The Minute Taker’s Phrasebook

These are the phrases I use. They are not elegant. They have been through enough committees to stop causing arguments, which matters more.

One test runs through all of it: if I would not be happy reading a line out to the person it is about, with them sitting there, I rewrite it before it leaves my screen.

I have grouped them by what is happening in the room. Jump to whichever one you need:

Recording a decision

Write down what was decided, not how the meeting got there.

  • It was resolved that the budget for the coming year be approved as circulated.
  • Members agreed to postpone the review until the September meeting.
  • The committee approved the revised policy, subject to the amendment at paragraph 4.
  • It was agreed in principle that the work should proceed, with costings to be brought back.

I avoid “everyone seemed happy with” and “the general feeling was”. If it was a decision, write it as one. If it was not, do not let it look like one.

Recording a discussion

Most of what gets said does not need to go in. Give the shape of it rather than the exchange.

  • A discussion followed regarding the timing of the works.
  • Members raised concerns about staffing levels during the transition.
  • Views were expressed on both sides, and the item was carried forward for further consideration.
  • The Chair invited comments, and several members spoke in support of the proposal.
  • Members noted the report. No decision was required.

I do not record who said what unless it matters formally or someone asks. Name people in a routine discussion and the minutes turn into a transcript, and everyone is careful in the next meeting.

Noted, agreed and approved are not interchangeable. Noted means it was reported and nothing was decided, and saying so plainly stops anyone reading a decision into it later.

Reports and papers

Most agenda items are somebody presenting something. These four lines cover nearly all of them.

  • The report was taken as read.
  • The finance report for the quarter was received.
  • JB gave a verbal update on the recruitment, a written report to follow in November.
  • A paper was tabled at the meeting setting out the revised figures.
  • The report was received and the Chair thanked SP for preparing it.

Received sits below noted: the committee has the paper, and no view has been expressed either way. Taken as read means only that nobody read it aloud. Neither of them says anybody agreed with it.

Actions

Every action should have an owner and, wherever possible, a deadline. This is the one that goes wrong first.

  • Action: JB to circulate the draft report to members by 14 October.
  • Action: The Chair to write to the landlord requesting a response before the next meeting.
  • Action: SP to obtain three quotations and bring them to the November meeting.

“Someone to look into this” is not an action. If the meeting did not name an owner, I write that down too: “No owner was identified.” It tends to get sorted the following month.

Declarations of interest

Worth getting exactly right. It is one of the first things anyone looks for.

  • AT declared an interest in item 6 as a director of the contracting company, and left the room for the duration of the item.
  • RM declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 4 and remained in the meeting but took no part in the decision.
  • No interests were declared.

Three things are normally worth capturing: who, in what, and what they then did. “AT declared an interest” on its own does not say whether they stayed, spoke or voted.

Motions, proposers and amendments

More formal committees run on motions. If yours does, the record needs to show who put it and what happened to it.

  • The motion was proposed by AB and seconded by CD.
  • An amendment was proposed by EF, seconded by GH, to insert “before 31 March” at the end of the motion.
  • The amendment was put to the vote and carried. The substantive motion, as amended, was then put and carried.
  • The motion fell for want of a seconder.
  • The motion was withdrawn with the agreement of the meeting.
  • The Chair ruled the item out of order, the matter not being within the committee’s remit.

The wording of a motion goes in the minutes exactly as it was put, not tidied up. If it was amended in the room, I write out the final version in full rather than describing the change, because that is the version anyone will need to quote later.

Disagreement and votes

People are often entitled to have their disagreement recorded, and refusing looks like hiding it.

  • The motion was carried, with four in favour, one against and one abstention.
  • The motion was carried nem con.
  • DH asked that his dissent be recorded.
  • The Chair exercised her casting vote in favour of the motion.

Nem con means without dissent: nobody voted against. That is not quite the same as unanimous. If I am unsure which applies, I count the room and write the numbers instead.

Attendance, and people coming and going

Dull, and one of the parts most likely to get checked afterwards.

  • Apologies were received from LG and MW.
  • PD joined the meeting at 10.15, during item 3.
  • KN left the meeting at 11.40 and took no part in items 7 and 8.
  • BR was present for items 1 to 5 only.

I put the item number as well as the time. “Left at 11.40, during item 7” answers the question people are actually asking.

Online and hybrid meetings

Some of these meetings are now entirely online, and the record has to do a job the room used to do: who was actually there, and whether they were there for the vote.

  • The meeting was held online, all members attending by video.
  • The meeting was held in the boardroom, with PD and SR attending by video link.
  • The Chair confirmed that all members could see and hear one another before the first item was taken.
  • GT lost connection at 11.20 and rejoined at 11.28, taking no part in the vote on item 6.
  • The Chair lost connection at 11.05, and the Vice-Chair took the chair until she rejoined at 11.12.
  • The meeting was adjourned for ten minutes owing to a failure of the video conferencing platform.
  • The vote was taken by roll call, each member confirming their vote in turn.
  • Members were advised that the meeting was being recorded to assist with the preparation of the minutes, and that the recording would be deleted once the minutes were approved.

A roll call vote is worth the extra minute online. A show of hands on a screen full of thumbnails is not a count, and it is the vote most likely to be queried afterwards.

Quoracy

Some constitutions require more than a minimum headcount: a chair, sometimes a named role, sometimes someone independent. A meeting can be busy and still not be quorate.

  • The Chair confirmed the meeting was quorate before the first item was taken.
  • The meeting was quorate throughout.
  • The meeting was not quorate, and the items requiring a decision were deferred to 21 October.
  • Quoracy was lost at 12.05, and no further decisions were taken.
  • Items 7 and 8 were discussed but not decided, the meeting no longer being quorate.

I check the constitution rather than assuming a headcount is enough. If quoracy goes partway through, say what happened to the rest of the agenda, or everything after that point reads as a decision.

Decisions taken outside the meeting

Things get decided between meetings, by the chair, by email, or by a sub-committee. Those decisions belong in the record too.

  • The Chair reported that she had taken Chair’s action to approve the expenditure, the matter being too urgent to await this meeting. The committee ratified the decision.
  • A written resolution circulated on 3 September was approved by all members, and is recorded here for completeness.
  • The decision taken by email on 2 August was confirmed.
  • It was agreed to delegate authority to the Finance Sub-Committee to settle the final figure, within the budget already approved.
  • The recommendations of the Sub-Committee were received and adopted.

Ratified and confirmed are the words that matter here. They say the committee has adopted a decision it did not itself take, which is what makes the decision defensible later.

Confidential and closed items

Where minutes are circulated widely, sensitive items usually sit in a separate confidential set, with the main minutes recording only that it happened.

  • The Chair moved that the meeting go into closed session for item 9. Members agreed.
  • The item was considered in camera and is recorded in the confidential minutes.
  • Members of the public and press withdrew for the following item.
  • The confidential minutes of the previous meeting were approved and signed.

The main minutes record that the item happened and where it is recorded. They do not summarise it, or the separate set has no purpose.

Opening and closing

The frame. Worth knowing by heart, so you can write it without thinking and listen instead.

  • The Chair opened the meeting at 10.00 and welcomed members.
  • The minutes of the meeting held on 12 June were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
  • There were no matters arising not otherwise covered on the agenda.
  • There being no further business, the Chair closed the meeting at 12.20.
  • The next meeting will be held on 14 November at 10.00.

“Approved as a correct record” is the formula. It is the moment last month’s draft stops being a draft.

The previous minutes, and matters arising

The item that comes up every single meeting, and the one where your own work gets corrected in public.

  • The minutes of the meeting held on 12 June were approved as a correct record, subject to a correction at item 5, where “September” should read “October”.
  • JB asked that the minutes record that she had left the meeting before item 8. The minutes were amended accordingly and signed by the Chair.
  • Under matters arising, the Clerk reported that the letter at minute 24/15 had been sent and a reply was awaited.
  • All other matters arising were covered elsewhere on the agenda.
  • There were no matters arising.

A correction changes the draft before it is approved. It does not rewrite minutes approved months ago: if something is wrong in those, the fix goes in the current minutes and the old ones stay as they are.

Any other business

Where a tidy meeting goes wrong in the last five minutes.

  • There was no other business.
  • The Chair agreed to take the item as urgent business, the matter having arisen after the agenda was issued.
  • AB raised the question of the car park. The Chair asked that it be brought forward as an agenda item for the next meeting.
  • The matter was raised under any other business and referred to the Sub-Committee.

If a decision is taken under AOB, I minute it in the ordinary way and say that it was taken under any other business, so the record shows how it came about.

Welcomes, thanks and condolences

Short, formulaic, and people mind about them more than about anything else on this page.

  • The Chair welcomed AB to her first meeting of the committee.
  • The Chair welcomed MW, attending as an observer for item 4.
  • The committee recorded its thanks to CD for six years of service, and wished her well.
  • The Chair reported the death of Mr J Ellis, a former member, and members stood in silence.
  • The committee’s congratulations were recorded.

Get the name and the number of years right. This is the paragraph that gets read out, forwarded, and kept.

If you are just starting

Take the meeting minutes template, which lays out the sections these phrases go into, and the first meeting checklist to keep beside you on the day.

If it is a word rather than a phrase you are stuck on, quorum, nem con, tabled, received against noted, that is the glossary of meeting terms.

For the harder situations there is more on sensitive HR meetings, on AGMs that stop being straightforward, and on recording actions properly.

If a phrase you need is not here, tell me and I will add it.

– Erin