The Nuts and Bolts of Meeting Notes
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Have you ever attended a meeting to only soon forget what was discussed or why the meeting was organized in the first place?
Notes taken at any business meeting are crucial as when the minutes are written using these notes, which serve as a permanent record of the discussion and the decisions that were taken. Great notes make better minutes and they ensure people have a common understanding of what the meeting was about and what they should be doing next.
Taking notes makes people think you’re being attentive. You’ll be aware of whatever’s going on during the meeting.
You can’t be that attentive with a laptop between you and everyone else. Jot notes on paper, keeping your attention on the group. Have more than one pen or pencil with you. Typing into a computer saves retyping later, but it kills the human connection. Isn’t that why a meeting was called? To be with other humans! Taking notes on paper and typing them in later forces you to mentally review the meeting a second time, which boosts both memory and understanding.
Here are a few tips to guide us all in 2019 to create great meeting minutes:
- Create an agenda, forward it prior to the meeting date and follow the agenda during the meeting.
- Record the date, time, place and meeting title.
- Record the attendees who attended and those who sent apologies at the last minute.
- Pictures can be taken of any charts or screens that may have been shared/drawn during a meeting with a phone camera. Pictures can be attached to the minutes which makes it easier than trying to use words to describe what may have been drawn or shared by others.
- Finish your notes by summarizing anything important that happened and put this summary at the end of your notes. The summary may be very short but useful for quick reference later in time.
- Using a Standard Template saves time and allows attendees to read minutes in a recognizable format.
- Send minutes out quickly, ideally within a week. Send them to all people that were invited to the meeting.
As the office manager of Peak Consulting, I look forward to keeping the office staff informed with notes taken at our office meetings and hope you find these tips useful!
It is my pleasure assisting you! Look forward to working with each of you in in 2019!
Susan
