Free Meeting Minutes Template
This is the exact template I use, every meeting, without exception. Attendees, decisions, actions, next steps, laid out so I’m not thinking about structure while someone’s still talking.
Duplicate it for each meeting and save it under the meeting name and date. No signup, no email required.
What’s in it
- Meeting details: date, time, chair, who took the minutes
- Attendees and apologies
- Decisions, one line each
- Actions, with an owner and a deadline for each
- Next meeting date
- A circulation record, so there’s a clear trail of who approved what
Why I still use this
After years taking minutes in rooms where the stakes were real, this is what’s left once everything unnecessary got stripped away. It’s not clever. It just means I never have to think about the shape of the document, only what’s actually being said.
If you’re brand new to this, my quick-reference checklist covers what to do in the room itself. This is what I open once I’m there.
Hope it’s as useful for you as it has been for me.
– Erin
More on getting the minutes right
- I’ve been asked to take minutes and I’ve never done it before — what to do in your first meeting.
- Recording meeting actions properly — how to fill in the actions section so it still makes sense a month later.
- Can’t hear what was said? — poor audio, unclear speakers and automated transcripts.
- Taking minutes in sensitive HR meetings — recording difficult conversations neutrally.
- AGM minutes — motions, amendments and votes, and being certain what was agreed.
- How long do meeting minutes take to complete?
Everything else is on the blog.