Common Issues and Writing Tips for English Meeting Minutes

Here, frequently asked questions about writing minutes. Should I use personal or impersonal subjects? I mean, should I say we decided and use the names of people who said things? Also, if I use names, should I just use first names or both first and last? Well, that's a great question. My answer is that it really depends. Who's reading the minutes? Is it just your team? Because then you can use we and mention people by first name, although be careful not to give too much detail. But are you sending it to a larger group like people in other departments of your company? Or is it for top management? Then you'd want to be more formal. Say the team decided instead of we decided. And give complete names in the list of attendees. As I said earlier, look at previous meeting minutes to help you understand what's expected in your organization.

What verb tense should I use when I report what someone says? That's another good question. But remember, don't get into a he said, she said, kind of report. Focus on the information. You can usually use the same verb tense that the speaker used in the meeting or whatever makes sense at the time you write the minutes. I'll show you with two examples. First, here's Eric. The remodel is finished at the North Lake store. The media campaign announcing our grand reopening is already starting. As a matter of fact, there's going to be an ad in the weekly tomorrow morning. Here's one more example. Let's say that Karen came to the meeting and said, I have great news. Everyone will be getting a raise on July 1st. So your old grammar book would tell you to shift the verb to the past form. But in the minutes, you're focusing on real time. How does the information relate to your reader right now? So you can use the same verb she used. Incidentally, when I was writing this example with the verbs announced in the past tense and will get in the future, the grammar check in my Microsoft word told me it was incorrect. So be aware that it's your decision and not determined by traditional grammar rules.

I think it's not good to use passive voice when you write, but I see passive voice all the time in minutes. Is it okay to use passive voice? Actually, passive voice is quite common in minutes, partly because the person who did something is an important or possibly not known. Here's some examples. Look at the two sentences. Both are possible for minutes. The verb in number one is active, and the verb in number two is passive. So which one seems more formal? Did you say number two? I agree. Sentence two seems more formal because of the passive, and also because we didn't use Karen's name. It's not as personal. The level of formality depends on your company or team.

Is it okay to use lists in meetings or should I write complete sentences in paragraphs? Oh, lists are great because they save the reader time. Try to be consistent with lists. For example, all noun phrases or all verb phrases in each item. In the first example here, things that need research are all noun phrases. The action items are all verb phrases.

Okay, so it's time to put all this together. Your task now is to watch a meeting at Renere chocolates and write minutes. At the end, you'll compare your minutes with Tina's. First, here's the agenda of the meeting at Renere chocolates. Read it, and then watch the video of the meeting. As you watch, take notes to use when you write the minutes. And you can listen more than once. Okay, everyone. Thanks for coming. So we're going to get updates on a few things. Neal is going to give us the first quarter sales figures, and Eric has an update on the North Lake remodel. The rest of the meeting is devoted to the decision about our location for the new store. Tina is going to show us the results of their market analysis. Consumer survey. Right, consumer survey. And then we'll have time for discussion. And I hope we'll be able to reach an agreement today about the location.