Taking Effective and Accurate Meeting Minutes

Tips for Creating Exceptional Meeting Minutes

Whether they are in person, online, or via a conference call, meetings are a necessary part of the day-to-day operations of most businesses. Meeting minutes serve as an official record of the event, and you have the critical role of creating them and ensuring that they are accurate.

You want your notes to be clear and precise, and by delivering accurate meeting minutes you gain the perfect opportunity to shine like a star.

This webinar breaks the process down into three key parts: preparing for the meeting, taking notes during the meeting, and completing the job by distributing a report after the meeting. You’ll discover specific tips for taking spot-on meeting notes and writing a concise report that provides details of what transpired.

What You Will Learn

This isn't a task reserved for secretaries and administrative assistants only. Any person who attends a meeting may be asked to take notes and create minutes. Accuracy is of the utmost importance.

And taking meeting minutes is one task that you are rarely formally trained to do, yet are expected to pick up right away.

How can you make your meeting minutes more effective and set yourself apart as a star employee? By taking great meeting notes and following through on the tasks and action items you were assigned. For 90 minutes, this course explores:

Before the Meeting

• Tips on preparing effective templates that save you time and effort
• Shortcuts for drafting an agenda that structures your minutes
• Examples of useful and time-saving notes templates
• Advice on creating a powerful checklist to guide your note taking

During the Meeting

• How to note motions throughout the meeting
• Ways to recap decisions that outline what was decided and what was agreed to
• Specific words and phrases to accurately summarize discussions
• Understanding when to be specific with your notes and when to summarize
• Tips for noting outstanding items (what was left pending)
• Three key points regarding style in writing minutes

After the Meeting

• How to make quick work of correcting your notes
• Tips for cleaning up and drafting the final minutes report for the official record
• Techniques to handle corrections & prepare the meeting minutes for distribution
• Advice on filing/indexing the minutes for easy access

Because recording accurate meeting minutes is so important, this is a great chance for you to spend a short time learning how to do it better.

How You Will Benefit

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate what makes good meeting minutes and the need for accuracy of reporting
• Explain the planning of an agenda and the preparation required
• Apply practical tips and useful words for producing accurate meeting minutes

Note: Webinars are designed to provide a one-to-one learning experience for an individual and are not designed to be viewed in a group setting. Program access is available only via the MYAMA account of the registered attendee.

FAQs:

What does the webinar include?
All paid registrants will have a single-user license to access a recorded archive of the program for a full year allowing you to revisit the material to refresh your memory and reinforce your skills. You will also receive a pre-read document and the program slides.

When are course materials are available?
We will be sending you pre-work approximately one day before the program date via email. A slide deck will be available for download in the webinar before and during the course. Please register early to get these materials that will help guide your learning process!

Do I need to buy any special equipment?
Your PC should be equipped with a sound card and speakers or a headset. If not, you can dial into our conference bridge. The phone numbers will be displayed in the webinar before and during the program.

How far in advance do I need to register for my webinar? 
The earlier you sign up the better. That way, you’ll have plenty of time to do any pre-work that your course might require.

I registered for a webinar. Why haven’t I heard from you? 
After you register, we will email you to confirm your registration and provide you with additional information before your course. Occasionally, however, customers may not receive the emails because of their company’s email security settings, a spam blocker, or an incorrect email address. If you registered but didn’t get your confirmation email the day after registration or your log-in information one week before your session, please notify CourseHorse immediately. We will make sure you have everything you need before your course.