Minutes and Note Taking Made Easy

Overview

Make minute taking a complete breeze. Using a few simple yet brilliantly effective techniques, you can be in total control, get to the heart of the meeting and have the confidence to know that you’ve got everything covered.

 

A minute taker has a key role in ensuring meetings are productive. You want to be confident and competent in this role. Throughout the day, the trainer will take you through a step-by-step approach to producing effective minutes – giving templates to help you produce structured agendas and take notes effectively. Practical exercises will help you build confidence and put ideas into practice.

Objectives

• Save valuable time and gain confidence in your role as minute taker.
• Work in partnership effectively with the chair and colleagues when preparing the agenda, meeting papers and minutes.
• Recognise your own barriers to active listening – and overcome them – to help maintain concentration and capture key points.
• Pick out key points from discussions.
• Ultimately produce a clear, concise set of minutes.

Course Outline

Before the Meeting – Good Preparation will help you with your Note Taking

• The roles and responsibilities before the meeting
• The importance of a pre meeting with the chair
• How to work in partnership with the Chair

Note-Taking – There is More than One Way

• Different ways to take notes in different situations
• Maintaining concentration when interest is fading
• What information is not necessary to note?
• Do the action points stand out with time-frames and those responsible?

The Final Stages

• Making sense of the notes – immediately after the meeting is the language used ‘reader-friendly’?
• The need to make the minutes visually appealing
• Formatting and structuring the minutes for clarity and professionalism
• Have the minutes achieved their purpose?