Whether following Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised or standard parliamentary practices, meeting minutes tend to be fairly short. That’s because minutes are not supposed to be a record of what members SAID at a meeting, but what was done. (See A Minute on Meeting Minutes or this Minutes Outline)
But if compiling the minutes after a meeting is still bothersome, there are ways to move much of the effort to before the meeting. (If you wonder how you can describe what happened at the meeting PRIOR to the meeting, stay with me.)
Meeting Minutes Template
Minutes are fairly formulaic. That is, for a specific organization, the minutes look similar from meeting to meeting. As a result, you can prepare a template in advance that can be used to record the minutes. Each organization’s meetings template will look different, based on what business tends to be done during meetings, how much detail the organization wants, and past practice. For specifics and a sample “Minutes Template, see Chapter 12 of Robert’s Rules of Order Fast Track.
Skeletal Minutes
A minutes template gives you a guide or model for all future minutes. But if you’d like to go one more step, why not prepare the minutes for a specific meeting in advance of the meeting? That’s where “skeletal” or “mock” minutes can be helpful.
The following is a description of skeletal minutes from page 160 of Robert’s Rules of Order Fast Track.
Why wait until the meeting to prepare the minutes? If you’re considering a template for meetings, go all the way. Write the minutes before the meeting! Well, maybe not completely, but skeletal minutes (or mock minutes) can get you most of the way there. Having much of the minutes done before a meeting even starts is often easier and less stressful than pulling everything together after a long, tiring meeting.
Like a minutes template, skeletal minutes are prepared before a meeting. The difference is that skeletal minutes include the specific items you anticipate coming up at the meeting. With a good agenda and a notice requirement for motions, you should have a pretty good idea of what particular proposals will be discussed. Similarly, for a convention, you might know weeks in advance of every resolution or bylaws amendment that will be presented. You just don’t know which motions will eventually be adopted, defeated, or amended.
With skeletal minutes, you fill out all information in the minutes, including when the meeting is, where it is, who may attend, and the actual wording of motions or items to be considered. During the meeting, you simply note what happens to each motion and add any additional items that arise unexpectedly. I have seen secretaries use this technique to complete the minutes of a convention that considered 300 resolutions within minutes of the end of the meeting. Sure beats starting the minutes after the meeting!
Jim Slaughter is an attorney, Certified Professional Parliamentarian, Professional Registered Parliamentarian, and past President of the American College of Parliamentary Lawyers. He is author of four books on meeting procedure, including two updated for the latest Robert’s Rules: Robert’s Rules of Order Fast Track and Notes and Comments on Robert’s Rules, Fifth Edition. Both books have been selected as “Editor’s Picks” by Publisher’s Weekly. Many free charts and articles on Robert’s and meeting procedure can be found at www.jimslaughter.com.