7 Free Meeting Minutes Templates: Best Practices + Pro Tips

Why Are They Called Minutes of a Meeting?

The phrase “minutes” in meeting minutes means the formal record of a meeting. In this sense, the term “minutes” doesn’t refer to hours or seconds but to “minuta”, Latin for small or detailed.

To put it differently, minutes are summarized notes on key discussions, decisions, and action items that occurred during a meeting.

Meeting minutes act as a written account/record that keeps track of the important things discussed during the meeting and can be readily available to attendees, directors, or any other person interested in looking through what was decided during the meeting.

Pro Tip: Do you want to automate the process of taking down meeting minutes? See how jamie can help you automate all your meeting notes. With jamie you can sit back, relax, and let jamie take down meeting notes for you!

Your Voice, Our Notes

Private, Bot-Free, Smart Notes.

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What Should You Include In Meeting Minutes?

To write useful and accurate meeting minutes, you need to be attentive to details. Here are some essential elements to consider when taking your meeting minutes:

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1.  Meeting Details

First, you must record the meeting, that way you will not miss any essential information. This way you can get accurate meetings';

• Date,
• Time,
• Location, and
• Duration.

This information helps provide context to your attendees and allows for easy reference in the future.

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2. Meeting Participants

List the names and roles of all individuals who were present at the meeting. This includes both attendees and those who may have been absent but were represented by proxy (a proxy is a designated individual who attends a meeting and acts on behalf of someone who cannot be there).

For example:

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3. Meeting Agenda

Provide a brief overview of the meeting agenda. This will serve as a roadmap for the discussion that will occur during the meeting. This will keep everyone's speaking points oriented to fit the meeting agenda and help keep the minutes organized and focused on what matters the most, preventing them from diverting to unnecessary topics that could hinder a team's productivity.

Staff Meeting Agenda includes;

1. Meeting Details
2. Clear and Specific Titles
3. Meeting Objectives
4. Action Items

To automate your meeting agenda process, consider using jamie. jamie captures all the accurate details via your virtual meeting and creates agendas automatically, eliminating the need for manual input. Here's what your meeting agenda generated by jamie would look like.

Pro Tip: To simplify and enhance your note-taking and meeting minutes, consider using a paraphrasing tool. It can help you rephrase complex meeting points into clear statements, ensuring that your minutes are easy to understand. This tool can also save time by streamlining your writing while retaining the original meaning.

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4. Key Discussions

Summarize the main topics or issues discussed during the meeting. Be concise but make sure that all the important points are captured accurately.

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5. Decisions and Action Items

Document any decisions made during the meeting and the corresponding action items. Clearly state who is responsible for each action item and specify the deadline for completion.

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6. Next Meeting Date

Note the date and time of the next meeting that way everyone is aware and can plan accordingly for the next meeting. This way attendees will not sway from the focused topics and rather stick to the main issues and concerns related to the enhancement of your business or organization.

They will also bring their own concerns and ideas to the table that could help improve the focused decisions.

However different types of meetings require different types of templates to take down meeting minutes, for example, there could be a formal meeting minute template and an informal meeting minutes template. What we discussed was a pretty standard way of taking meeting minutes. Here's what a standard meeting template looks like.

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As you can see, every point that we talked about is right there. However, this level of detail wouldn't be appropriate or productive for all types of meetings. We will go through different types of meeting minutes, to show how the format and level of detail can vary.

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7 Meeting Minutes Templates and Examples

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Before we start going through different meeting minutes, here's the ebook containing all the meeting minutes templates we discuss in this article.

These templates are ready to be used for free; just click view, and you can download it and use it the right way!

Happy meeting minutes taking!! (I just made that up, but you get it!)

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1. Board Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:  Board meetings, executive meetings

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2. PTO Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:

• Parent-Teacher Organization meetings (PTO)
• School board meetings
• School committee meetings (e.g., fundraising, curriculum)

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What is a PTO?

A PTO, or Parent-Teacher Organization, is a group that brings together parents, teachers, and sometimes even students to support the educational environment and well-being of students. PTO meeting minutes document key decisions, discussions, and action items, ensuring transparency and accountability to all PTO members. This helps maintain a smooth flow of information, promotes collaboration, and provides a reference point for future meetings.

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3. HOA Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:

• Homeowner Association meetings (HOA)
• Community association meetings
• Condominium association meetings

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What is an HOA?

An HOA ( Homeowner's Association) is a group that makes rules for a neighborhood with shared spaces or common areas. If you live in a neighborhood with a homeowners' association, you automatically become a member and have to follow their rules. These rules are usually about things like keeping your house looking nice outside, taking care of your yard, noise levels, and where you can park your car. HOAs have meetings to talk about things going on in the neighborhood, make decisions, and vote on ideas.

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4. Annual Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:

• Annual meetings of corporations (public & private)
• Non-profit organizations
• Homeowner associations (HOAs)
• Membership organizations
• Clubs and social groups

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What is an Annual Meeting?

Many organizations hold annual meetings once a year to discuss the past year's activities, achievements, and finances.  These meetings also serve as a platform to elect new board members, vote on proposals, and discuss future plans by processing or analyzing past meeting minutes.  Annual meeting minutes serve as an official record of these proceedings.

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5. LLC Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:

• Meetings of Limited Liability Companies (LLCs)

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What are LLC Meeting Minutes?

An LLC, or Limited Liability Company, is a business structure that offers personal liability protection for its owners, called members. LLCs hold meetings to discuss business operations, make decisions, and vote on proposals.  Minutes serve as an official record of these meetings, documenting key discussions, actions taken, and votes.

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6. Corporate Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:

• Board of directors meetings for corporations (public & private)
• Executive committee meetings
• Shareholder meetings

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What are Corporate Meeting Minutes?

A corporation is a legal business structure with shareholders who own parts of the company. Corporations hold meetings, like board of directors meetings, to discuss important matters, make decisions, and vote on proposals. Minutes act as an official record of these meetings, keeping track of what was talked about, what decisions were made, and how votes were cast.

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7.  Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Template

Suitable for:

• Board of Directors meetings for various organizations (corporations, non-profits, schools, etc.)

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What are the Board of Directors Meeting Minutes?

A board of directors is a group of people who oversee an organization, like a school. They meet regularly to discuss important matters and make decisions. Minutes act as an official record of these meetings, keeping track of what was talked about, what choices were made, and how everyone voted.

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How To Take Minutes for a Meeting + Best Practices

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1. Get Re­ady Beforehand

Go through the mee­ting plan thoroughly and note down any related stuff that might be useful for your next meeting in advance. This will he­lp you expect how things might go and spot key things to note­ down.

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2. Use a Template

Use a te­mplate for meeting note­s. It keeps things organized and make­s it easy to put information in the right spots. Looking for free templates? We got a lot for you!

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3. Stay Neutral

Your only goal is to write­ down what happened objective­ly without taking anyone's sides. Stick to facts only and choices that were taken during the meeting, do not write pe­rsonal views as it may hinder the meeting's goals and its decision-making processes.

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4. Listen Carefully

Pay close­ attention during the mee­ting. Take notes as it happens about main points, action items, comments, and de­cisions made. Always feel free to ask questions if you nee­d to understand a certain aspect better. (or you simply didn't catch that)

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5. Ke­ep It Short

Make your notes concise­ with bullet points for key discussions and action items. Short and cle­ar notes are the best for easy reading late­r.

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6. Review and Share

Afte­r the meeting, che­ck your notes for accuracy and completene­ss. Send them out quickly so everyone can review and give­ feedback if nee­ded.

By following these simple­ tips will make taking useful mee­ting minutes much easier. If you want every important detail to get captured correctly without missing anything at all, consider downloading jamie for free!

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Common Mistakes in Taking Meeting Minutes

It's very common to encounter mistakes even if you are a pro meeting minute taker. Here are some common pitfalls that you can avoid in the future.

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1. Incomplete Documentation

We are humans, and it's very common and normal to miss certain information, especially when dealing with one-hour to 3-hour meetings.

However, failing to capture all essential information, such as key discussions, decisions, or action items, can hinder a meeting's effectiveness and end up delaying the decision-making process.

It will impact the accountability of the attendees if certain action items are not taken. So, Be very thorough in your note-taking and double-check to make sure that nothing important is missed.

Get feedback from your colleagues to see if you have missed anything.

Pro Tip: Downloading jamie will eliminate all the repetitive mistakes and give you a clean, objective-oriented, and, most importantly, covering every intricate detail that was spoken in the meeting. Curious to see jamie in action? Download now for free!

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2. Lack of Clarity

It is very important to be clear when you are taking notes. Because unclear or hard-to-read/understand language can lead to confusion when reviewing the minutes later on. 

Aim for clarity and use concise and straightforward language that is easy for a general audience to understand.

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3. Bias or Personal Opinions

Meeting minutes should be objective and unbiased. Avoid injecting your personal opinions or biases into the documentation.

Doing so will only delay the decision-making process, and at the end of the day, the value derived from that sole meeting will go to waste.

The information is biased and written subjectively, so the value becomes tainted.

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4. Poor Organization

Disorganized minutes make it difficult to navigate and find specific information. Use a structured template and logically organize the information.

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5. Delayed Distribution

Timeliness is crucial when distributing meeting minutes. Delaying their distribution can hinder the effectiveness of any action items or decisions made during the meeting.

Pro Tip: With jamie you can share meeting summaries with others by simply copying a link or sending an email. The shared meeting summaries are view-only, and users cannot edit them.

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Automate Meeting Minutes With jamie

If the above manual processes seem too much and you just want to save time by not struggling to take notes and capture every detail EVERYTIME!

Then  let's get started by first downloading jamie!

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Here's how jamie, your AI note-taker can help automate your meeting minutes!

1. Focus on the meeting, not note-taking
2. jamie listens in and automatically captures everything that's said.
3. Never miss a detail
4. Forget worrying about catching everything – jamie gets it all!
5. Easy sharing
6. Share your meeting summaries with colleagues in seconds with a simple link or email.
7. Crystal clear summaries
8. No more manual writing and organizing! jamie creates clear, concise summaries that are easy to understand.
9. Action items made easy
10. jamie helps you identify key decisions and action items, making follow-up a breeze.
11. Never forget a meeting
12. jamie integrates with your calendar to remind you to record upcoming meetings.
13. Works for all meetings
14. Record online or in-person meetings, and jamie will take care of the rest.
15. Customize your summaries
16. Use your own templates to create meeting summaries that fit your team's needs.

Try it for Free! Give jamie a test drive for free and see how it can transform your meetings!

Your Voice, Our Notes

Private, Bot-Free, Smart Notes.

Try Jamie for Free

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FAQs

Q: What are meeting minutes?

A: Meeting minutes are a written record or official account of a meeting's discussions, decisions, and action items. They serve as a reference for future meetings and help ensure that important information is accurately captured.

Q: Why are meeting minutes important?

A: Meeting minutes are essential for documenting key discussions, decisions, and action items. They provide a written record for future reference, ensure accountability, and help new attendees or those who missed the previous meeting's minutes get up to speed quickly by referencing the previous meeting minutes.

Q: How should I format my meeting minutes?

A: Meeting minutes should include the meeting's details, a list of participants, the agenda, key discussions, decisions, and action items. Using a template can provide a structured format for your minutes and make them easier to read and reference.

Q: Can I customize the provided meeting minutes templates?

A: Absolutely! The provided meeting minutes templates are customizable to suit your specific needs. Feel free to download them and make any necessary modifications to ensure they align with your meeting requirements.

Q: How can I automate the process of taking meeting minutes?

A: You can automate the process of taking meeting minutes by using AI-powered solutions like jamie. jamie will start recording meeting minutes and transcribe the entire conversation, generating a concise summary of the meeting's main topics, decisions, and action items, saving you time and effort in manual note-taking.

Q: What is the role of a meeting facilitator?

A: A meeting facilitator is a person who guides the discussion during a meeting. Their responsibility is to ensure the meeting stays on track, that everyone has a chance to participate, and that key decisions and action items are identified. By having a facilitator, the meeting can be more productive and efficient.

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