How to Create a Simple Form to Take Effective and Actionable Meeting Notes

Take good notes or that fanstastic meeting will be only a fuzzy memory.

Even the best meeting will be ineffective if attendees forget what was decided after a few days. Taking meeting minutes is a fine balance between being too brief and missing essential information and writing so much down that the minutes are not useful as a quick reference. The solution is a simple form to guide your note taking and keep minutes organized, complete and easy to reference in the future. Such a form will ensure that you note any decision made and actions that must be taken based on the meeting.

Instructions

1. Create a new document in your word processor of choice, such as Microsoft Word, Open Office or Apple iWork.

2. Type four headers at the top of the document, one each for the organization name, meeting date, facilitator and main purpose of the meeting. These headers will help you sort through meeting minutes later.

3. Enter four columns under the headers. Label the columns with the topic, decision, action and responsible person. In the topic column you will write down the individual topics that were discussed, one per row. In the decision column you will write down any decisions made. You don't need to record all of the discussion, but you may note any particularly important discussion points if you think someone will need to reference them later. In the action column write down any actions that need to be taken regarding the task. In the responsible person column write down who should take action, or note that a person needs to be assigned to the task.

4. Create as many rows as there will be topics discussed in the meeting. Leave enough space to include the details of decisions and actions.

5. Include a line at the bottom of the document where you can enter the date, time and location of the next meeting.

6. Save the document as a template if you will take notes electronically. Saving as a template will allow you to load your outline when you create a new document and prevent you from accidentally saving your meeting notes over the template. If you plan to take handwritten notes, save your template as a normal document and print copies.

Tips & Warnings

• Feel free to customize your form if you find that there is other important information from your meeting that you want recorded. The best form is the one that works for you and your organization.

References

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology; The Importance of Meeting Minutes; Bruce Lewis; January 1997
• Meeting Wizard: Meeting Minutes Format
• Business Writing; Tips for Writing Meeting Minutes; Lynn Gaertner-Johnston; January 2006

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish