Signature Meeting Minutes Template Made Easy

How to write minute sign on desktop

hi everybody hope you're all doing well in this business english meetings lesson you'll learn everything you need to know about writing meeting minutes in english welcome back to english for professionals i'm derek and i'm here with another short lesson for you busy people before we get started just a quick reminder to subscribe to my channel hit the red button and click on the little bell that way you'll be notified every time i upload a new lesson and don't forget to join my email list every two weeks i send out my free vocabulary email with additional business english words from the news and everyday english for you to learn the link is in the description below and now let's get started with the lesson so in this lesson we're going to do four things first i'll show you my top tips for writing minutes then we look at a template and what to include after that we look at the type of language used to write the minutes and at the end of the lesson i'll give you some additional tips let's start with my top tips first tip keep it simple the minutes are not a word for word transcription of what was said in a meeting they are a concise summary of discussions had decisions made and actions agreed the second tip is to use bullet points bullet points make it easier for the reader to find important information tip number three ask for clarification if you miss or don't understand something tip four don't include unnecessary information the fifth tip be objective don't include personal opinion and finally be well prepared know the agenda and use a template to save time great now let's move on to the second part of the lesson where we look at our template and what to include so the first things on our template are the meeting objective who called it the date time and location then include the meeting agenda if you're wondering what aob stands for it's any other business and this is often the last item on the agenda and it gives the participants time to discuss any other important or relevant business in this section on the right we include the attendees present and absent and if it's a conference call it could also be relevant to include their location and before we move on to the next section i just want to mention that this is one version there are many other types of template and sometimes people include other things it really depends on your company or organization and the types of meetings you attend now let's look at the next section often at the start of a meeting the minutes from the last meeting are reviewed any changes made or important information relating to them can be noted here and next we have one of the most important parts of our template for each agenda item we have three sections notes where we make notes about the discussion make sure to have plenty of space here on your template much more space than you can see here then we have key decisions made where we make notes about the decisions again you need to have more space here and the last section is action items where we write down the action to be taken who it was assigned to the owner and here we use the initials and the date it should be completed by the deadline in the next part of our template we have items to be held over this section can be used to make notes about things that come up in the meeting but are not related to the meeting it may be necessary to arrange a separate meeting if many items are held over next we have any other business and this part should have the same three sections as each agenda item at the end of our notes it's a good idea to have a summary of the key decisions made and i haven't included it here but you could also include a summary of the action points finally if a follow-up meeting was agreed on the date time and location should be included here a link to this template is included in the video description excellent so that's our template and what to include now let's take a look at the type of language used to write the minutes these are some of the most common verbs used to make notes you can find this list in the video description below and now let's take a look at some of those verbs in example notes ts pointed out that competition was getting tougher and requested an increase in the marketing budget pw presented last month's figures and underlined the importance of having a motivated sales team hw explained the reasons for the increase in customer complaints bn asked for more details about the new production line rf expressed concern about the reliability of our new supplier to express concern about is another way to say that someone is worried or unsure about something gd recommended hiring an external consultant to support us in the upcoming crm project the verb recommend is often followed by a gerund or ing form wl complained about the lack of communication within the it department tr reminded us about the necessity of increasing our social media presence notice how all of the notes are written using the past simple form great now let's look at some different ways to write about key decisions made a vote was taken and the proposal was approved by three to one it was decided that the marketing budget will be increased by 10 percent it was agreed that the current supplier screening policy needs to be reviewed the budget for 2021 was finalized please see attach document the guidelines for the new recruitment drive were defined see attachment alex henders was selected to lead the erp project notice that the past simple passive form is used in each example we form this by using was or where followed by the third form of the verb the past participle excellent now let's look at how to write the action points here are some verbs which are often used in action points this list is also included in the video description and now let's look at some of those verbs in some example action points review current supplier screening policy draw up guidelines for using the new software to draw up means to prepare and write something such as a document or a plan contact ben walters and ask for a better price update website with new branding order 10 new printers find out when den core are launching their new model reserve conference room at itb trade show notice that all action points start with a verb in the infinitive form and now we'll go back to our template for a moment and try it out rf expressed concern about the reliability of our new supplier now there would probably be additional notes made on this agenda item this is just one example it was agreed that the current supplier screening policy needs to be reviewed review current supplier screening policy e september 22nd so we're almost at the end of our lesson but before we finish here are some additional tips which you might find helpful at the end of the meeting complete your notes and clarify points if necessary proofread carefully even ask a colleague who speaks better english if needed send the draft to the meeting leader before sharing with other attendees especially for most formal meetings such as board of directors or committee meetings and finally try to send out the minutes as soon as possible to let everyone know their next projects or actions so that brings us to the end of another lesson i hope you found it helpful and if there are any other areas of business english i can help you with let me know in the comments and i'll do my best to cover them in an upcoming lesson if you like this lesson hit the like button and share with your friends and colleagues subscribe to my channel if you haven't done that already and don't forget to join my email list every two weeks i send out my free vocabulary email with additional business english words from the news and everyday english for you to learn the link is in the description below thanks a lot for watching and see you soon