Minute Taking is a skill that is needed for many Administration types of roles. In particular, PAs and Secretaries will need to be well versed as Minute Takers and will often need to use these skills at meetings. The main issues are that Minute Taking is key to important meetings being recorded. If you produce bad minutes all of the attendees at the highly important meetings will be made aware that you had an issue producing the Minutes. This is never good to get an image from important members of staff that you are not competent.

What are the key areas that you will need to develop to be able to deliver Minutes effectively? There is a range of skills needed to be brought together to be good at Minutes.

  • Research: The material of each meeting can differ and is often something that is complicated or technical. Therefore, you need to learn how best to research material. Make sure you get used to asking the Chair if necessary but also researching on the intranet, previous meetings and the internet.
  • Learn how to listen and take efficient notes: If you try to make a note of everything you will fail, so try to think what is the summary.
  • Learn how to influence and work with the Chair: You need to learn how to influence and work with the Chair. Ideally, the Chair will check that every point is agreed upon before the next point is addressed and make sure you are ready to finish.
  • Be assertive: Ensure that people are aware that you are at the meeting. It is good for your profile and also helps to ensure that the importance of getting the minutes is noticed by every party.
  • Interact with all parties: At times attendees may have valuable input so if you can access this data from them, it could help when writing up minutes.

Minute Taking Tips London

The Minutes are key to being able to succeed in an Admin role and you will need to develop these skills. The best way to enhance your Minute Taking skills is to practice in a classroom environment. Find out more about Minute Taking Workshops here at the One Day Minute Taking Course.