Most people dislike taking minutes. They struggle trying to figure out what everyone is saying and what is important enough to make it to the final copy. I find the cause is they’ve never really been taught what to include in their documents and often follow the example of the previous minute taker.
If that is your situation, you will enjoy this month’s Top 10 list, the items which should be included in your final copy of minutes.
#1 – Logistics. The date, the time (typically the starting and ending time is recorded), and the location needs to be on the final copy of your minutes document. I recommend that we put this information in the template’s header, so just a few things need to be adjusted each time. Avoid using digital dates as everyone seems to read them differently. Is it 5-9-21 or 9-5-21 or 21-9-5 etc. Is that September 5 or May 9? Indicate if the meeting was in Boardroom A or held virtually on Zoom. You can decide if your group is okay with listing the time as 9:00 – 10:30 am or, more specific such as 9:04 – 10:47 am.
#2 – Attendance. Who is there is always essential and must be listed. Put the names in an easily recognizable format such as last name alphabetical or listed in hierarchy order. Any other order may be seen as biased, which is to be avoided. List your Chair first on the list regardless of the order you use and identify them as Chair or Facilitator. The Recording Secretary or Minute Taker is also listed (even if they have no voice or vote). They are listed last and also identified as Recording Secretary or Minute Taker. Who is not there does not always have to be listed. If your meeting has a quorum (the minimum number of people who need to be present in a meeting to make it a legal meeting), you must list who is absent as the document needs to show that you have a quorum. Otherwise, it is your choice if you list who didn’t attend the meeting.
#3 – Attachments. If a document was shared during the meeting, it needs to be
attached to the final copy of the minutes. Your minutes document needs to be a
complete historical document of your meeting, and if a document was used in a
meeting, it needs to be part of the record of what transpired during your meeting as well.
#4 – The word “Minutes” needs to be on the actual document. While all paperwork
created in an organization is a legal document, there is a different weight put on a
document called Minutes. Be sure that if you were to print the document, it actually has the word on the page (and not just the file name).
#5 – Summary of conversation. Minutes are no longer to be verbatim accounts of
what was said during the meeting. We need to avoid saying Bob said this and Mary said that. We summarize what was discussed instead of recreating the conversation. What you spoke about is important. Who said it is not.
#6 – Any motions or decisions. A common purpose of meetings is to make decisions. Regardless of the decision, it needs to be recorded.
#7 – Rationale of decisions. You recorded your decision, but how did you get to that decision? What concerns were raised, what points were brought forward? In the future, if I read your minutes document and I see that your group decided to work from home permanently, will I know how you got to that decision? You need to summarize all the points discussed when making that decision so that I can understand your thought process when I read the minutes.
#8 – Actions. To-dos are an important reason to do minutes. We do need a record of who volunteered to do what and the due date. I jokingly say that is sometimes the only reason some people read the minutes because they want to know what they volunteered to do because they didn’t write it down!
#9 – Approval of previous minutes. If your group approves previous minutes, it does need to be captured in your document. If they made any changes to that document, we need a full detailed list of the changes in this document.
#10 – Date of next meeting. If you have it, make sure it is listed on your minutes
document.
While there are more than 10 things that need to be listed in a minutes document, this list will hopefully clarify some major elements of a correct minutes document.
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