of a successful business as their decisions can make or break the future of the group. Therefore it is important to have organized meetings between the shareholders when a major decision within the business has to be made. Then this makes note-taking a very important factor to have in the meeting, but this might be quite a taxing thing to do for each of the attendees. They can make use of shareholder meeting minutes and have a dedicated note-taker write them for them.
Startup Meeting Minutes
A startup is a group of people that is at least made up of four members working towards a concept that they want to market. Because of the low numbers, a startup presents a more intimate relationship between its employees and their bosses. By using startup meeting minutes during meetings, the startup can use this tool to quickly disseminate tasks and actions between its employees and take note of the different problems and ideas the group will have in an organized way.
Team Meeting Minutes
Each team can be made up of people from different backgrounds, ideals, and perspectives. It is important to be able to hear and take note of the thoughts, ideas, and problems that they face when working within the team. During a meeting, the team may use team meeting minutes as a way to keep track of the things people in the team have said and the thoughts, ideas, and problems brought up during the said meeting.
Meeting Minutes Uses, Purpose, Importance
Meeting minutes are a note-taking tool and document that lists out the different aspects present within the meeting. This includes the Details of the meeting, the agenda, the content of the meeting, and the actions that should be taken for problems that were brought up by said meeting. These can be used by different groups and organizations as a way to ensure that nothing in the meeting gets lost in all the noise.
Acts As a Retrospective Tool
Meeting minutes present a great way to retroactively peer into problems or ideas that may have come up in past meetings. They can serve as a foundation for future decisions and guidelines. The meeting minutes can be also used as a chronological reference of how things were for the company.
Acts As a Catchup Tool for People
Plenty of meetings have people who are absent or not present during the time that it occurs. A meeting minute may be used as a way to catch people up on what they have missed during the meeting. This is done so that everyone who was either present or absent during the meeting can be on the same page.
Allows the Attendees to Focus on the Meeting
Taking notes during a meeting can be quite a hassle, as your attention is juggled between jotting down notes of what was said, and bringing up any concerns that you may have. Having a person write or type down the meeting minutes allows the other attendees to focus on the meeting properly rather than having to juggle between the two. This is advantageous as it can allow the attendees to engage with each other more frequently, without having to take down notes.
Provides Precise Details
Using meeting minutes in a meeting allows the note-taker to focus on taking notes rather than having to juggle between interacting with the other attendees and note-taking. This ensures that the note taker can write down a detailed and precise log of the meeting. This is beneficial as it can improve the effectiveness of the notes and can provide an accurate and precise document.
Provides a Structured Note-Taking Experience
It allows the note taker to have a structure to work on rather than having to create the structure in the first place. This structure will also make it easy for any future viewings of the data and information gathered from the meeting. Thus if note-taking is required in a meeting, it is best to use meeting minutes in that effort.
What’s in a Meeting Minutes? Parts?
Name of the Group
The name of the organization or group using the meeting minutes, this may also include the logo if needed.
Meeting Details
Various details that pertain to the meeting, are team/group name, meeting date, time, venue, attendees, absentees, and the minute taker.
Agenda
The various topic that will be tackled in the meeting, these arranged chronologically based on what order these topics were being discussed.
Meeting Minutes
The main body of text in the document, includes various statements, proposals, and ideas that were brought up during the meeting, which are often listed out in bullet points.
Action Plan
A list of different actions to be done to solve a specific problem or issue that was brought up during the meeting should also indicate the person assigned to the action.
How to Design Meeting Minutes
1. Select a meeting minutes size.
2. Decide on the purpose of the meeting minutes.
3. Choose a meeting minutes template.
4. Replace the meeting details, agendas, meeting minutes, and action plans.
5. Finalize and download.
Meeting Minutes vs. Notes
Meeting Minutes are structured notes that have specific details detailing the meeting. These details can be in the form of attendees and absentees of the meeting, the time, date, and venue, all of which are written objectively.
Notes are written or typed down records of information that will be used to help aid memory. These are going to be written subjectively based on the understanding of the person.
What’s The Difference Between Meeting Minutes, Resolution, and Agenda
Meeting minutes are typed or written down records that encompass various details, agendas, and actions that were discussed during a meeting.
A summary is a brief set of statements that indicates the main point of a specific subject.
An agenda is a list of things that have to be done or mentioned in a specific meeting.
Meeting Minutes Sizes
Meeting minutes sizes will depend on the size of paper or file the person would want. Below are some of the standard sizes used to make meeting minutes.
Meeting Minutes Ideas & Examples
Sometimes it hard to imagine what are the contents of specific meeting minutes that will be used in a meeting. You may look around for meeting minutes ideas to help you out with the layout and content.
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FAQs
How do I write meeting minutes?
Start by creating a document and writing down the basic structure of the meeting minutes such as the meeting details, agendas, and action points, then when the meeting starts, jot down statements of ideas brought up by the team.
Who prepares the meeting minutes?
The person who prepares the meeting minutes is the one who is assigned to be the note taker of the meeting.
What should the meeting minutes contain?
The meeting minutes should contain the meeting details, agendas, meeting minutes, and action points.
What is meeting minutes report?
It is the finalized version of the meeting minutes which will be disseminated to the attendees and the absentees of a specific meeting.
What are action items in meeting minutes?
Action items are things to be done to solve a specific problem that came up during the meeting.
How do you take good meeting notes?
You take good meeting notes by listening properly and summarizing the information without sacrificing its context and integrity.
What are board meeting minutes?
Board meeting minutes are structured notes used when their meeting is conducted on groups that include board members.
What are meeting minutes in construction?
These are meeting minutes that are used when there is a meeting between architects, engineers, and construction managers.
What are the legal implications of meeting minutes?
Meeting minutes may be used as formal, and legal documents that will be examined and used when an organization or business is being investigated.
What is the format for writing meeting minutes?
Minute meetings should be structured with the meeting details first, then is followed by the agenda, minutes proper, and the action plan last.
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