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6 EXAMPLES OF MEETING MINUTES (+FREE TEMPLATES)

Use these meeting minutes examples to see how to write meeting minutes for your
own meetings.


The Hugo Team
The team transforming meeting productivity


Meetings

Research: Meeting Practices, Productivity, and Team Culture


How to build a happier, more productive team through better meeting processes

FREE DOWNLOAD


Taking meeting minutes is a common practice in many organizations. It's how the
organization keeps track of what happened during the meeting and how decisions
were made.

But what exactly should be written in meeting minutes can be confusing if you
don't have an example.

In this article, we'll give you examples of meeting minutes so that you can see
how to write meeting minutes for your own organization's meetings.

Meeting Minutes Examples In This Article:

 1. Meeting Minutes with No Formatting
 2. Simple Meeting Template
 3. Board Meeting Template
 4. Executive Monthly Meeting
 5. Sprint Planning
 6. One-On-One Meetings


QUICK TIPS ON WRITING MEETING MINUTES

Before we jump into the examples of meeting minutes, here are some of the best
practices to look out for:

 * ‍Keep the meeting minutes short and sweet. A full hour of discussion should
   result in around half a page or even less, depending on how much information
   you need to include.‍
 * Include who was present at the meeting as well as their role (if relevant).
 * ‍Note decisions that were made. If something is decided upon, always state
   what decision was made so that future actions can be assigned and held
   accountable.‍
 * Keep track of votes. If there was a disagreement or debate, make sure to note
   how the final decision came about (i.e., who voted for which option).‍
 * Reiterate any action items that need to get done at the end of the meeting so
   people know what they're responsible.

As you can see, meeting minutes are pretty straightforward to write. As long as
you get all of the necessary information down in a clear and concise way it
should be fine.



Here are some examples of how to write meeting minutes for your own meetings. At
the bottom of each meeting minutes sample is a link to download the meeting
minutes template for free as a Word Doc, Google Doc, or to use it in Fellow
(free meeting management software).

Learn what *not* to include in your meeting minutes

Start having better meetings with Fellow.app today


Connect your calendar, invite your team and experience better meetings in
minutes.


Get Fellow today






1 MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE: NO AGENDA OR FORMATTING

For example, unstructured meeting minutes with no formatting might end up
something like this:

The meeting started at 11:00 am and was attended by John Smith, Jane Doe, and
Robert Brown. The meeting minutes were kept by James Taylor.

After an overview of how the project is going so far and what we hope to
accomplish in the next week, we discussed how best to divide up our tasks for
this upcoming week. For the first day, we decided to work on task A and B.

We also reached a consensus that we would finish up our discussion about how
best to handle issue C at next week's meeting instead of trying to solve it now.


ADVANTAGES OF NO-AGENDA STYLE OF MEETING MINUTES

Taking meeting minutes without any agenda or formatting is not ideal, but it
does have advantages over not taking meeting minutes at all. So if that’s the
way you’ve done it until now, it’s a good start. You’ve been keeping notes that
can serve, somewhat, as a record. And they can serve to jog someone’s memory. 

Advantages include: 

 * At least you’re taking meeting minutes
 * You can do it instantly, without any prep
 * You have some kind of record, even if it’s not ideal
 * You can easily copy, paste, and share the information
 * It can work for very small teams, which don’t have a lot of meetings (Say, a
   tiny local sailing club’s quarterly meetings.) 

The good news is it’s easy to take this style of meeting minutes to the next
level, to give yourself more power, better reputation, and to help your team
accomplish even more. 


IT'S EASY TO SWITCH STYLES TO MORE FORMATTED NOTES

Taking your meeting minutes to the next level is easier than not. In fact,
switching to a style of meeting minutes which depends on an agenda and some
basic formatting is easier and less stressful than a no-agenda, no-formatting
style.

The reason is that a bit of organization makes anything easier, and that
includes especially a task such as taking meeting minutes. 


DISADVANTAGES OF NO-AGENDA STYLE OF MEETING MINUTES

Before we look at an easy way to better organize meeting minutes, let’s take a
clear look at the disadvantages of taking meeting minutes without any agenda or
formatting. Sometimes if a method has seemed to work fine, and to satisfy
stakeholders, it’s helpful to look directly at the disadvantages. 

Looking at the opportunities you’re missing with a super simple approach to note
taking can be highly motivating. You’ll find a lot of low-hanging fruit that can
improve your standing and your team’s performance.

Disadvantages include:

 * They look unprofessional. ‍A plain text form of meeting minutes is very
   informal – and not necessarily in a good way, because a basic agenda and
   simple formatting is so easy these days, with so many free apps available,
   and so many excellent free templates available. 
 * They’re hard to read. Formatting, fonts, design and templates exist for a
   very good business reason. They make information easier to read and absorb.
   When meeting minutes are left unformatted, they’re harder to read. Everything
   is one big mass of text, even if it’s broken up into short paragraphs and
   sentences.  
 * They might be hard to access. Unformatted meeting minutes without an agenda
   are usually lacking in other best practices for meeting minutes. For example,
   easy cloud access. Can the right people access meeting minutes at any time,
   securely, from any device? 
 * They might be too easy to access for the wrong people. Again, unformatted
   meeting minutes often get short shrift in access management, resulting in
   blunt-instrument access controls. Are they in simple Google Docs set to
   “Anyone with the Link Can Access”? It happens far too often. And it’s not
   professional or secure. 
 * The notes are unfocused. The chain of causation is clear. Meetings without
   agendas are unfocused. That means the person trying to take notes doesn’t
   know what to focus on, and the conversation veers into multiple directions
   anyway. So the notes are going to be unfocused. They’ll reflect the ongoing
   lack of focus in meetings. And they are a link in the chain – they are part
   of the cause of that lack of focus.

Which means they are also the cure to the lack of focus. Formatted meeting
minutes, based on a professionally formatted agenda template, can introduce a
high degree of order into a business meeting, and especially over a series of
meetings.  You can bring a significant amount of focus into regular meetings
just by regularly creating a formatted agenda. 

When taking notes without an agenda, you don’t know what to focus on

You or whoever is running the meeting can’t stick to time schedules (because
there aren’t any)


IT’S EASIER TO FORMAT THAN TO KEEP USING UNFORMATTED MEETING NOTES

The good news is that it’s so easy to take these first two “best practice”
steps: 

 1. Start with an agenda
 2. Format the notes

But how? Right? 

The next section spells out exactly how you can get started. It’ll make your
note taking better, your meetings more productive, and your standing rise. 


HOW TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP 

To take the next step up, you need just one thing. 

You need a professionally formatted agenda template. (You can take notes right
inside your agenda template.) 

Scroll down to see some examples of professionally formatted, free meeting
agendas, which you can download and use right now.


GET THE EXACT AGENDA MEETING TEMPLATE YOU NEED RIGHT NOW – FOR FREE

While you’re moving up from a no-format agenda, you may as well choose an agenda
template designed specifically for the kind of meeting you’ll be taking notes
for. 

It’s easy. 

Just scroll down to find the most commonly needed templates. 

Not finding one that fits your needs? Try our 80+ collection of professional
agenda meeting templates.  




2 MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE: SIMPLE MEETING TEMPLATE

If you’re in a hurry, or have a minimalistic need, this Simple Meeting Minutes
template is for you. It frontlines the Goal of the meeting, segues into the
Agenda Items, and closes with a Next Steps section. 

This meeting minutes template is perfect for true Simple Meetings because it
focuses everyone on the Goal of the meeting, which is what simple meetings are
for, after all. In a simple meeting, no one is concerned with Roberts’ Rules of
Order, a quorum, recording votes according to accepted parliamentary procedure. 

The Simple Meeting participants are there to quickly discuss a specific issue,
solve a specific problem, answer a specific question, and reach a specific
business goal. 

That means this Simple Meeting Template is great for what it’s good for, but
could be limited when it comes to other kinds of meetings. 

When you see that your needs are better served by a more detailed design, keep
scrolling to see other popular examples of meeting minutes, each with a free
template – or use the search or filter functions at our directory of Free
Meeting Agenda Templates.


SIMPLE MEETING MINUTES




MEETING TYPE

‍Check all that apply.

 * Update
 * Discussion
 * Decision
   


GOAL

‍‍Write the meeting goal here. (E.g. Discuss agency performance and decide
whether to renew for another year.)



AGENDA

 * Item one
 * Item two
 * Item three
   


NEXT STEPS


 * @name task by Due-Date

‍

Use this template





3 MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE: BOARD MEETING TEMPLATE

This board meeting template includes all the basic components of a board
meeting, so that the person or persons taking notes can have a clear focus. 

It starts with a Call to Order, includes Attendance of voting members and
others, Approval of the previous meeting minutes, Reports, Motions,
Announcements, and Adjournment. 


PREPARE TO TAKE MINUTES FOR A BOARD MEETING

Board meetings are among the highest level of meetings at which you could be
responsible for taking notes. It’s important to do your homework in order to
prepare. 

 * Talk with someone who has done it well before at your company, or with your
   board chair. Ensure you understand what the expectations are of the meeting
   minutes taker, and how it’s been done before. 
 * Review Robert’s Rules of Order, where you’ll learn about having a quorum,
   making motions, conducting and recording voting, and more under the most
   respected methodology for running  meetings on parliamentary procedure.
 * Make sure you’re aware of your company’s specific policies regarding the
   board meeting agenda and minutes. your board’s specific policies.
 * If it’s your first time to take minutes for a board meeting, it’s a good idea
   to practice in private with example board meetings you can find on YouTube,
   or previous board meetings from your company, if they’re available to you on
   audio or video in a company repository.


BOARD MEETING




‍PREPARATION

The most important aspect of this meeting is the meeting memo. This way you
don't spend half the meeting briefing one another. Here is what you need to
include in every board memo: 


 * Each team leader writes their own section, no more than 1-2 pages summarizing
   the state of the business. Introduction, things going well, challenges, plans
   for the future, update on items from last time. These sections can contain
   graphs and charts
 * The CEO summarizes and provides a narrative at the beginning of the document
 * The VP Finance attaches the financial statements and key reports
 * The team circulates the narrative with the board ahead of time. Board members
   comment and ask questions as they read. The team clarifies points and
   provides analysis where necessary


MEETING MINUTES


Call to Order

 * A [meeting type] meeting of [organization name] was held on [date] at
   [location]. It began at [time] and was presided over by [chairperson’s name],
   with [secretary’s name] as secretary
   

‍Attendance

Voting members

 * ‍
   

Guests

 * ‍
   

Members not in attendance


 * ‍

‍Approval of minutes

‍A motion to approve the minutes of the previous [date] meeting was made by
[name] and seconded by [name].


Matters up for decision:


 * Major strategic decisions
 * Routine decisions
   

Matters up for discussion: 

 * ‍‍
   

CEO report: 


 * Current pressing issues
 * Matters for approval
 * Update on strategic plan implementation/rollout 
 * Critical Key Performance Indicators 
 * Risk and compliance update
 * Discussion around financial statements and key reports  
   

Committee minutes 


 * Audit and risk committee
 * Governance committee 
   

Other matters for discussion


Meeting finalization 


 * Actions to be taken
 * Items for public disclosure
 * Next meeting
 * Meeting close

Use this template





4 MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE: EXECUTIVE MONTHLY MEETING

Because weekly (or even monthly) Executive Team Meetings relentlessly come
around on the calendar, taking meeting minutes for them can quickly overwhelm a
person who doesn’t yet have a good system in place.. 

A good system for an Executive Weekly Meeting includes built-in ways of: 

 * Collaborating on the agenda items
 * Sharing the agenda easily
 * Taking notes 
 * Handing off responsibility for taking notes on the fly
 * Secure, easy ways of sharing the meeting minutes afterward
 * Secure, easy ways of storing and searching the entire series of meeting
   minutes

Fellow offers an end-to-end easy system for managing all these functions. 

But any such system starts with an agenda template professionally designed for
an Executive Weekly Meeting. Check out the free, instantly-available template
below. It doubles as the template for taking meeting minutes. 


MONTHLY MANAGEMENT MEETING




REVIEW METRICS/KPIS

Track progress on metrics, goals vs. actual. Where are we off from the plan?
Why?


 * 
   


COMPANY UPDATE

Share key updates and provide a “State of the Union.”



DEPARTMENT/TEAM LEAD ROUNDTABLE

Keep everyone up to date, look for efficiencies, and help each other get
unblocked.



NAME

Recent wins

 * 
   

Current priorities

 * 
   

Anything you are stuck on?

 * ‍
   


NAME

Recent wins

 * 
   

Current priorities

 * 
   

Anything you are stuck on?


 * 
   


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (OPTIONAL)

Improve your long-term business results through an interactive learning or
team-building experience.



PROBLEM-SOLVING SESSION

Chose one challenge or area of priority.

 * Presentation on the challenge
 * Open discussion to better understand the challenge and find solutions
 * Assign next steps
   


NEXT STEPS

 * @name Task by DUE-DATE

Use this template





5 MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE: SPRINT PLANNING

Sprints that reach goals require effective sprint planning, which requires
effective sprint meetings. Done well, a sprint planning meeting not only kicks
off a new sprint, but also provides: 

 * Motivation
 * Structure
 * Clear next steps
 * Clear criteria by which success is judged 

A Sprint Planning Meeting Agenda will help to avoid unanticipated obstacles and
make sure everyone knows who’s accountable for what and who is authorized to
make decisions on any given issue that may arise. 

SPRINT GOAL

The professional agenda / meeting minutes example for a sprint planning meeting
below starts with the Goal, so that everyone knows what the purpose of the
meeting is. Collaborate with other stakeholders to determine the Goal. 

SPRINT BACKLOG

Then refine your Backlog as you create the agenda.  The Backlog is a complete
list of what the product requires and in what chronological order. Presenting
the Backlog is part of mapping the progress in the project so far. 

EPICS TO BE DELIVERED

This template has you moving naturally then from where the project is to what
Epic Deliverables are next. 

SCOPE OF WORK

From there the meeting will move to refining the Scope of the Work, to make sure
everyone is on the same page about what “done” means in this sprint. 

KEY RISKS AND CONCERNS 

The Key Risks and Concerns section anticipates possible roadblocks that may
arise, and how to deal with them, and who might help deal with them. 

NOTES AND TAKEAWAYS AND ACTIONS

The Notes and Takeaways section, and the Actions section, confirm what has been
decided, and who is responsible for owning any given part of the process.

FOLLOWUP

Followup specifies exactly how task owners will be held accountable, and how
stakeholders can help and be kept up to speed.


SPRINT PLANNING




SPRINT GOAL

What is the main purpose of this sprint? Define key objectives below.‍


SPRINT BACKLOG

What user stories match the sprint goal? Share this with your team prior to the
meeting so they can contribute. Break each user story down into individual
tasks. Make sure each task has as much information as possible. Include
important metrics.


‍EPICS TO BE DELIVERED

List out the epics that we're planning to start or deliver during this sprint.‍


SCOPE OF WORK CLARIFICATION

Revisit your definition of "done." Decide on the acceptance criteria that will
be used to determine when each individual task is complete. Make sure all of
this realistically aligns with your team's capacity. ‍


KEY RISKS & CONCERNS

What potential issues could come up based on the goal and sprint backlog? How
can we solve them? Does the scope of work allot enough time for unexpected
issues


‍NOTES AND TAKEAWAYS

What were the main insights and discussion points from this sprint planning
session?‍


TAKE ACTION

Get verbal confirmation from your team about the next steps to be taken. Clarify
who's completing them and when they should be done by. Note this information
here to share and assign.‍


FOLLOW-UP

How will we keep in touch and stay up-to-date about progress? Should we schedule
a follow-up meeting?


Use this template





6 MEETING MINUTES EXAMPLE: ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS

One-on-One Meetings can take many forms, from General One-on-Ones, to a Monthly
Coaching Call, to Mentoring Meetings, One-on-One Manager Weekly Meetings, and
many more. 

(To see a full slate of professional One-on-One Meeting templates, select the
the “One-on-One” filter at Hugo’s repository of 80+ Free, Professional Meeting
Templates.)

But the one thing that One-on-One meetings require, and is often overlooked, is
an agenda. The need for a One-on-One Meeting Agenda can be overlooked because a
one-on-one meeting may seem simple, because it’s just between two people. 


WHY ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS NEED AGENDAS AND MEETING MINUTES, TOO

But the reality is, a meeting between two people, or among 2,000 people in an
all-hands-on-deck meeting, requires direction. 

A One-on-One meeting requires an agenda. And it requires meeting minutes, so
that each participant can know the focus of the meeting, what was decided, and
directions going forward. 

The worst thing about meetings – any meetings, even one-on-one meetings – is
their poor management. Poor management of a meeting wastes people’s time and
saps their energy. And people naturally dislike that. 

On the other hand, well-managed meetings multiply an individual’s
accomplishments as part of a team, and thus are the opposite of wasting time.
Individuals naturally thrive based on such meetings. 

One-on-One meetings are no exception. When you attend a One-on-One Meeting, you
have the more opportunity than in any other meeting to affect the outcome. It
can be goal-oriented, directed, documented, and energizing. 

All you need is the right, professionally designed template. 

For General One-on-One Meetings, this agenda is useful. (For several more
specific kinds of One-on-One meeting agenda templates, click the filter
“One-on-One” at our repository of 80+ and growing meeting templates.)


ONE-ON-ONE: MANAGER WEEKLY 1:1




INTRO QUESTION

Start with an open-ended question. How was last week? What’s been working well
for you lately? 



CELEBRATE WINS & LESSONS LEARNED

What have we accomplished since our last meeting? Note progress on important
initiatives.

How can we be better? Highlight lessons learned from the previous week.



REMOVE ROADBLOCKS

What (if anything) is stopping—or slowing down—your progress? How can we remove
that roadblock? What support do you need? 

Plan to remove specific roadblocks and create action items.



TWO-WAY EVALUATION AND FEEDBACK

How are we doing? How can we work together more effectively? 



OPEN DISCUSSION

Provide time for open discussion. Is there anything else you want to talk
about? 



FOLLOW-UP

Should we schedule another one-on-one? Review any action items arising from the
one-on-one.



ACTION ITEMS:

 * ‍
   

Use this template




GET 80+ MEETING MINUTES TEMPLATES (FREE TO DOWNLOAD)

These examples of meeting minutes all come from our free agenda template
library—only they've been filled in with more information.

In fact, all of the meeting agenda templates in our library can be used for
meeting minutes. After all, meeting minutes are essentially the agenda of a
meeting, just filled in with summaries of what happened in that part of the
meeting.

Find these templates and many more in our large gallery of templates, including
executive meetings, board meetings, sales meetings, customer calls, team
meetings, and staff meetings.

Get free meeting minutes templates

Go further with Fellow.app


Use a meeting productivity tool like Fellow to share and collaborate on meeting
agendas, notes, and action items.

Get Fellow today






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Comprehensive guide to taking meeting minutes. 5 free Word and Google Doc
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What Should *Not* Be Included in Meeting Minutes?

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Don't switch tenses, don't record debates (just outcomes), and other tips on
what to leave out of your meeting minutes.


Run efficient meetings, come to a decision, and get back to work
Have productive meetings your team can be proud of with a clear meeting agenda
for every event in your calendar.
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