Minute writing tips

These tips come from the specialists who run our Minute Writing workshop.

Come on our Minute Writing workshop to learn more tips

 

• Decide why you're writing minutes
• Decide on the most suitable type of minutes
• Prepare for the meeting
• Take minute notes
• Turn notes into minutes
• Follow language conventions when writing minutes

 

Decide why you're writing minutes

Knowing why you're writing minutes will help you know what to write down and what you don't need to write down. Will your minutes:

• keep people informed of progress?

• remind people what they should do and by when?

• be a legal record of decisions?

 

Decide on the most suitable type of minutes

If you know why you're writing minutes, you can then decide what type of minutes you should produce.

Here are some options:

• a full verbatim record of what everyone said

• a full outline of the discussion plus any decisions and action points

• a brief outline of what was discussed plus decisions and action points

• only decisions and action points

• only decisions

• only action points.

 

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Prepare for the meeting

To prepare for the meeting, follow the steps below.

• Get a copy of the agenda.

• Find out the meaning of terminology you don’t understand.

• Read documents that will be tabled at the meeting.

 

Take minute notes

• Take a laptop into the meeting if you're a fast typist.

• Sit by the chair so they can see what you're writing and you can ask for clarification.

• Have a template for writing notes. You could use columns: ‘speaker’, ‘item’, ‘action’.

• Leave gaps to return to if necessary.

• Interrupt if you didn’t catch everything.

• Be prepared to review and summarise.

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Turn notes into minutes

• Turn the notes into minutes while still fresh.

• Be accurate, brief and clear.

• Follow the order of the agenda.

• Highlight actions required.

• Check with meeting participants if you are unsure about anything.

 

Follow language conventions when writing minutes

Write minutes in the past tense. You are writing about discussions that have already happened. When you are typing up the minutes from your notes, you are recording a past event.

 

Paul stated that staff needed new uniforms. (correct)

Paul states that staff need new uniforms. (incorrect)

 

Note that you have some choices as well.

 

You can write in the active voice:

Jane expressed concern about customer service standards. (You are specifically identifying one person and what they said.)

 

Or you can use the passive voice:

Concern was expressed about customer service standards. (You are deliberately not saying who expressed concern.)

 

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