What Are Meeting Minutes?

Meeting minutes, also known as meeting notes, are a crucial aspect of every business gathering as they help capture the purpose of a meeting and its outcomes. It is necessary not to miss out on any important detail of the gathering because the written records enable attendees to refer back to them and help those who were absent at the meeting.

By having meeting minutes, all attendees can make sure they are on the same page and have a clear idea of the goals and results. The document also helps at the next meeting with evaluating whether the goals of the previous meeting were accomplished.

What Is the Purpose of Meeting Minutes?

Meeting minutes are essentially a written record of the discussed and achieved during a business gathering. Participants might always refer to the meeting notes and, this way, not miss out on anything important. If someone hasn't performed what they were expected to do, meeting minutes will act as a recourse and help straighten things out.

In some cases, having meeting notes might be a legal requirement. For instance, a disciplinary meeting with employees might require meeting minutes.

Some people might think that creating meeting minutes is a minor task compared to the importance of the affairs discussed at a meeting. However, creating the document is definitely worth the effort as failing to make proper notes might even lead to financial losses for an enterprise. For example, the attendees might have different remembrances from the meeting, resulting in taking further actions and having different approaches to the same tasks. As a result, the deadlines might be missed, and tasks, including important ones, might be forgotten.

What to Include In Meeting Minutes?

Meeting minutes include different types of information. The first thing to indicate is the general purpose of a meeting, its topic, place, and meeting date. Then, all people who are about to participate should be listed. If some of the names are not known, it is always better to ask to avoid any confusion during the meeting when making a roll-call or in the next meeting when evaluating the meeting's outcomes.

The absence of essential attendees should also be noted down as, sometimes, necessary decisions cannot be made without them. Along with that, the minutes should include all the decisions made at the meeting. The last things the document should include are the date of a follow-up meeting if it was agreed on and the members' signatures.

Types of Meeting Minutes

The minutes can vary by length, members, frequency, and other parameters.

Length

• Basic meeting minutes (one-page form). The document has only the main details of the gathering and room left to insert more information on the discussion.

• Detailed meeting minutes (broad form). The document is more specific and lists topics, discussions, results of the members' votes, etc.

Frequency

• Annual. They might be created by any business that holds a meeting once a year. This usually includes yearly accounting, tax records, and other reports of a company.

• Quarterly. This document is created at a meeting that takes place every third month. It is usually used to review the results of a previous quarter and set the upcoming one's goals.

• Monthly. Formal meeting minutes aimed at solving current problems, discussing strategies, organizational matters, etc.

• Weekly. They record the results of meetings that are held on a week-to-week basis and usually address action items, roadblocks, and questions for the upcoming weeks or barriers from the last week.

Members

• Board meeting minutes are used for a meeting held by the board of directors of an organization and any guests.

• Shareholders meeting minutes are used for gatherings of shareholders (owners of an enterprise); such meetings are usually held annually and involve voting on company issues and selecting the board of directors.

• Partnership meeting minutes are used for business partners meetings, help record the meeting that is supposed to help partners from the shared vision of running their businesses, evaluating what is working and what is not, etc.

Meeting minutes templates might also be used for school board meetings, church meetings, non-profit organization meetings, etc. However, formal meeting attributes, such as minutes, a chairperson, or an agenda are not generally used for an informal discussion.

How to Write Meeting Minutes?

The document can be different based on its type. Here are the steps a basic meeting minutes template would include.

Step 1. Prepare an agenda

First and foremost, prepare a meeting agenda. It is a document that outlines your meeting's key points involving the topics that will be discussed, the approximate time for each of them, and who will be speaking. A meeting agenda will help each meeting attendees follow the outline and know what to expect from the gathering.

Step 2. List the attendees

The other function of meeting minutes is listing the attendees of the meeting. The best way to check the present participants is to make a roll call, and the names should be noted down in the minutes.

Step 3. Note down briefly all that has been discussed

Meeting minutes serve as a record of bullets for every topic raised during the attendees' gathering. Only the main points should be outlined in the document. If there is some argument at the meeting, it is crucial to note both sides' views in the minutes.

Some questions at a meeting might require a voting procedure. If it takes place, the results of voting should be put in the minutes. The names of the voters might be included as well unless the vote is anonymous.

Step 4. Approve and sign

The last thing to do with meeting minutes is to get them approved by the chairperson. The latter will review the document and possibly remove the details that shouldn't be listed in the meeting minutes. Once the document is signed, it might be distributed among the participants of the meeting.