Minutes are a record of what was said in a meeting.
More than seven million young people in the U.S. belong to a 4-H club. Each club holds multiple meetings and the minutes of these meetings act as a record of what was discussed and decided. The 4-H organization publishes guidelines on take minutes at 4H- meetings based on good general business practices.
Instructions
Taking the Minutes
1. Obtain the agenda for the meeting. With a highlighter pen, mark the different topics of discussion. You will need to take notes for each of the items of business on the agenda.
2. Print out a list of people invited to the meeting. Use this to check off who actually attends and add the names of any extra participants.
3. Take notes, relating them to the items on the agenda. For each business item, keep track of who spoke, what they said, any votes taken and any action plans developed. Take the notes in enough detail so that you remember the content of the discussions, but not in too much detail that you miss what is said while you are writing.
Writing the Minutes
4. Write the minutes as soon after the meeting as possible. The discussion will be fresh in your mind in case you can't read some of your notes or you missed writing something down.
5. Write the name of your 4-H organization and the date at the top of the page. Also, indicate what kind of meeting it is, perhaps a monthly meeting, a special meeting or an annual general meeting.
6. Note the time that the meeting was called to order and by whom. This will usually be the club president or whoever is acting in that role for this meeting.
7. In the next paragraph, write that the minutes of the last meeting were read. Also, indicate any discussion about them and whether or not the club members approved them.
8. Using your notes from the meeting, write the details of any business items discussed. Include the name of who raised the item, who spoke about it and anything said, any decisions made and any action plans developed. For the action plans, make note of the expected completion date. For any motions made during the meeting, detail who made the motion and what the result of the vote was.
9. Keep the headings listed in the agenda. Common sections include "old business," "new business" and "members' reports."
10. Give details at the end of the minutes about the time and place of the meeting. The last thing written in the minutes should be the time at which the meeting ended and who made the motion to end it. Leave space for the club president to sign the minutes.
