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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Administrative and Office Support |
Taking minutes during a meeting.? |
Any advices on taking minutes. Is it difficult? Becoming a recording secretary can be rewarding and educational. It is best for a paralegal, administrator, or people who can write quickly or do shorthand. Many others, can also become recording secretaries. It just takes a certain personality. You have some very interesting suggestions here by others. (however, note: recording devices - are generally NOT allowed - as suggested by another responder). As with any other job, you should seek out a mentor, do your research and find a way to observe others in the field (if possible). For instance, check out or buy Roberts Rules of Order, you will need to know (at least) the basics before you can take minutes. If you choose to take minutes I think if you have the right mentality for the job, you will love it! Have fun and good luck. Believe me it can be sooo hard, because you have to focus on the main points and try to write what people say who talk too fast etc. I think focus on the important facts, don't try to write down everything, ask people to clarify, read other peoples minutes for a more better idea, underline the word AP infront of an action point. Try to write in smaller words i.e. 'complaining' write it as comp'g and also write the persons initials infront of the sentence you write. Try to divide the minutes into areas the people are speaking about. clarify points with members after the meeting is done. Go back and type up your minutes same day so you do not forget what happened. Or better yet get one of those voice recorder and check with your manager if it is ok to record and go back and write notes. my years as an office administrator and my experience as a minute taker! oodles has some great ideas and suggestions. for me, what works is taking the subject, objective, who's in charge, action items for individuals, completion date &/or follow up date. Make abbreviations that you understand. Type them up as soon as meeting is over, ask the person who ran the meeting and or another person who may have not had a lot of action items assigned to them to go over it with you. Checking with the person who ran the meeting allows them to better describe what they were looking for or to bring up points they may have forgot - or to emphasize something that might otherwise be lost. It sounds crazy, but listen more than you write and you'll write less, remember more. Many people would comment I would remember more of what happened in a meeting than the participants did. Good luck. (-->) for action item, * Represents new topic, and underline for emphasis-- were some of my quick shortcuts that saved time and let me continue to concentrate. For a first timer, its quite difficult especially if you have no background in stenography. The most important things to get in meetings are the agenda. You should have an idea of the purpose of the meeting beforehand so that you will know what to note and what to disregard. For example, it is important to take down the dates, times and particular subjects. Along with it, you should be able to note who said what in regard to the topic which might be useful in the future. If there are debates, it is important to take down the exact words uttered and how it was delivered like in an angry manner etc. The sources or basis should also be taken down like citations, books, etc. How to get it all while everybody is talking and so fast at that is an art. Write as fast as you can, using abbrevations which you can understand later and use different lines everytime a sentence is finished. Usually, a recording device is allowed so that you should secure one that can pick up even the lowest voice in the room. It will be very useful in preparing the minutes later. The answers seem to be more about taking a record of the proceedings than actual minutes. A good set of minutes show time and location of the meeting, who attended and who sent apologies and are numbered the same way as the agenda with a title for each section (as in the agenda). Under each heading put any major issues raised, actions agreed and who was delegated to carry these out and by when. During the meeting, keep your ears open for potential actions being set up and do not be afraid to ask the chairman"shall i minute that as an action?". A detailed description of what everyone says is not helpful really and makes people tend to spout just to be "in dispatches". Typical entry in minutes done by me: "2 Forthcoming Events: 2.1 Exhibition at Olympia (date): Agreed to have the same stand size as last year, costing 拢xxx including utilities and furniture. Treasurer to pay deposit at once. NN to circulate committee with potential time slots for working the stand asking for replies by (date). LL to produce instructions for those attending including map of stand location. Report on the success of the stand to be made to the meeting next following the event. Minutes should follow an agenda. Keep the agenda next to you. It may be better to keep an annotated agenda just for yourself so you know when a motion or a consent needs to be made. Those are the really important part of the minutes. You will know what people are going to talk about and more than likely the last few talking points of the conversation will be the most important, because it is generally when a decision is going to be made. When writing the minutes you should use past tense. Like the following. The meeting convened at 9:00 a.m. with Mr. X presiding. The minutes of the meeting held on April 5, 2007 and corrections to the minutes of the meeting held December 12, 2006, previously distributed by mail, were approved. 1. Mr. R and Employee C, director of initiatives, presented graduation rates statistics in the area and outlined the need for an Issue Study Group (ISG) and potential deliverables. Top Dog, president, reviewed the intended function of an ISG. The board decided to revisit the issue of how best to participate in efforts to improve local graduation rates at the September meeting. |
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