18 July 2012,
- Hotel Grand Pacific, Singapore

Introduction

Many of us have been tasked to take minutes of meetings although we may not be a secretary or personal assistant. Any person who attends a meeting will be asked to take up this important task.

Accurate minutes of meetings are an essential for any successful organisation. If you are the one who has to record the minutes of a meeting, you are probably well aware of how challenging this process can be.

During the meeting, you need to listen actively for important points to record. You must know the difference between the relevant and the irrelevant, plus differentiate between the nice-to-know and the need-to-know. This is particularly challenging when a discussion is lively and issues are highly contentious.

After the meeting, when you begin compiling your notes, you must first consider the type of minutes you are writing. Are they narrative or action minutes? What are the special considerations for each type? How do you avoid the common mistakes and pitfalls when you write them? On top of it all, you need to be sure that your language is clear and concise, and accurately portrays the issues discussed.