Meetings and Minute-Taking
1 Day
Anyone who attends meetings regularly and needs to improve their efficiency and/or write minutes, including committee members, employee forum members, PAs, team leaders and managers.
Participants’ needs are identified throughout the programme so that individual processes, communication styles and obstacles are examined. By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:
- Understand the purpose of meetings and the duties of various office bearers
Know how to prepare well for a meeting to ensure it remains on track and meets set objectives - Identify typical problems that occur in meetings and know how to deal with these
- Know the purpose, structure and content of minutes and how to write suitable minutes
- Summarise long discussions effectively, extracting the essential points
- Structure a written meeting record which is concise, accurate and easy to read
Session 1: Meeting Procedures and Protocols
- Most common problems in meetings
- Critical requirements of successful meetings
- Understanding the purpose and importance of minutes
- The role of the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson
Session 2: The Role of the Secretary
- Duties and responsibilities of the Secretary/Minute-Taker
- Preparation and planning for meetings
- Clarifying meeting objectives and Agenda-setting
- The purpose of Minutes
Session 3: Executing the Secretary / Minute-Taker Role
- Convention-setting
- How to avoid time-wasting in meetings
- Typical problems related to minute-taking and how to overcome these
- Active Listening Skills
- Content and Structure of minutes
- Note-taking– tips and techniques
- Arranging information into a readable format, using appropriate language
- Distinguishing the salient points
- Summarising – writing concise, precise minutes
- Minute-writing terminology
- Documenting and ensuring action
- Evaluating whether your meeting had successful outcomes
Are you interested?
