Tips and Vocabulary Guide for Writing English Meeting Minutes

Now we're going to look at the language you'll need to write the minutes of meetings. Let's start with vocabulary. And honestly, when you're reporting on what happens in a meeting, you could probably use just three or four verbs over and over again. But after a while, you'll feel the need to add a little variety, so I'm going to show you common words and a few synonyms. Notice that a lot of these verbs can also be nouns. Like for example, gave a report. How to discussion. Made a suggestion or decision. But in meeting minutes, just use the verbs. It's more concise. The tricky thing is knowing what words and structures follow common verbs. For example, after the verb report, you can use a preposition on and a noun for a topic. Like, she reported on sales. And if you report specific information or an event, then you'd use a clause with a subject and verb. For example, she reported that sales are up this year. Reported on sales during the holidays. Reported that sales were up 7%. A simple verb like discuss can be followed by a noun. Like they discussed the new location. Discuss the problem. Discuss whether, when, how to remodel. Discuss whether they should remodel. Please note that we say talk about something but we don't use about after the word discuss. If there's a decision involved, it's very common to use discuss with a wh word like whether or how followed by an infinitive. They discussed whether to open a new store. Or they discussed when to close the east side store. And then if the subject of the action is important, like we're deciding about what someone else should do, then we use the longer noun clause with a subject and verb. So here's an example. They discussed whether Tina should do some research. As you look at this vocabulary, pay attention to these words and forms that go together. Here's some additional ways to say report. The word announced is slightly different because it means to give news to report on something that no one expected. Give an update on the remodel. Showed us a report on sales in the first quarter. Presented information on the number of visitors. Explain the problem. Explain that Starbucks is next door now. Told the team about the results. Told the team that competition is hurting sales. Announce the decision. Announce the decision that everyone will get a raise. Here's some additional words for discussions. If you use the word debate, it emphasizes that there were different points of view or some controversy. Considered whether how to compete with Godiva. Debated whether how to compete. Agreed on the location. Agreed to do more research. Agreed that a remodel is a good idea. These are very common nouns that you see in minutes of meetings. The word problem or challenge indicates that the team is looking for a solution. The word issue often means that there's a topic that's been discussed before or is difficult to find a solution for. And the last words alternative and options indicate that there's a choice. Discuss the problem. Challenge of how to redesign the store. Discuss, raise the issue of whether to remodel or not. Discuss, look at consider alternatives, options for competing. In meetings, people often discuss positives and negatives of different options. Here's some common nouns that signal whether something is positive or negative. And we often say the first ones is a pair. For example, we looked at the costs and benefits of the project. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each location. A drawback is a negative and we often use it after discussing positives. For example, one drawback is the high rents in the area. Risk means that there's a possibility of a serious negative outcome. And it's usually followed with information about that possibility. For example, the risk is that the cost of chocolate will increase. We also often say run the risk of, like we run the risk of being too expensive for the market. If you have a list, here's some ways to introduce the items. We use the following before another word, like here with the following points or the following documents. But sometimes we just say the following. The team discussed the following. You can also say below before a list. In speaking, we would say the list is below. But it's very common in writing to begin the sentence with below is or below are.