Minute Taking Training Courses London

Core Skills for Effective Minute Taking 

Listening, personal confidence, public speaking, body language, presentation, organisation, high concentration, critical thinking, personable and friendly, objective and unbiased, develop a poker face, a good handshake, proofreading skills, knowledge of conversation is helpful, good typing skills if entering minutes directly onto a PC, understanding of PowerPoint and projectors, a good understanding around the techniques of minute taking, speed writing. 

Why do we have meetings? Share information, discuss issues, decide future actions, solve problems. Why do we take minutes? Record actions and ideas, make decisions, communicate and summarise. 

Meeting Cycle: 

1. The Meeting (1st) 

2. Draft Minutes (2nd) 

3. Minutes Amended by Chair (3rd) 

4. Minutes Approved and dispatched (5th) 

5. Deadline for agenda items (23rd) 

6. Agenda drafted (25th) 

7. Agenda approved and dispatched (26th) 

8. Chair/Secretary briefing meeting (30th) 

If it's not clear, be prepared with questions: 

• Please could you confirm for the minutes? 

• Could you define the action for the minutes? 

• What is the deadline? 

• When is it to be completed? 

Listening skills:  

Don't get distracted. Don't look at your phone, check emails, write to‑do lists etc. Look at the person speaking. Remember over half of what is communicated is through non‑verbal signals. Demonstrate your listening: nod, ask clarifying questions and summarise action points and objectives. 

Building and Managing the Agenda 

Why do we have an agenda? Helps people prepare, ensures important issues are covered, gives structure to topics, keeps meeting on track, structures the minutes. Sections of the Agenda include: Introduction/Welcome, Apologies, Declarations of Interest, Committee Business, Minutes of Previous Meetings, Matters Arising, Reports, Agenda Items, Any other Business, Date of Next Meeting. 

Agenda Styles – Full Agenda items (example): 

1. Introduction and apologies – Lead: Mike Tyson – 10:00–10:10 

2. Minutes of previous meeting – Mike Tyson – 10:10–10:15 

3. Tom Hanks Visit – Bill Gates – 10:15–10:45 

   1. Timetable 

   2. Publicity 

   3. Security 

4. 2012 school uniform – Mr Bean – 10:45–11:00 

5. End of year dance – Bill Gates – 11:00–11:15 

6. Any other business – Mike Tyson – 11:15–11:25 

7. Date of next meeting – Mike Tyson – 11:25–11:30 

Admin considerations:  

Keep an accurate list/database of who will attend; for regular meetings, book everyone into the next meeting during the current one; for one‑off meetings, contact attendees and get confirmation; remind receptions of visitors to your meeting. Give plenty of warning to attendees, organise the agenda, allow sufficient time for the meeting, bring signed minutes. 

Environmental considerations:  

Refreshments, equipment, the room, seating layout, air conditioning, IT setup. 

Capturing Discussions and Decisions Clearly 

Record: 

• New information 

• All motions (passed and defeated) 

• Results of motions 

• Actions 

• All pros and cons 

Do not record: 

• Speaker's experience 

• Old material 

• Redundant information 

• Personal comments 

• He said/she said 

Note Taking Template: 

TOPIC – What are the key points being discussed? 

DECISION – What options are they considering? What has been decided? 

ACTION – Who, what and when? 

Speed writing skills:  

Writing quickly in meetings is not always about speed; it's about quickly finding the key message. First: identify just a quick headline. Second: identify the main message. 

If you can't write up straight away, take a high‑level glance through as soon as the meeting is over. Circle the bits that don't make sense and give a high‑level summary. Ask the Chair for explanations. 

Minute Styles, Language and Professional Standards 

Proofreading skills: always leave time to proofread your work, avoid distractions, proofread somewhere quiet, leave a gap between finishing the work and proofreading, double‑check facts, figures, and proper names, and ask for help if someone can give your work a final quick read. 

Minute styles: 

Formal – Detailed information in formal language; common for official meetings. 

Action‑orientated – Focus on actions to be taken: what, by who and when? 

Summarised – Brief overview of points discussed and decisions made; concise and to the point; useful for informal meetings when a quick reference is needed. 

Verbatim – Records everything said word for word; can be necessary for legal or highly sensitive meetings. 

Language should be neutral. Example lines include: It was reported…, The Committee heard…, It was suggested…, …was discussed, The meeting was informed…, No conclusion reached, To be reviewed at a later date, To be discussed at next meeting. 

Conflicts of interest procedure:  

The Chair invited those attending to indicate if they had any conflict of interest with any of the agenda items. None of the members indicated a conflict. 

There was a discussion about sourcing PR resources – no conclusion reached. It was agreed that Byron would deliver a 5‑minute presentation to explain the high‑level classification process at the next meeting.