Keeping the minutes of the board meeting is time-consuming and requires special care. We need a talented person who knows how to perceive all the information flying around the meeting room and summarize it in a way that really conveys the atmosphere.
It’s easy to forget how important the minutes on the board are. They are a historical journal of decisions that future board members can refer to and are binding on the legal requirements of your organization. Being in legal trouble and having vague meeting minutes to go back to is not the situation you want to be in, while organizations with well-kept minutes can fall back on them when faced with legal issues. Although the minutes of the board meeting are very important, you need to know what to remember when preparing the minutes of the meeting.
What are meeting minutes?
The minutes of the meeting are a written record of the conversation and the decisions made during the meeting. Minutes of meetings apply to every group in the company, including board meetings where the parties involved include the board.
What is The Purpose of the Meeting Minutes?
Minutes – a document that records information about the course of meetings, decision-making in institutions by commissions, boards, advisory bodies, working groups, etc. The minutes are drawn up on the basis of records made directly during the meetings, submitted texts and abstracts of reports and speeches, certificates, draft decisions, etc. The minutes reflect all the statements on the issues under consideration and the decisions made as a result of the discussion.
Main Things to Consider When Writing Meeting Minutes
Date and Time of the Meeting
Before you start writing the minutes of the meeting, include the date and time of the meeting. It may not seem difficult, but it’s worth remembering because it’s so important to be able to go back to previous meetings and understand when they took place, what was accomplished, and what hasn’t been resolved yet.
Names of Participants
In the next step, the names of all participants and all other persons who could not attend are documented. There is usually some time at the beginning of the meeting to accept or change the minutes of the previous meeting so you can see who was last present to get a draft of the list of participants. Better yet, use a calendar invite to verify names when attendees join or enter the room.
The Purpose of the Meeting
It is very important that the “why” of this meeting is documented and made clear. In this part of the meeting minutes, try to explain in detail why this meeting was called and what it is trying to achieve. This is particularly useful for those who were unable to attend the session, as well as for those who use the results of that session for decision-making.
Agenda Items are Discussed
Try to use your meeting agenda as a general plan for meeting notes, and use each agenda item as a note-writing section, including any outcomes or major decisions made.
It is advisable to send the meeting agenda in advance so that everyone can make suggestions and contribute. It also means that nobody enters the room blindly, which is discussed.
Date and Place of the Next Meeting
If you keep formal meeting minutes, it’s important that meeting participants know when they will be invited to schedule the next meeting on that project or discussion topic.
So, let’s summarize:
We do not recommend drawing up a report at your own discretion, it is better to use the Standard Instruction on Record Keeping in ministries, other central and local executive bodies.
If there are difficulties with drawing up a protocol of any form, you can always seek advice from your own internal structural unit, which is determined to be responsible for document management.
Protocols need to be numbered. Minutes are numbered within a calendar year separately for each group of minutes of the meeting of the relevant commission.
In the protocol it is necessary to put both date of the protocol, and number of the protocol, and a place of carrying out.
We recommend prescribing “DECIDED” in the protocol, as the tender committee makes decisions.