Note Taking & Minutes for Meetings – Training Course Outline

Most people have to take notes or minutes of meetings occasionally as part of their work. Accurate and timely meeting summaries are extremely important for documenting meetings with colleagues, the public or other organisations.

Without a solid foundation in listening, writing and editing skills, Note takers may lack confidence in their ability to produce accurate and readable minutes. This course discusses good listening techniques, includes organisational hints and tips for Note takers, and covers grammar, punctuation and proof-reading to make sure the final document is completely professional. Delegates also share ideas about what works for them.

What you will learn on this course

By the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Create an effective agenda that will help your meeting run smoothly
• Listen actively for relevant content and know how to maintain concentration
• Use a variety of techniques to ensure you have the best support when note taking
• Avoid common grammatical and punctuation mistakes
• Write in a clear, concise style and be aware of accepted minuting conventions
• Use impartial and accurate descriptions that convey your content effectively and professionally
• Give your meeting notes that final polish before you send them

What our customers say

“I enjoyed this course very much. It was very informative and helpful, but in an engaging way. Thank you.”

Deanna Willis, Lancaster City Council

“Excellent course and very enjoyable.”

Peter Milnar, APACS

“This course has helped me to identify my problem with ‘minute taking’. It has also given me the confidence to produce better formatted minutes.”

Yuleeta Brimble, Quality Improvement Agency for Lifelong Learning

Course Duration

This course is a one-day, interactive workshop. We will discuss ways to strengthen listening, organisational and writing skills using typical examples.

Delegates will work together, contributing ideas and completing exercises to practise course content.

Follow up session

Get the most from a staff training day and make sure valuable ideas aren't forgotten by booking a follow-up session. Our trainer will visit you again a month to six weeks after your course to give delegates the chance to:

• discuss how they implemented what they learnt
• go over points from the course
• practise their skills by working on their own writing with the trainer’s help

Course Contents

1. What should good minutes achieve?

• What benefits do minutes bring to your organisation?
• What sort of minutes do you need to write?
• What does it all mean? – a glossary of meeting-related terms

2. Are you listening?

• Six ways to listen powerfully
• Six things that can break your concentration, and how to avoid them

3. Organisational hints, tips and tools

• Invent your own shorthand – abbreviations and shortcuts when note taking in longhand
• Note taker’s survival kit – the essentials to have at hand
• Importance of pre-meeting preparation
• Managing the meeting and the Chair – constructive ways to work together

4. What makes a good agenda?

• What is a meeting agenda?
• Setting and distributing your agenda
• What to include to help run the meeting effectively

5. The right minutes for your meeting – layout and style

• What you should and shouldn’t include – recognising facts from chatter
• More formal meetings like AGMs – votes, proposers, seconders, elections, resolutions
• Sample minutes for formal meetings
• Minuting informal meetings
• Sample minutes for an informal meeting
• Recording decisions and actions
• Creating an action summary

6. Techniques for writing good notes or minutes

• How to word minutes – active or passive, bullets or full sentences?
• Avoid wording that indicates bias
• Plain Words’ rules for good writing
• Making Word® work for you

7. Polishing your prose

• The paragraphs, the sentences, the words
• The grammar and punctuation
• Proofing – how to see what’s really there
• Commonly confused words
• Things that make some people cross!

Book Now!

For details of timetabled courses, see the schedule. For prices, see the costs table.

To reserve your places you can either book on-line or call us on +44 (0)1635 202013.