Sample Minutes

Preparing minutes following a meeting can be beneficial for several reasons. The minutes help members who were not present at the meeting to catch up on what they missed. Minutes also help participants to remember to complete follow-up action items prior to the next meeting. In addition, the meeting leader can utilize the minutes from the previous meeting to help build an agenda for the next meeting. Minutes can also help officer transition go smoothly, as officers have a historical account of the activities from the previous year.

Given the important role that minutes play in an organization, following are a few tips for preparing effective minutes:

• Develop a system of shorthand that works best for you as you are taking notes during the meeting. That way you don't miss important details while trying to write out everything word for word. It's probably best to try to summarize the meeting. If the nature of the meeting requires careful dictation, you may want to consider taping the meeting.
• Use the meeting agenda as a guide for organizing the minutes.
• Try to summarize discussions in a succinct manner, making sure to include important details such as dates, deadlines, action items, etc. The best way to determine how much to include is to ask yourself the information you would need to know if you had missed the meeting.
• Once you have completed the minutes, run spell check and read through the minutes to make sure there are no errors.
• When you distribute the minutes, encourage people to let you know if any revisions are necessary. If you receive responses, be sure to distribute the final copy that includes all the revisions.

Below are minutes from various committees and organizations across campus. Feel free to use the samples as a guide for preparing your minutes.

DSL Expanded Staff Minutes