Minutes of the meeting
Preparing Minutes of Meeting
In a typical business, many committees and task forces operate within the company. The purpose of committees is to discuss various problems and to
make recommendations to management.
A standing committee is one that
operates permanently year after year, although its members may change. A task force is a group of people who are appointed to solve a specific
problem; when they make their recommendation on the ‘task’ assigned to them,
the task force is disbanded. Each
department may have several committees
that meet periodically – usually once a week, every two weeks, or monthly.
For example, if you are working in a sales department, there may be committees
on advertising, sales conferences, commissions, product development, public
relations, and so on.
A meeting has been called….
Statutory
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….. because the law demands it
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… shareholders’, creditors’, directors’, councillors’
meetings
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Managerial
|
…. To progress company affairs
|
to inform of policy, to brief, to delegate tasks, to
discuss problems, to reach group decisions, etc
|
Creative
|
…. to generate ideas, to open up new possibilities or
avenues of action
|
to ‘brainstorm’ around the idea of what the firm could
design, manufacture; to produce an advertising slogan, poster, etc.
|
Negotiating
|
…. to reach a solution to a problem acceptable to two
sides with different interests
|
management and trade union to agree upon pay increase/rise
|
General/
public |
…. to report back to a group membership, or to air matters
of public interest
(members & roles)
|
Annual General Meeting of shareholders or club membership
meeting; public enquiries into planning proposals
|
Members of Meetings & their role
Committee Members’ Roles
•
The Chairman’s Role: to coordinate the
work of the committee…leader, guide, umpire.
•
The Secretary’s Role: to carry out the
administrative work of the committee… organizer, chairman’s right hand.
•
The Treasurer’s Role: to monitor the
committee’s financial activities.
•
The Committee Member’s Role: To
participate at meetings and do work delegated to him or her.
Special terms for meetings
•
Ad hoc: for the particular purpose of
•
Advisory: submitting suggestions or
advice to a person or body entitled to carry out decisions and actions.
•
Agenda: a ‘timetable’ listing items for
discussion at a meeting
•
AGM: Annual General Meeting
•
Apologies: for absence written or orally
delivered excuse for not being able to attend a meeting
•
Chairman: coordinator of a committee,
working party, etc.
•
Chairman's agenda: like to ordinary
agenda but containing additional information for guidance
•
Executive: having power to act upon and
carry out decisions
•
Ex officio: by reason of an existing
office or post
•
Honorary: performing a duty without
payment
•
Minutes: written summary of a meeting’s
business
•
Motion: a topic formally introduced for
discussion
•
Nem con: no one disagreeing
•
Opposer: one who speaks against
•
Other business: items discussed outside
main business of meeting
•
Proposer: one who speaks in favour of a
motion
•
Resolution: a decision reached after a
vote at formal meetings – a motion successfully introduced
•
Secretary: committee administrator
•
Sine die: indefinitely
•
Standing committee: one which has an
indefinite term of office
•
Treasurer: financial guardian
•
Unanimous: all of like mind
Minutes of Informal Meeting
The written record of the
proceedings of a meeting is called the minutes of the meeting. Since most
meetings in business are informal (that is, do not follow the rules of
parliamentary procedure), the minutes are also informal. The minutes usually
include the date, time, and place of the meeting; the name of the presiding
officer; a list of those present (and frequently those absent); and the time of
adjournment. Discussions are usually summarized.
Usually the minutes are signed by
the person who took them and sometimes by the presiding officer as well.
Minutes are usually duplicated, and copies are sent to each person present at
the meeting and to other designated officials. Lets look at the minutes of a
meeting.
Presiding: Naeem
Ahmad, President
Present: Ahmad
Ali, Muhammad Aleem , Sara Zaman, Yousif
Habib
Absent: Munir
Ahmad ,Muhammad Asif ,Tariq Nazir
After calling the meeting to
order at 3:15 pm, the president asked the treasurer for a brief report....
The president asked Sara Zaman,
chairperson of the investment committee, for the committee recommendation….
The president asked Ahmad Ali of
Lauder, Bennet, and Laser, the club’s broker, to comment….
Mr Habib announced that the
club’s annual picnic is scheduled for Saturday, Sept 14, at Al-Hamra Hall in
Lahore……
The meeting was adjourned at 5:30
pm
Respectfully submitted
Hassan
Secretary
Minutes of Formal Meetings
Minutes of meetings that follow
parliamentary procedure are somewhat different in form from the informal
minutes illustrated here. Formal minutes do not include discussions. Only
motions, resolutions, committee assignments and reports, and other specific
accomplishments are included. Topical
headings are used for easy reference and how the recorder has briefly
summarized a speaker’s remarks. Also note that motions should be worded
specifically followed by the name of the person who made the motion and the
name of the one who seconded.
Resolutions to express sympathy,
appreciation, congratulations, and the like are often passed at formal
meetings.
The paragraphs giving the reasons
for the resolution are introduced by the word WHEREAS (followed by a comma) and
the paragraphs stating the action to be
taken are introduced by the word RESOLVED (also followed by a comma).
Time & Place: The regular
monthly meeting of the Historical-Commercial Club of Lahore was called by the
president, Naeem Ahmad, on Friday, February 8, 2006, at 2 pm in the Jinnah room
of the Plaza Hotel.
Minutes
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The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
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Treasurer’s report
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The following report was given by Fatima Hanif, the
treasurer:
|
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Balance on hand, Jan 1, 2006
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Rs. 23720.90
18160.50
|
|
Total
Paid out in January
Balance
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41881.40
8500.00
----------------
33381.4
|
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The treasurer’s report was accepted.
|
||
Old Business
|
It was moved, seconded, and voted that a booklet
describing local commercial site of historic interest be written and
published by the club and distributed to local schools.
|
|
New Business
|
After a discussion about improving the club’s ability to
advise the local media about its activities, a committee consisting of Fatima
Hanif, chairperson; Sara Ahmad, Iqbal
was appointed to report the next meeting.
|
|
Program
|
Naeem Ahmad introduced Ms Munir, an archaeologist at City
University……
|
|
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm
Respectfully submitted
Zaheer
Secretary(producing minutes)
|
Producing the Minutes
Resolution minutes
Some types of meeting – for
example those of boards of directors – record only the decision reached,
usually after a vote. The arguments, initial disagreements or conflicting views
remain unwritten or unrecorded. Thus a lengthy discussion on the pros and cons
of keeping a barely profitable branch store open may be summarized as:
5 Liberty Branch
It was resolved that the company’s liberty branch be
closed with effect from 31 May 2006 and the premises, fixtures and fittings
offered for sale
Such minutes usually include the
word ‘resolved’ and may indicate the pattern of voting. Otherwise, the
items, ‘Apologies for Absence’, ‘Minutes of the Last Meeting’, ‘Matters
Arising’ and ‘Date of Next Meeting’ follow the pattern of narrative minutes.
Note that in some formal meetings, the ‘Matters Arising’ and ‘Any Other Business’
items are not included, as a tighter rein is kept on what may be discussed.
Narrative Minutes (fuller picture &
view)
Sometimes referred to as minutes
of narration, narrative minutes tell more of the ‘story’ of what happened and
who said what at a meeting. The main points of the background and discussion
leading to a decision are recorded, and so anyone reading such minutes will
gain a much fuller picture of a committee’s work and views.
Narrative minutes are recorded in
reported speech and instead of giving direct speech we use indirect speech.
This simply involves referring to committee members in the third person –
either by their office – ‘The chairman said....’ or by name, ‘Mr. Naeem asked
whether ….’ When decisions are reached by a vote, expressions such as, ‘it was
generally agreed that….’ ‘It was therefore decided that….’ are used to
introduce the details of the decision. Further, to keep the record objective
and neutral, the passive is often used: ‘The secretary was asked to
write to the Council to…..’
Care regarding narration
Care must be taken when recording
narrative minutes that verb tenses are appropriate and that the time interval
between the actual discussion at the meeting and the later recording of the
minutes does not lead to confusion:
He said he would contact the suppliers next week.
At the time this statement was
made, ‘next week’ was true, but if the minutes were distributed and read a
fortnight after the meeting took place, it would no longer be true; this
expression like ‘the following week’ is more accurate.
Action Minutes
Busy committees sometimes like to
introduce a right hand blank column beside the minutes in order to put a
designated committee member’s name against a particular task to be carried out:
6 Annual games
The secretary was asked
to seek approval to use the company sports Ground again.
Action
by: Secretary
Some rules of
indirect speech
‘I’m sorry I’m late. I missed the bus.’ DIRECT SPEECH
He said that he was sorry he was late. He had missed the
bus. REPORTED SPEECH VERSION.
He apologized for being late. He had missed the bus.
Some rules
Rule one: persons/pronouns
I
he, she
you
we
they
you (pl)
Rule two: the
tenses of verbs
Rule three: the distancing effect
Today-that day, now-then,
here-there, this-that, these-those, tomorrow-the next/ following day,
yesterday-the previous day
Rule four: conveying the tone of the direct speech
If the reported speech writer is
not very careful, the reporting may easily slip into a dull ‘he said, she said,
he said, she said’, so it is important to vary the words that introduce the
reported speech:
Asked that, wondered whether,
strongly denied that, confirmed that, suggested that, suggested that, etc.
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