Taking minutes of the meeting?

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For the last 2 years I’ve worked as a admin assistant which is ok and I do enjoy it. Last week in my meeting with my manager she tells me if staff are down on the Minute taking side (separate dept) I maybe called to cover.

I’ve never taken minutes and the thought of sitting with professionals and parents (sometimes I believe) scares me to death.

Am I being unreasonable if I say I don’t want to?

Is there training? How specific is the role and responsibility? Just taking them is not a big deal ime but if they have ti be in a particular format or you need shorthand it is more of an issue.

A tape recorder is your friend. I’ve been doing Minutes for meetings for years, I always record them (digital recorder or phone in person or use the “record meeting” option on Zoom) so that I can listen back and write up an accurate reflection of the meeting.

I’m often asked questions during the meeting so I can’t always make notes as I go along. Minutes are not there to be a verbatim record of the meeting, I usually put in important questions using phrases like “in response to a question from MrX Miss Y informed the meeting that…”

Also phrases like “there followed a discussion during which it was agreed xyz”.

Doing Minutes is a good skill to learn, think of it as adding to your CV.

Get someone to take you through it and see what is expected.
As pp it's a good skill to have.

You've never done it before that's why it may seem quite scary. But in reality fine. Go for it

I’m surprised you have never had to do it up until this point. It is no big deal and you should just get on with it.

Dont be afraid to ask attendees to repeat if you didnt catch something. Read back all action points and who is to do them at the end of the meeting so that there are no surprises for any attendee when they get the Minutes. If the chair person doesnt get everyone to go around the table making introductions request that you would find it helpful. Try to get the Minutes circulated the next day. It us a good skill to have. Good luck!

Ask if you can shadow someone first so you can right up some practice minutes and compare them to a more experienced person. Don’t be afraid to ask for a point to be clarified for the minutes.

A good chair should be repeating back action points etc to give you twice the chance to write them down, but I would probably a) ask if you can shadow someone first and b) record the meeting if you need to.

It is a really good skill to learn.

If it's a formal meeting with papers, get the agenda and the papers in advance and write a skeleton set of minutes based on the summaries/key points from the papers. Then you just need to add the key discussion that happens from them and any actions.

If the chair is any good they will make sure to ask you specifically to write down action points etc.

Take down v quick notes, use text speak if needed. Don't look up is something I found useful.

You can practice online using videos on YouTube.

Also if you know of previous meetings you can look up the previous minutes or any similar and see what sort of things they have on there so you are prepared.

Go and speak to the current minute takers and see how they do it.

I've minuted a fair few meetings and their either:-

1. Wanted everything discussed logged, even if no actions or outcomes were required.
2. Old actions commented on, new actions logged. Nothing else noted.

Oh and always start with a copy of the last minutes. Highlight the actions so that when you come to them you can tick (complete) or do an arrow or something to indicate ongoing

Take down v quick notes, use text speak if needed.

When I say this, I mean in your notes use text speak but when typing obviously type up proper sentences!!

Also use initials for names so you know who is speaking or being spoken about.

taking minutes is a good skill.

depending on your speed of writing use a laptop (touch typing) or pad/pen to take notes.

take a print out of the agenda
take names of attendees
listen attentively and capture the gist of the discussion but whittle down to only major milestones in the final document.

don't be afraid to ask if you don't understand something.

circulate the draft to thd meeting attendeesfor their comments.

ask to go on a course.

If it's about the fear of people / worrying have you tried propanol?

Thank you all for your helpful comments, I will take them all on board. I’ve spoken with the Manager again (I was just so worried about the expectation of doing them) and she has reassured me that I will be able to shadow a member of the team, to understand how it all worked before going and doing them myself, phew.

I've found teams to actually be very helpful in taking minutes, even though I don't like using a tape recorder. I think it's a visual thing. You really need to get the minutes from a previous meeting so you can get an idea of format/amount of information. I always put things I don't get/hear properly in red and make the actions a different colour so they stand out. Make sure the actions make sense. Don't write in them things like Mrs a said she would speak to Mr b as an action. Expand on what it was. Also try to avoid jargon if possible. I always try to make it simplistic if I know they're going to be a public record. I always write out initials for the first time. There is nothing more infuriating than initials of organisations/forms etc.... if you don't know what they are as a reader. You probably won't get it right first time. It is definitely a skill that takes practice.