Meeting Minutes: Templates and Examples

Meetings! The bane of work life. The reason we say “this could have been an email.” But we just can’t get rid of them because it turns out... they’re actually useful? You can actually get more done, quicker, when you have everyone in the same room (virtually or in person) to talk through current issues and come to an agreement.

Sadly, most employees dread meetings because of the tendency they have to go on forever without concrete decisions ever being made. New research from Guru and Loom found nearly half of people feel more than 40% of their time spent in video calls is wasteful. That happens when we go into meetings without a plan and don’t use a meeting minutes template to guide discussions and keep everyone on track.

So, how do you ensure attendees don’t go off on a tangent without being too strict? In this article, we’ll show you how to create a plan for your meeting, how to take meeting minutes and store them in a central repository that’s accessible to everyone.

What are meeting minutes?

Meeting minutes are an official summary of important conversations and decisions that take place during a meeting. They are also referred to as minutes of meeting (MOM).

Meeting minutes are a crucial internal communication tool that helps in the following ways:

• Employees who couldn’t attend the meeting stay informed of the latest updates.
• Actions or decisions recorded in the minutes can act as a plan for the near future, helping your team stay focused on their goals.
• In some scenarios, meeting minutes provide legal protection to the organization since they are an official record of how company decisions were made and by whom.

You can use meeting minutes for any type of meeting, whether it is between employees and leadership or external stakeholders.

What should be included in meeting minutes?

Basic details like names, date, time, and location

At the top of the meeting minutes, include basic information such as where the meeting will take place, when, and the list of attendees. Adding these details helps you find the minutes faster in the future.

Purpose of the meeting

Set a clear purpose or objective for the meeting. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but it should provide a clear goal.

For example, “Review financial report for June” can be the purpose of a meeting. You will likely discuss many related topics during the meeting, such as what your team spent or where they could have saved resources.

Agenda for the meeting

Your agenda refers to the key points to be discussed during the meeting.

Your meeting agenda items should be in the following order:

• Minutes from the previous meeting
• Reports/analytics
• Urgent or time-sensitive matters
• Incomplete tasks, goals, and talking points from the previous meeting
• General discussion
• New goals, tasks, or action items

You don’t have to follow this order strictly. It’s a starting point for your meeting minutes.

Action items

Action items are tasks or activities that need to be worked on after the meeting. Some action items have strict deadlines. Others are more vague, such as “to be completed before the next meeting.”

A few tips to guide you when writing your action items:

• Be concise and clearly define the action. “Write content” is a bad example. Instead, use “Write an article on meeting minutes.”
• Each action item must be assigned to an attendee so that it gets completed
• If an item has a due date, clearly document it
• Your action items don’t need to be detailed; the assignee can note down specifics
• Follow up on action items to ensure they are completed; address incomplete items at the next meeting

Next meeting date and time 

Near the end of the meeting, the attendees should decide when and where to hold the next meeting. 

You should note the date, time, and place for this future meeting in your minutes. Avoid phrases like “a week from now” or “next Tuesday.” Always use the actual date and time.

Documents to be included as part of the report

Any documents that were relevant to the meeting, such as reports and presentations, must be added to the meeting minutes. 

Your team can refer back to these documents when needed. If you use a knowledge management tool like Guru, you can easily find these documents with the robust search function.

Pro tips for better meetings 

Before the meeting

Determine the agenda for the meeting

The top 5 problems with meetings include: 

• Status updates
• Going off topic
• Lack of preparation
• No clear takeaways
• Time management

A well-defined agenda alleviates all of these issues and helps you run efficient meetings.

Your agenda explicitly outlines the main points to be discussed during the meeting. It keeps everyone on track, highlights crucial topics, and reduces time-wasting.

Harvard Business Review suggests framing agenda topics as questions and listing the most important topics first.  The agenda must include the list of attendees and any supporting documents necessary for the meeting.

Create an outline of the topics to be discussed

Your agenda is a brief overview that helps you create a detailed outline of each item under the main topics. An outline makes it easier to record notes and decisions related to each agenda item. 

While it’s recommended to use an online meeting minutes template, many people still use a notebook. If you’re writing down notes by hand, leave space after each item to fill out during the meeting.

Share talking points with attendees before the meeting 

Share crucial talking points with all meeting attendees in advance to help them understand what is expected of them so they’re better prepared. This way, discussions are more productive.

During the meeting

Use a meeting minutes template

A simple tactic that streamlines note-taking is to use a meeting minutes template.  The template is a predetermined format that makes it easier for you to create an agenda and outline important topics.

Consider using a recording device

Since meetings can move through many topics and decisions quickly, consider recording the meeting on your mobile phone or recording device. Recordings can help you create more accurate and detailed meeting minutes. It’s important to let attendees know that you’re recording them beforehand. 

Record attendance

The notetaker should arrive earlier than everyone else. For board meetings, the notetaker is usually the board secretary.  For team meetings, a project coordinator, assistant, or any attendee can be the note taker.

The notetaker can check off every attendee’s name as they enter the room or video call. Alternatively, you can circulate an attendance list before the meeting starts. Attendees can mark their names on the list and correct any information if needed.

Take minutes in real-time

Using your agenda as an outline, write down discussion points and decisions as they happen in real-time. When information is fresh in your mind, it enables better note-taking.

Add context so it’s easy to understand

Create a balance between getting straight to the point and adding enough context for absentees to understand. Your notes should also be useful for future reference.

Remove personal observations

Never add personal notes to the meeting minutes. You can take your own notes separately, but the meeting minutes should be a factual and unbiased record.

Only capture essential details

During the meeting, focus on capturing essential points, action items, and decisions in your minutes. You can add extra details or clarifying notes after the meeting is completed.

Record decisions

To ensure maximum accuracy, note down action items and crucial decisions within your outline as they occur.

Use digital format so it’s easy to share 

Since meeting minutes are a record of what happened during the meeting, it’s easier to save and share when it’s in a digital format such as note-taking on your computer.

After the meeting

Proofread

Once the meeting ends, proofread the minutes for grammar errors. Expand on acronyms the first time they are used, maintain consistent formatting, and provide clarifications.

Distribute the meeting minutes

The notetaker is in charge of distributing the meeting minutes. Online sharing is the fastest way to disseminate information. If you use a platform like Guru to store your meeting minutes template, then you can easily send a link to the document when it’s ready and all relevant employees will be notified.

Store or file the minutes

Some organizations store their meeting minutes on an external hard drive, print them out to store in a physical folder, or use online software such as Google Docs. The best storage method is an internal communications software such as Guru. It enables centralized storage and easy access for everyone on your team. Guru's browser extension lets you take notes seamlessly during the meeting and keeps them easy to access.

Running efficient meetings with Guru

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Save time with premade meeting minutes templates

Rather than waste time manually creating agendas and notes separately for every meeting, you can use a meeting minutes template to get set up quickly. With the right template, all you have to do is take notes, format it, and share.

If you attend multiple meetings, there will be differences in formatting. For example, a meeting minutes for a board meeting will be formal, but a minute for the design team discussion will be more flexible and informal.

You can create custom meeting minutes templates for both scenarios and use them for future meetings.

Collaborate on the same document either synchronously or asynchronously

Individual messages waste time.  If you send out the meeting minutes individually for each participant to corroborate that what they said is true, it will take forever to get all the feedback.

A faster method is to create a Guru Card for a meeting minutes under a specific topic board. Add meeting notes to a Card and allow attendees to suggest edits and clarifications at a convenient time. When the minutes is verified by all attendees, store your meeting minutes in your knowledge base for your team to access at any time.

Share documents easily either through Slack or email

Use Guru’s Slack and Gmail integration to share meeting meetings with employees.

Since minutes can be stored as Cards on Guru, the notetaker can create Cards within Slack for action items, and if someone asks a question pertinent to the meeting, you can use the “Answer with Card” option.

You can also create Cards directly on Gmail and use the Chrome Browser extension to access the Knowledge Base whenever you need it. 

These integrations ensure that your team can access your meeting minutes and any relevant company information right inside the tools you use in your workflow. 

Examples of meeting minutes templates

Simple meeting minutes template 

A simple meeting minutes has an easy format so you can quickly capture the most important topics of a meeting. Use this template for note taking during the meeting or to organize your notes before sending them out to attendees for approval.

 It includes information such as:

• A list of attendees
• Discussion points from previous meetings
• The agenda for the current meeting
• Action item listing deadline for approval and task owner

Formal meeting minutes template

 Minutes are great for documenting official decisions that need approval. The language is formal and it’s structured with a goal to be shared with all meeting participants afterward.

Formal meeting minutes are mostly used by government agencies, public companies, and nonprofits. It is based on Robert's Rule of Order where the minutes only contain a record of what was done at the meeting, not only what was said by members.

Information to include in a formal meeting template include:

• Company name and department
• Call to order
• Roll call
• Approval of last meeting minutes
• Open issues with a summary of the discussion
• New agenda
• Adjournment

Informal meeting minutes template

Informal meeting minutes is a quick reference to important discussions such as obstacles, goals, ideas, or deadlines that surfaced. Unlike a formal meeting, it doesn’t require approval because the only goal is to document key topics and agreed-upon next steps.

Details to include in an informal meeting minutes template include:

• Date
• Meeting attendees
• Meeting objectives
• Talking points
• Action items
• Owners
• Deadlines

Team meeting minutes template

Generally, these meetings can be called to address conflicts, assess progress, or provide general updates and suggestions.

A few details to include in a team meeting minutes template include:

• Date
• Name of attendees
• The objective of the meeting
• Meeting agenda
• Discussion points
• Main takeaways and decisions
• Other notes (valuable information that may not be directly related to the current topic)
• Action items
• Next steps

Centralize your team meeting documentation in a single workspace

Preparations can make or break your meetings. If you’ve been assigned with taking meeting minutes, it’s important to have a plan before walking into the room. Determine the agenda before the meeting. Share talking points so everyone is prepared and use a meeting minutes template to streamline note taking.

Internal wikis like Guru store all your meeting minutes templates. You can easily find past meeting minutes to clear up confusion and see what decisions were made.