Taking Minutes
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This one-day workshop will help you to ensure that the minutes or notes you take at meetings are clear, accurate and professional.
It will provide you with essential skills for each stage of the process: understanding the meeting, working with the chair, preparing the agenda, developing listening techniques, recording the meeting, distilling key points, and structuring and writing up the minutes.
Examples of good and bad minutes and agendas will help you to avoid common mistakes and follow best practice. Carefully designed exercises will enable you to develop your skills and confidence.
Our Desktop Guide to Minute Writing will become a valuable reference book on your return to the office, where you will also benefit from a year of free support from your tutor.
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Further Details
Course programme:
Morning session
Introduction
• The purpose of notes or minutes
• The role of the minute taker
• The key skills of the minute taker
• How to make sure the minutes are useful
Understanding the meeting
• The different types of meeting
• The purpose of the meeting
• How the purpose affects the minutes
• Differences between internal and external meetings
• The terminology of meetings, agendas and minutes
Before the meeting
• What type of notes or minutes?
• What style of writing?
• How much detail?
Working with the chair
• The role of the chair
• The relationship between the chair and the minute taker
Writing and using the agenda
• Understanding the purpose of an agenda
• How to lay out an agenda
• Deciding on depth of detail
• Clearing the agenda with the chair
• When and how to distribute the agenda
Best practice in taking notes and minutes
• Developing listening skills
• Being selective and identifying key points
• Sorting the information effectively
• Using abbreviations
• Asking for clarification
Exercises and feedback
Afternoon session
Writing up the notes or minutes
• When to write the notes or minutes
• Thinking about the needs of the readers
• Structuring effectively
• Formatting and following conventions
• Summarising and paraphrasing
• Using bullet lists
• Making the action points clear
Developing the right tone and using professional language
• What can go wrong
• How to avoid the pitfalls
• Using plain English
Overcoming the passive voice
• The difference between active and passive
• Why the active is usually best
• When to use the passive
• Practising turning passive into active
Avoiding common mistakes
• Easily confused and misused words
• Getting the grammar right
• Punctuating minutes accurately
Conclusions
• A review of key techniques and top tips
Exercises and feedback
This Training Course is taught in classrooms in the following locations:
Manchester
Bristol
Exeter
London WC
Information provided is for information purposes only and no guarantees are made with regards to accuracy. It is advised that all details are checked prior to making a booking. Contents © 1999 - 2012. All rights reserved.
