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Program Details

Taking Minutes studies styles and techniques for taking accurate minutes.

Learners gain confidence in recognizing the:

• Difference between taking notes and minutes.
• Relationship between a well-run meeting and good minutes.
• Multi-purposes of minutes from lists of action items to potential legal documents.
• Tricks of the trade that make minutes-taking easier.

A one-week break between class sessions two and three allows participants the time to practice taking minutes at an actual meeting. We then debrief the experience and evaluate the resulting minutes during the final class. This solidifies the students’ understanding of what did and did not work in their minutes, what they need to change to improve them, and how to do so. Additionally, departments can develop a format for taking minutes that standardizes the task and helps meetings become more efficient.

Core Competencies for Taking Minutes

• Understanding the difference between taking notes and minutes
• Recognizing the legal ramifications of minutes
• Preparing the minutes-taking task before the meeting
• Using an appropriate template
• Identifying all the duties of the minutes-taker
• Selecting an appropriate writing style
• Applying the guidelines for transcribing minutes

Three hour-and-a-half sessions with a break between weeks two and three to allow participants to take minutes at a real meeting