Minute taking is a key to any Administrators career. Secretaries, PAs and Admin Assistants should look towards developing this skill. The skills of being a good minute taker are not that easy to master. You should realistically be able to go into any type of meeting and take accurate minutes.

Why is this so important?

Minutes are generally taken at more important meetings, which will mean that many influential and senior managers will attend the meeting. Therefore, this may be one of the few times that your profile is raised within your company. At this point, you will be in a room with the most important people in your company and when you publish your minutes all of the eyes are on you.
If you fail to take good minutes or the minutes are inaccurate or lacking relevance, it can be detrimental to your image and career. However, you can gain a lot, when you appear in control and deliver good quality minutes.

What should I do?

Develop a relationship with the Chair of the meeting: A good chair will work with the minute taker, but all too often they don’t help the minute taker at all. There should be a mode of communication established between the Chair and Minute Taker to ensure that you are clear on the main point as you move on.

Develop an agenda and a plan of the meeting: Ensure that you have a structure to the meeting on an agenda. This is the basis of ensuring the meeting runs to schedule and keeps to the point. However, you can use it to summarise your minutes to the key important points.

Research: You must research everything in the meeting fully. So any new subject matter, the background of the meeting and any other items need full understanding and research to get to grips with any discussion before the meeting. It is a great confidence builder if you are feeling uncertain.

Establish yourself in the meeting room: Make sure that you are visible in the meeting and have a presence so that people ensure that they interact with you and ensure that you get the important points.

Minute Taking Skills

Minute Takers have many key skills. This gives you more of a focus on how to prepare and conduct yourself in the meeting. Find out more about Minute Taking on this page.