10/29/2021
Meeting Minutes are a written record of what happened in a meeting. They are used for record-keeping and as a guide to catch up anyone that missed the meeting. Contrary to the name, meeting minutes are not a record of every minute of the meeting, only the major topics discussed and a brief overview of the meeting.
There are 5 steps of writing meeting minutes:
1) Pre-planning
2) Record taking
3) Minutes writing
4) Distribution
5) Storage of minutes for future reference
Step 1: Pre-planning the topics of the meeting in the form of an agenda helps streamline the meeting and serves as a guide for the meeting minutes.
Step 2: Recording the details is the record taking, such as the date, time, name of attendees, and decisions made. These details can be used to flesh out the meeting minutes later.
Step 3: Once the meeting is over, take time to write out the minutes, ideally when it is still fresh on your mind. Review what is written and ensure it is brief but effective.
Step 4: Share the minutes with the group. This is normally online through email or the cloud.
Step 5: File the meetings for future reference. This may be uploading them to a folder or project management software, but ensure all meeting minutes are in the same place, so in the future, they will be easy to find.
LawCloud has two types of meeting minutes that can serve as a baseline template. We offer meeting minutes for both board meetings and shareholder meetings which are both free of charge. Save time in the pre-planning phase with our easy-to-use system. https://buff.ly/3AHk1Ru