Why are Meeting Minutes important?
Meeting minutes remind attendees of important highlights, action items and key decisions made during a meeting. They also serve as a great way to update those that cannot attend and help increase accountability within an organization.
What should be included?
Meeting minute formats vary from company to company, but most include a few basic items:
Pre-Meeting items:
- Meeting time/date/location
- Meeting attendee’s + those unable to attend names
- Meeting attendee’s + those unable to attend email addresses
- The accepted meeting agenda
- The meeting objective
In-Meeting items:
- Action items assigned
- Key decision outcomes
- KPI’s
- Next Steps
- Next meeting time/date
Post-Meeting
- Make sure action items and decisions are clearly notated
- Decide as a team how quickly meeting minutes should be sent (recommended ASAP)
- Decide how meeting minutes should be sent:
- Hard copy
- Less Meeting
- Dropbox / Box
- Google Docs / Evernote
- Sharepoint
The Writing Process
The best meeting minutes are meeting minutes that get read. While you can’t guarantee that, you can take steps to help increase the odds:
- Keep them brief
- Make them legible
- Be objective
- Include only the most important highlights
- Avoid fluff (usually equates to reducing adjectives)
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