Details about the book on taking minutes of meetings

Skills for Taking Minutes of Meetings

By Heather Baker

Download a free copy of this list of skills for taking minutes of meetings.

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Being good at taking notes
You should have your own prepared system for taking quick notes and it should include a set of abbreviations. Remember you don’t need to write perfect English in the meeting. Prepare your abbreviations in advance of the meeting. If you haven’t already got a system have a look at the BakerWrite system of speed writing. Make sure you work out how you will differentiate between people with the same initials before you go into the meeting.

Good mastery of English
This is very important so that people can understand your minutes and to reflect a good image of you, your department and organisation.

Good vocabulary
You’ll need a good general vocabulary and an understanding of the technical terms, jargon and abbreviations that may be used in the meeting. Get yourself informed before the meeting so you’ll understand what’s being said. Use a thesaurus to vary the words you use.

Word processing skills
A set of well presented minutes reflects well on you. If you are regularly minuting the same type of meeting then use a template. You can then use a laptop and type your notes straight onto your template – but remember you are not writing your minutes in the meeting, you are just taking notes.

Summarising skills
This is after the meeting, you need to write a summary based on the notes you have taken.

Listening skills
Always the first skill that people think of as the most difficult.

Proofreading skills
It’s important to check your minutes after they have been typed.

Knowledge of how to use reported speech
You may occasionally have to report what people say in minutes and, if so, reported speech should be used (more later). However, by using excellent summarising skills you can avoid the ‘he said, she said’ scenarios.

A good relationship with the Chairperson
A very important part of minute taking – this will be discussed in detail later.

What to record
A sense of what you should and shouldn’t record is a skill that takes time to develop. It helps to understand your readership and the use of the minutes after they have been written.

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The book then goes on to give you tips on how to improve in each of these areas.
Concentrate on practising those where you feel you need help.

By Heather Baker

About Heather Baker
Details about the book on taking minutes of meetings
Resource page for the book, including the workbook and links for example minutes
Preview inside the book
Praise for the how to take minutes of meetings training