Minutes of A Meeting

Minutes Defined

Minutes may be defined as a written record of the business transacted at a meeting. They usually take the form of minutes of narration rather than minutes of resolution.

Institute policy regarding minute taking states that the hand-written manuscript can be destroyed when the minutes have been typed and approved. A mere recording of decisions of a meeting does not give the flavour of the discussion which lead to a decision, therefore, in this case, the manuscript record must not be destroyed.

Good Minutes

Accurate –The content of the meeting, the topic discussed, and the decisions made are reflected as they were discussed.

Clear – Unless a literal account is required of everything said, the minutes should be a clear, business-like, and a fair summary of the discussion and the decisions made.

Concise – The longer the minutes, the smaller the chance they will have any effect after the meeting. A good recorder summarizes the meeting briefly, without diminishing accuracy and clarity.

Timely – Minutes should be presented to all attendees and other concerned parties as soon as possible, when the meeting is still fresh in their minds and the motivation to carry out decisions is the greatest.

Minutes Contents

1. Heading

• Name of meeting
• Kind of meeting
• Location, day, date and start time of meeting

2. Names of those present

• Name of the chairperson
• List those present
• List those “in attendance” i.e. those who are there by invitation and not as members
• List those who tendered apologies

3. Agreement/approval of minutes of the previous meeting.

4. Details of any documents or papers tabled for consideration by the members, including the title and author of any such documents (generally, these documents would be circulated in advance of the meeting to allow the members an opportunity to consider same)

5. Matters arising

6. Correspondence

7. Presentation of reports

8. Items discussed

9. Decisions taken

10. Any other business

11. If there was no further business state this and time the meeting concluded.

12. Chairperson’s signature: Following approval of minutes at a subsequent meeting they should be signed and dated by the chairperson. (All previous drafts should be destroyed but having regard to any FOI restrictions).

13. Alteration to minutes should either be hand written with a notation stating at whose request the alteration was made or subsequent redrafting. This should be done prior to the chairperson signing the minutes.

14. Date of next meeting.