Minute taking

A half-day workshop

Meetings are a fact of working life – both virtual and physical meetings. Recording the key points from meetings is critical to making sure that accurate information is captured, and action points are clearly identified and allocated.
This virtual training session will support members of staff to develop their skills in recording the key points from meetings and discussions.

Learning objectives

This course will help participants:

  • Describe the different levels of note taking and pick the appropriate style for the meeting
  • Prepare to take minutes in the virtual and the physical environment
  • Liaise and work in partnership with the meeting Chair
  • Use a template to enable the capturing of key points
  • Set up the room ready for the meeting
  • Identify key points to record, versus what not to record
  • Interrupt the meeting confidently to check key points
  • Take neutral, accurate and concise records
  • Produce a well-laid out set of minutes.

Who should attend?

This practical course is suitable for anyone responsible for taking minutes and notes of formal meetings where accurate records are required (eg, local authority council and committee meetings, workplace investigations, etc).

Format

A very practical, interactive 3-hour session, usually delivered via Zoom or Teams, featuring case studies, practise activities and formal inputs from the trainer.

Expert trainer

Miranda has more than twenty years’ experience as an independent learning and development consultant and trainer.

She started her career working within the Management Development Unit of the Printing and Publishing Industry Training Board, moving on to a role in the Probation Office’s learning and development team before leaping across into financial services, where she was responsible for the Learning and Development of a major high street lender. In 1992 she started her own learning and development consultancy. Working with a range of clients – public sector, private sector and VCSE – Miranda’s expertise is in helping organisations to identify learning gaps, and to develop tailored, creative and relevant strategies for meeting these needs with a view to helping organisations to meet their objectives.

In addition to her professional role, Miranda is also very involved in local community development activities. She is Chair of a local homelessness charity and has been instrumental in developing and facilitating community leadership programmes in both Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
See what programme participants have said about Miranda’s training:

‘Superb. Clear, warm, engaging – and very well informed.’
‘Engaging and pitched very appropriately for the audience today.’
‘Great.’
‘Lively, focused, keeps it interesting.’
‘Very funny and enthusiastic.’
‘Excellent presentation style.’
‘Super.’
‘Excellent.’
‘FAB!’
‘A lot of fun.’
‘Miranda is very engaging, warm and welcoming, great trainer.’
‘She is absolutely lovely!’
‘Very bubbly manner and clearly deeply knowledgeable about her subject.’
‘Very personable and engaging.’
‘Very friendly, warm and well informed. Knows her stuff’

Feedback

See what programme participants have said about this workshop:

‘Very informative and useful with great tips and tricks for anyone who struggles or who will be required to take minutes, or even those who thought they knew how to do it’

1 Introduction

  • Objectives and overview
  • Introductions and personal aims

2 An introduction to minutes

  • Purpose and use
  • Different levels of notetaking

3 Preparing to take minutes

  • Identifying the purpose of the meeting
  • Working with the Chair
  • Tips and techniques to prepare effectively
  • Case studies, review and discussion
  • The physical environment: setting up for a meeting

4 Listening and recording

  • Tips and techniques to make the process easier
  • How to interrupt a meeting
  • What to record; what to leave out
  • Recording in short-form using playscript and bullet-points
  • Listening neutrally
  • Activity: Minuting a Meeting
  • The tricky ones and how to overcome problems in the meeting

5 Preparing the minutes

  • Producing a set of draft minutes
  • Tips on grammar, punctuation and layout
  • Stylistic variation
  • Managing feedback from the Chair

6 Review

  • Summary of key learning points
  • Action planning

Any questions? Please just give us a call on 01582 463463 – we’re here to help!