Taking Minutes
Minutes of the meeting are notes made during a meeting to remind meeting participants what was discussed and agreed upon. Minutes should not be long or complex, with beautiful language or perfect grammar. Most importantly, the minutes contain clear and simple records of the decisions that have been made at the meeting and who will carry them out. The secretary is in charge of making minutes.
At every meeting, there must be minutes because the minutes record the meeting activities from beginning to end as well as the results of the meeting and who will carry it out. If the meeting is held by two institutions, the minutes are a record of mutual agreement for both. The heads of both institutions signed the minutes.
Minutes are useful for meeting participants who can’t attend. They will get information about activities and meeting results. In small or informal meetings, minutes must still be made because one’s memory is very limited. Minutes can be used as evidence that the two institutions have agreed on the results of the meeting.
Basic things minute-takers (secretaries) do:
Make rough notes during the meeting then copy them neatly, if it is necessary to be typed.
Distribute it to the relevant people.
Save all the minutes together in a file for future reference.
What skills do minute-takers need?
They must be good listeners and confident to write something because sometimes minute-takers often spend more time listening than writing something. We recommend using a computer even though it is not a must.
Minute-takers must know what to write. They don’t need everything to be written down but the important points are written. They should focus on the decisions and actions agreed in the meeting.
Minute-takers must have a copy of their agenda. If the agenda is made before the meeting, it should be read carefully and if it is possible discuss with the Chair first.
Bring the last minutes archive, if there are questions that arise about the decision from the previous meeting, you can view the archive.
Uses decent paper and some good pens. Ensure there is a comfortable desk and space for writing.
In each meeting there is some information to write:
Make an attendance sheet in advance and distribute it to the meeting participants to be signed.
Write down the name of the group, date, time, meeting place, and the names of each guest, as well as which organization they belong to.
Write down the details of who was present at the meeting. If the meeting is small, make a list of everyone’s names. If the meeting is large, pay attention to the number of committee members and the number of members present.
Write an apology note, which is a note of people who were unable to attend the meeting. Don’t record people who haven’t shown up yet.
Keeping notes clear
Minute-takers can take rough notes beforehand, writing down some abbreviations that are easy to read and understand. Organize notes by numbering each item and giving it a title.
Leaves a few lines of space between one item and the next, so that there is room to add another point if the discussion returns to the previous topic.
Underline who agrees with the decision and who wants to implement it. This can be added to the description column.
When taking notes, the minute-takers use simple and straightforward language. Summarize the problem and not write down all the details of the discussion.
After the minutes of the meeting are agreed as the correct archive, the minutes are signed by the Chairman, and become the official archive of the meeting.
Some of the difficulties faced by minute takers are when the discussion jumps from one point to another before one of the points is finished. Everyone was talking at once, so the minute-taker couldn’t keep up with the discussion.
Discussions are long and confusing so minute-takers don’t know which parts are important to cover.
Before the minutes are signed, the minutes must be read by the respective chairperson or displayed on the screen so that meeting participants can read them clearly.
Thus the explanation of the minutes of the meeting.
Nani Kusmiyati
Jonggol, 19 Sepetember 2021
Artikel ke-28
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