Writing meeting minutes is crucial when we don’t have to rely on our brains alone. Statistics show that 40% of managers spend more of their working week on meetings; hence, it is crucial that writing meeting minutes will surely boost your scalability and streamline productivity.
Various issues may occur that will make you forget this fact of writing meeting minutes, which is why, without proper meeting minutes, all important details discussed will not be remembered. Meeting minutes are records that keep your team aligned and proactive, to increase productivity.
In this guide, we will talk about everything you need to know about how to write meeting minutes, form preparation steps, and using AI-powered tools like Plaud Note to ease your work, and you will find templates and examples that will help boost your decision-making in order not to fall short.
What are meeting minutes?
They serve as the formal written record of the decisions, discussions, and assignments made during a meeting. Think of them like the paper trail or, more recently, the digital trail that ensures the team stays in sync. Minutes are official and shareable, in contrast to informal meeting notes, which might be disorganized and personal.
The key components of an effective meeting minutes include:
- Meeting details (date, time, location, attendees)
- Agenda items and discussion
- Decisions and votes
- Action items with owners and due dates
- Significant announcements or updates
- Date and time of the subsequent meeting
In contrast to transcripts that record every word, meeting minutes focus on the key information that participants need to recall and act upon. They fill a variety of roles: legal records, tracking accountability, and as a means of communication for those who were unable to attend.
What should you include when writing meeting minutes?
Back in the days when I was still new to this, my first minutes looked like a college essay, long paragraphs and texts, unimportant words, even a few jokes added in. Then my manager pulled me aside and said, “Minutes are to be read like a checklist, not a novel. You are not trying to be the next Napoleon Hill.” It hurt, but it changed the way I approached it forever.
Here’s what to include in effective meeting minutes:
- Date, time, and attendees: Start at the top. No exceptions. If people weren’t there, they need to know what they missed.
- Meeting purpose: What’s the goal? Clarify upfront so readers don’t scratch their heads.
- Agenda items: Break the minutes into sections matching the agenda. This makes it scannable.
- Key discussions: Capture the essence, not every word. Example: “Team discussed marketing budget concerns. Decision deferred until Q2.”
- Decisions made: Bold these if you can. People skim, and decisions are what they look for.
- Action items: The holy grail. Who’s doing what by when? Write it clearly: “John – finalize vendor contract by March 15.”
- Follow-ups: Track unresolved issues. That way, they don’t get lost in the shuffle.
- What to leave out
While tempted to document everything, effective meeting minutes should exclude:
- Verbatim conversation or detailed discussions
- Personal opinions or off-topic tangents
- Confidential information (other than specifically authorized)
- Repetitive or unnecessary points
At first, it's hard to keep it short. I discovered that I became more disciplined when I used bullet points rather than paragraphs. Furthermore, nobody has the time to read lengthy texts anyhow. You're most likely doing it correctly if your minutes resemble a brief grocery list.
How to create your meeting minute with AI？
Now imagine trying to keep up with fast talkers in meetings; you can’t do so, can you? I stopped breaking my wrist every time because I discovered this AI note-taker called Plaud Note. I remember one sales meeting where I was typing furiously, missed half the jokes (and key decisions), and my notes ended up being a mess. That was the last straw.
With Plaud Note, everything changed. Here’s my step-by-step:
1. Prepare for a productive meeting
Even before you open Plaud Note, make sure the meeting itself is going in the right direction. Send a definite purpose, send out a purposeful agenda, and capture the attendees at the top of your document. Trust me, this 5-minute prep saves hours of cleanup later.
2. Capture everything with Plaud Note
During the meeting, let the tech do the heavy lifting. Plaud Note records every word, so you’re not stressing about typing like a court stenographer. It’s like having a dedicated assistant whose only job is to listen.
3. Extract key information
This is where AI truly pays dividends. Post-meeting, Plaud Note spits out a transcript and an AI briefing. It's uncannily good at pulling out the high-level insights: decisions, tasks, and action items. What once took me an hour now takes five minutes.
4. Utilize your minutes and follow through
After you've got your clean, scannable minutes, don't just put them away. Share them right away. Make them tasks in your project management tool, assign ownership to them, and set deadlines. The magic of Plaud Note is that it makes action items stand out so you can turn them into real progress.
Meeting minutes template
Different kinds of meetings require personalized methods for documentation. Below are professional templates for common meeting scenarios:
Project meeting template
Meeting Type: Project Status Update
Purpose: Track progress, identify roadblocks, and resolve solutions
Template Structure:
[Project name and phase]
[Members and roles]
[Status update summary]
[Milestone report]
[Risk assessment]
[Resource allocation]
[Future steps and timelines]
Kick-off meeting template
Meeting Type: Project Initiation
Purpose: Orient team, define objectives, define scope
Template Structure:
[Project overview and purpose]
[Team member introduction and role]
[Scope and deliverables]
[Timeline and key milestones]
[Communication guidelines]
[Success criteria]
[Action items for first steps]
Standup meeting template
Meeting Type: Daily/Weekly Check-in
Objective: Align teamwork, determine blockers
Structure of Template:
[Last period's achievements]
[Priorities and areas of focus now]
[Blockers and help requests]
[Inter-team dependencies]
[Fast announcements]
[Scheduling next check-in]
The Plaud template community
You can make your template or use pre-made ones in Plaud's template community. The photo-to-template tool was fantastic. I just snapped a picture of a paper template I liked, and the program converted it into a reusable digital template.
Since templates are invaluable, especially for beginners, a vibrant template community offered by Plaud Note completely changes the way you manage meeting documentation. Sticky notes, sloppy bullet points, and disorganized Word documents were the reasons I kept going back to the wheel. Then it occurred to me: why not begin with a template?
Give these a try:
- Project Meeting Template: Great for tracking updates, blockers, and subsequent actions.
- Kickoff Meeting Template: Ideal for establishing expectations, setting goals, and defining roles.
- Standup Meeting Template: Quick daily check-ins with tasks and blockers.
Templates exhibit consistency rather than laziness. Your team will always know where to look for choices, attendance, and action items if they become accustomed to a particular structure. Your minutes are ten times more precious because of that regularity.
Meeting minutes best practices
You know good minutes are a skill. You will commit a million errors at the beginning: writing too much, not making decisions, not passing them along (oops). Along the way, I picked up a few best practices that saved me:
- Create an outline in advance: Don't wing it. Utilize the agenda as your guide.
- Check off attendees coming in: Prevents you from forgetting who showed up.
- Record decisions immediately: Otherwise, you'll forget who said what.
- Seek clarification: Better to interrupt once than to get it wrong on paper.
- Bite-sized chunks: Action items rather than stories.
- Centralize them: Google Drive, Notion, or your project tool. Somewhere, the team can access them.
The goal isn't just to make minutes, it's to get them read, understood, and executed. If people do something according to your minutes, you know you've done the right thing.
Conclusion
Successful meeting minutes can be drafted without worrying about it. The most crucial lessons learned are the value of being well-prepared, the use of AI tools such as Plaud Note to ensure precise recording, and above all, the utilization of your minutes as a basis for responsibility and action.
The next meeting you're in, don't just listen, document, share, and act!
FAQ
Do meeting minutes require approval?
Yes. Formal meetings also have them reviewed and signed off on at the next meeting to ensure it is correct.
What is the purpose of meeting minutes?
They provide an account of discussions, conclusions, and what's next, making everyone accountable and on course.
Why are they called minutes of a meeting?
The term "minutes" comes from the Latin minuta scriptura, or "small notes."
Who should write the meeting minutes?
Typically, the meeting organizer, secretary, or assigned note-taker. This can be automated using AI tools.
