Meeting Minutes Templates and Examples

Whether for business, club, or sports events, meeting minutes can be a key part of keeping the entire team up-to-date on what happened. And it doesn't have to be an arduous task.

Below are some example templates as well as tips and ideas to help you get started with writing and preparing effective meeting minutes.

What are meeting minutes for?

Meeting minutes are the notes that capture what happened at a meeting! Different than a meeting agenda, it records the decisions made and actions requested by the group. Despite the team, they are not a minute-by-minute record but include the key details that the team will want to know. It's important in meeting minutes to capture information such as:

decisions made
next steps
action items and who is responsible

Minutes are the record of who was there and what happened. They are an important source of information for people who were unable to attend or looking back to reflect on what happened. They're also an incredibly effective tool to notify or remind people of tasks assigned to them or timelines to keep everyone on track.

What should go into meeting minutes?

Here are some of the details that you should into the meeting minutes.

Date and time of meeting
Names of the participants
Agenda items and topics discussed
Action items

Example of meeting minutes

Below is an example from an informal meeting which captures only the most relevant facts.

Informal team meeting minutes template

Date: Today's date

Attendees

List of attendees

Agenda

Item 1 including key discussions, decisions made, next steps
Item 2
Item 3

Next steps

List goes here in format: action item, responsible person, date
Example: Brian to follow up to this group with a list of target companies by end of week

Below is an example from a more formal board meeting.

Formal board meeting minutes template

DATE: Date of the meeting

PRESENT: First and last names of all those present at the meeting

ABSENT: First and last names of Committee members who are unable to attend the meeting.

1. CALL TO ORDER/OPENING REMARKS

The time that the meeting was called to order and by whom.
Any opening remarks summarized here.

2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM (DATE)

You need a motion to approve the prior meeting's minutes.
Motion: To approve the minutes of (DATE) as circulated (or AMENDED) Motion By: Name of person (FIRST & LAST) who made the motion
Seconded By: Name of the person (FIRST & LAST)) who seconded the motion Carried or Defeated

3. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

If there are additions to the agenda or requests for the next meeting's agenda, these would be bulleted here.

4. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Motion: to approve the agenda as circulated (or AMENDED)
Motion By: name of person (FIRST & LAST) who made the motion
Seconded By: name of person (FIRST & LAST) who made the motion Carried or Defeated

5. BUSINESS FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING

Any items from the previous meeting that need to be discussed further

6. ITEM # 1 TO BE DISCUSSED

Put a summary of the discussion around the topic
If any motions were made, put the information here
If further information is needed, put follow-ups, names, and a target date here

7. ITEM # 2 TO BE DISCUSSED

Any other items

8. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA

Any added agenda Item, including a summary of the discussions around this item
If any motions were made, put information here
If further information is needed, put follow-ups, names, and a target date here

9. ADJOURNMENT

Record the time the meeting was adjourned

10. NEXT MEETING (DATE)

The next meeting date should be decided at the end of the meeting before everyone leaves. It's a handy reminder to include it at the bottom of the minutes template so it isn't missed.

Notejoy is a more effective way to manage your meetings

Running effective and productive meetings is more than just establishing a great template - it’s about managing the communication of information around the meeting. Is everyone on the same page about what the meeting’s topics and goals are? Have decisions been shared with everyone who needs to know? If you missed the meeting, how can you catch up on the details? Ensuring that the right people have access to information both in the meeting room and after is vital to operating a successful organization.

Notejoy is an effective solution for teams that want to manage their meeting agendas and notes to get and stay on the same page. It fundamentally changes the way that work is done.

Managing meetings in Notejoy is different for three reasons:

Real-Time Collaboration - As a cloud-based solution, Notejoy allows you to share your meeting agenda in advance with internal and external collaborators. These collaborators can view, discuss, and comment on meeting agendas as well as view the latest version.

Always in Sync - Rather than managing different versions of agendas or multiple threads of conversation, Notejoy allows the entire team to always see agendas including changes and discussions at the same time.

Improved Search and Visibility - With meeting notes and discussion comments documented directly in the agenda, teams can keep details in context and maintain one system of record for everything that happened. Manage who has access to what information, and enable team members old and new to search across past and current meeting content.

Get started free with Notejoy