Liaise Closely With The Chair For Effective Minute Taking

Two key elements of efficient minute taking are good preparation and close liaison with the Chair. The former ensures an accurate record of the meeting, while the latter regulates the level of discussion being recorded.

Before the meeting takes place, you should ensure that you have everything you need, and that the tools you will be using are functioning properly. You should run a checklist that includes such tasks as testing the batteries in your recording device, and making sure that any spare pens you might have to use are working.

Close liaison with the Chair is another important factor that will help make the meeting run smoothly. The Chair is your main ally, as they control the way discussions flow. A good Chair will always be conscious of the minute taker, and he or she will intervene if more than one person is speaking at the same time.

For even with a tape recorder, you are going to struggle to decipher what was said if several people are talking simultaneously, or heated exchanges are taking place with frequent interruptions. It is worth discussing this with the Chair before the meeting takes place. Make sure that they will be firm in their running of the meeting and that they will show some consideration towards the person who has the task of making a note of what is said.

People straying from the agenda can also cause problems for the minute taker. Say the meeting was held to discuss dog fouling in the local park, but then one attendee mentions the amount of broken glass in the toddlers' park. Another adds to this by saying that she had witnessed people using those facilities who were well above toddler status. A fourth then comments that these boys have had little to do since their cub-scout group closed. How much of this is relevant to the agenda that was set? Again, firmness from the Chair is needed to ensure the attendees stick to the agenda.

Another frustration can come when the agenda is being adhered to, but the meeting moves on leaving the previous item unfinished. It could be that in the cut and thrust of the meeting the attendees lost sight of the fact that items were left hanging without closure, and it is only when the minutes are produced that this comes to light. Such items are not of much use to anyone, as no action was agreed upon.

Before the meeting takes place you could perhaps arrange with the Chair to have a hand signal that will instruct him to call the meeting back to the last item and wind it up properly.

The minute takers' nightmare is when two windbags who like the sound off their own voices get locked into a discussion, and often the Chair can offer no assistance in these cases. For example:

Mr Potts: I feel it is my duty to congratulate the council on the faultless way the library has been run for generations. From pupils cramming for exams, to adults researching local history, the library holds a special place in the hearts of all who have used it. And if we allow this closure to go ahead, Dickens, Joyce and Priestly will turn in their graves at the sight of the people of this town sitting in bus shelters, chewing gum and reading celebrity gossip magazines. I say we take up the fight in the name of literacy and mobilise the troops ... etc etc.

Clearly this is far too much of a mouthful for the minute taker, and so the rampant raconteur's speech would be summarised thus:

Mr Potts voiced his opposition to the closure of the library.

There is no need to record every word that was said in your minutes. You can summarise and write down the gist of what was said, but hang on to those tape recordings in case clarification or a direct quote is requested.

The day of the minute taker frantically scribbling every word down in shorthand may be long gone, but care should still be taken to ensure that an electronically recorded meeting comes across clearly. With a little preparation and a pre-meeting discussion with the Chair, you should be able to write up your minutes quickly and without fuss.