Meeting Minutes Tasks Checklist

This Meeting Minutes checklist covers those tasks you need to complete before, during and after the meeting if you are taking the minutes.

The first thing you need to do is to liaise with the meeting chair so that you know the objective of the meeting as well as the date, time and location. You should also ensure that you have a list of the invitees and any confirmations of attendance and apologies for absence.

Find out if any individuals not attending the meeting require an authorized copy of the minutes. If so, then get details of emails so that you can send these out in a timely fashion. You should also agree the timescale of when the final minutes are required following the meeting.

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Arrive in plenty of time to ensure the room is set up so that you can easily perform your role. Ensure that your seat is positioned to that you can easily identify and hear each speaker and the chair. Have a copy of the meeting agenda clearly visible so that you can easily refer to it and ensure that you have sufficient space to store list of attendee's, new briefing material used in the meeting.

Agree how the chair will indicate to you that a point should be minuted or an action defined and allocated. Throughout the meeting accurately record all salient points made under the appropriate agenda item. Leave spaces between agenda items in case it is returned to or you are asked to record a point under a specific item rather than when it arose in the discussion.

For ease you may want to highlight:
• Key points the chair has specifically indicated he or she wanted recorded.
• Descriptions of action points including responsibilities and timeframes.

Get initial draft of final minutes to chair for their approval within timescale agreed prior to meeting and gain agreement with chair on any material distributed during the meeting that should also be circulated with the minutes.

Once you have an agreed set of minutes from the meeting send them to all attendees, those who apologized and anyone authorized for a copy of the minutes.