Writing Meeting Minutes - Meeting Mate v3

posted at 12:22:49
By Flipping Heck!

Posted In
GTD/Productivity

Consistently over the past 6 months or so, the same search terms keeps on coming up at the top of my stats. The subject? How to write meeting minutes.

I've written a couple of times before about writing minutes but it's obviously something that people are very much interested in so I thought I'd give it another look.

A little while back, I released the "Meeting Mate"; essentially a form to help you plan your meeting and take notes on. I've now updated it and am ready to release the "Meeting Mate v3":

Click on the image to see a larger view

How do you use it?

Below you can see a filled in example of the form (click to see a larger view):

You just note down your points and any action items are added to the right hand column, which makes them easy to pick out.

If you're not going to simply photocopy the form and send it around to everyone. When you type up your notes, make sure you right-align and bold any action items. For example, which is easier for you to pick out the action:

Example 1:

Mark and Doug discussed the fact that the roof needed repairing and asked Elaine to get a quote from at least 3 builders for the work.

Example 2:

Mark and Doug discussed the fact that the roof needed repairing and asked Elaine to get a quote from at least 3 builders for the work.

Action: ELAINE

When you're scanning through the minutes (and to be honest, who actually reads them?!) you can easily see the action points.

Another method can be used, combined with the example above which is to provide an action list with all items and who's actioning it. This only has to be a brief breakdown:

2.1 : Katy
3.4 : Elaine
3.6 : Elaine / Katy
4.1 : John
... etc...

That way, people can quickly glance at one sheet and then jump straight to their action item(s).

The Meeting Mate v3 is available in:

Zipped PDF Format

Gif Format

Enjoy!

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What the book covers:

What is a meeting?
Why do we need them? Who benefits from them and where did all the free doughnuts go?
Types of meeting
Oh yes, there are lots and lots. The question is, which one is best suited for your topic?
Before the meeting starts
Have you got everything you need? Hmm, I wonder!
During the meeting
What you need to know if you're running it, if you're the secretary and if you're an attendee
Bad Meetings
Meetings from hell - we've all been there!
After the meeting
Wrapping it all up and what happens next