Are you struggling to keep track of your meetings?
Taking meeting minutes is essential for keeping business on track and making meetings productive. However, recording everything that is said during a meeting can be very difficult.
Keep reading to learn more about how to take meeting minutes more efficiently and effectively.
How to Take Meeting Minutes the Right Way
Writing down meeting minutes might seem like unnecessary busywork. But keeping accurate meeting minutes, especially at prestigious events like board meetings, is extremely important for a variety of reasons.
Meeting minutes serve as an official record for what happened in a meeting. Accurate and detailed minutes are crucial for tracking important projects, detailing future goals and plans, and serve as a reference point that all attendees can look back on.
If you’re not sure how to take meeting minutes the right way, here are five helpful tips:
1. Find a Format That Works for Everyone
When you’re taking meeting minutes, there’s no perfect formula for formatting them. Ask executives in your company how they best read information and how they would like to see the minutes formatted.
There are also meeting minutes templates online if you aren’t sure how to get started and need some help organizing your information effectively.
2. Streamline What’s Written Down
Thorough meeting minutes don’t necessarily need every single detail or word. Make sure everyone agrees about what you need to record in meeting minutes and what doesn’t. It’ll be easier to reference your minutes later on if it is only full of the essential details.
At the very least, you should write down the date and time of the meeting and who is attending. You’ll also need to make sure you include all action items, so everyone knows who needs to do what after the meeting. If there are any votes taken during your meeting, make sure you include the outcome.
3. Ask for Clarification
If you are the person taking meeting minutes, make sure everything you are writing makes sense, and you could explain it clearly to someone after the meeting. Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification in the meeting if you aren’t sure what something needs, or think that the minutes need more detail.
4. Take a Real-Time Recording
You can’t expect one person to get every detail of the meeting written down in real-time. If you can, always record every meeting as a backup. This recording will be helpful if you notice some information is missing when you proofread your minutes.
5. Set Yourself up for Success
There are likely some details of the meeting minutes that you can write down before the meeting even starts. Try and create a meeting agenda, so you know who will speak about what and when.
If you already have an outline and know what is coming next, you’ll be less likely to miss important details.
Learn More About Making Your Meetings Run Smoothly
Taking proper meeting minutes will help streamline your operations and make each meeting more efficient.
Now that you know how to take meeting minutes the right way, make sure you check out the rest of our website for more helpful tips and tricks that will keep your business running smoothly.
