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Make Meetings Meeting Resources

Work!

Free online
Meeting Minutes Format scheduling tool

These days, many of us find ourselves in the

position of taking meeting minutes without a
clue of how to go about it. The following is a
guide for making this task easier:
» Effective Meetings

» Scheduling Meetings
 Make sure that all of the essential
» Meeting Invitations elements are noted, such as type of
» Meeting Agendas meeting, name of the organization,
» Chairing a Meeting date and time, name of the chair or
» Taking Minutes facilitator, main topics and the time of
adjournment. For formal and corporate Try our innovative
» Ice Breakers
meetings include approval of previous meeting scheduler!
» Scheduling Software
minutes, and all resolutions.
» Team Building
 Prepare an outline based on the
We Recommend:
» Corporate Minutes agenda ahead of time, and leave
plenty of white space for notes. By
having the topics already written down, Robert's Rules in
you can jump right on to a new topic Plain English
without pause.
 Prepare a list of expected attendees
and check off the names as people 201 IceBreakers
enter the room. Or, you can pass
around an attendance sheet for Facilitator's Version:
everyone to sign as the meeting starts.
 To be sure about who said what, make
a map of the seating arrangement, and
make sure to ask for introductions of
unfamiliar people.
 Don't make the mistake of recording
every single comment, but concentrate
201 IceBreakers
on getting the gist of the discussion Ring bound edition
and taking enough notes to summarize
 it later. Remember that minutes are
the official record of what happened,
A legal guide to
not what was said, at a meeting. corporate
 Use whatever device is comfortable for housekeeping, forms,
etc...
you, a notepad, a laptop computer, a
tape recorder, a steno pad, shorthand.
Sponsored Sites:
Many people routinely record »Online Invitations
important meetings as a backup to »Email Security Tool
»Expidia Travel
their notes.
»Anonymous Email
 Be prepared! Study the issues to be
discussed and ask a lot of questions
ahead of time. If you have to fumble
for understanding while you are
making your notes, they won't make
any sense to you later.
 Don't wait too long to type up the
minutes, and be sure to have them
approved by the chair or facilitator
before distributing them to the
attendees.
 Don't be intimidated, you may be
called upon many times to write
meeting minutes, and the ability to
produce concise, coherent minutes is
widely admired and valued.

TIP Try MeetingMix to create your

online agenda and minutes template that
you can share with attendees.

Example of Minutes Format

Name of Organization:
Purpose of Meeting:
Date/Time:
Chair:
Person
Topic Discussion Action
Responsible
1.
 2.

3.

© Codence 2001-2008 All Rights Reserved.

TIP Try MeetingMix to create

your online agenda and minutes
and share with attendees.

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