Here is an article I found on How to Take Business Meeting Notes

How to run an eco club meeting

Taking meeting minutes

Minutes are just notes you take in a meeting, helping to remind you what you’ve discussed and what you’ve agreed. Minutes need to show what has been decided, and who is going to do what. They need to be understandable, even to someone who wasn’t in the meeting.

These minutes are important records of your work, and if you are working towards an Eco-Schools award you’ll need them for your Green Flag award assessment.

There are four parts involved in taking minutes:
1. Make rough notes during the meeting
2. Type or write these up clearly
3. Give copies to everyone who needs them (or, to save paper, save them somewhere everyone can access them)
4. Keep all the minutes (and agendas) together in a file

Top tips for taking minutes
 Make sure you have enough paper and some spare pens or pencils
 Make a note of who is at the meeting. Or you could make a committee register and have people tick off their names
 Do not try and write down everything that is said … it’s impossible

How to take meeting minutes
To find out more about how the Eco-Schools programme can help your eco club visit www.keepbritaintidy.org/ecoschools
 Concentrate on what has been decided and who is going to do things
 Use the same subheadings as the agenda and underline your headings. Leave gaps between each section in your notes
 You could use letters, abbrevaitions or symbols for words you write a lot (for example, use SOF for Switch-Off Fortnight, WW for waste week) - make up your own.
 Remember the minutes need to be understood by someone who wasn’t at the meeting
 Write up the minutes as quickly as possible; if the meeting is still fresh in your mind it’s much easier to write up the notes
 Taking minutes does get easier with time and practice

Over-coming common problems
 If a meeting is well run, it’s easier to take minutes. If you keep to the agenda and discuss one point at a time it’s easier to keep your minutes in a sensible order.
 If everyone talks at the same time, it’s impossible to take notes. If everyone is making your job too difficult, it’s ok to tell them off.
 You might need rules for the meeting to make it easier, like not intertupting, sticking to the agenda, or raising your hand to talk.
 It’s sometimes hard to take minutes and join the discussion at the same time. If there is a section of the agenda you really want to be involved with, it’s ok to ask someone else to take minutes for that section.

To find out more about how the Eco-Schools programme can help your eco club visit www.keepbritaintidy.org/ecoschools