Writing Meeting Minutes (1) -Basics

The following information is used for educational purposes only.

Writing Meeting Minutes



The minutes of a meeting are a meeting report that is sent after the meeting, and include a report of what was said and decided during the meeting. The minutes contain the date of the meeting, as well as the initials and names of the people who attended. You can write the term "apologies for absence were received from…" to say which people didn't come to the meeting.

Meeting minutes layout


Minutes of meetings usually include:

*Minutes of the last meeting
*Matters arising from the last minutes
*The agenda of the meeting itself
*Any other business (AOB)

Meeting minutes also show who is responsible for carrying out action. In a column on the right-hand side, you can put the person's initials in bold to show that he or she will perform the action.

Report what was said


When you take minutes of a meeting, it is useful to report the ideas, rather than every sentence. To do this, you need to use a variety of speech verbs.

Here's a list that you might find useful:

suggested = "CA suggested raising the budget."

promised = "MB promised to find out more."

discussed = "Three issues were discussed."

decided = "It was decided to delay action until the next meeting."

agreed = "Everyone agreed on the proposal." "LS agreed to get further information." "Everyone agreed with the chairman."

brought up = "The issue of pay was brought up."

mentioned = "RJ mentioned the possibility of extra funds."

reported = "The Sales Manager reported on the results of the trade fair."

asked = "The Chairman asked to see a copy of the report."

wondered = "DM wondered if there would be extra funding."

recommended = "Five strategies were recommended."

explained = "SB explained the reason for the delay."

emphasised = "TA emphasised the necessity of a new product range."

stressed = "RR stressed his commitment to the project."

complained = "TM complained about the delays."

Source: www.theenglishweb.com