How to Take Notes for Work - Meeting Minutes Explained

Summary

This video offers essential advice on crafting meeting minutes akin to those used by top consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. The presenter shares a template for structuring minutes, emphasizing the importance of recording insights, tasks, and decisions. The template is designed to streamline the process, making it easier to document and distribute key points post-meeting. Viewers are encouraged to download the template and adapt it for their professional needs, with the presenter's promise of positive feedback from its use.

Takeaways

• 😀 Writing meeting minutes is a common task in the early years of a career, especially in professional services, consulting, and the corporate world.
• 📝 The video provides a template for writing meeting minutes in the style of large consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain.
• 📅 The template includes a header with the meeting type, date, location, and participants, which is important for legal and reference purposes.
• 📋 The structure of the minutes focuses on three main points: insights, tasks, and decisions, rather than recording every detail of the conversation.
• 💡 Insights are significant points shared during the meeting that are new or contribute to the discussion, with the responsible person noted.
• 📈 Tasks are action items assigned to individuals, such as investigating issues or preparing reports, with the responsible person clearly identified.
• 🔔 Decisions made during the meeting are recorded, including any unanimous or dissenting opinions, to capture the board's or committee's consensus.
• 🔄 After the meeting, an email is sent to all attendees with the minutes attached for review and to ensure accuracy.
• 🔄 For recurring meetings, the template can be copied and the date updated for each instance, maintaining a historical record of past meetings.
• 👍 Using this structured approach to meeting minutes has been well-received and can help improve professional communication skills.
• 🎓 The video also promotes a Communications and Slide Writing Academy for further professional development in these areas.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of writing meeting minutes?

The primary purpose of writing meeting minutes is to document the key points, decisions, and actions taken during a meeting, which is especially important in professional services, consulting, and corporate environments.

Why are meeting minutes written in a structured manner?

Meeting minutes are written in a structured manner to ensure clarity and to facilitate easy reference and understanding of the meeting's outcomes, including insights, tasks, and decisions.

What are the three main points to focus on when writing meeting minutes according to the script?

The three main points to focus on when writing meeting minutes are insights, tasks, and decisions.

What is an 'insight' in the context of meeting minutes?

An 'insight' in the context of meeting minutes refers to a valuable piece of information or a point that was shared and discussed during the meeting, which is not already part of the meeting document.

How should tasks be recorded in the meeting minutes?

Tasks should be recorded by specifying the action item, the person responsible for completing it, and any relevant details such as deadlines or the purpose of the task.

What is the significance of recording decisions in meeting minutes?

Recording decisions in meeting minutes is significant as it documents the outcomes of the meeting, including any unanimous or dissenting opinions, and serves as a reference for future actions and discussions.

Why is it important to include the date, location, and participants in the meeting minutes?

Including the date, location, and participants in the meeting minutes is important for providing context, ensuring transparency, and, in some cases, for legal requirements, especially for important meetings like board meetings.

What is the recommended format for the header of the meeting minutes template?

The recommended format for the header of the meeting minutes template includes mentioning the type of meeting, the title 'Meeting Minutes,' and the date of the meeting.

How can the provided template be accessed for personal use?

The provided template can be accessed for personal use by pausing the video and clicking on the link in the video description to download it for free.

What is the recommended approach for distributing meeting minutes after a meeting?

After a meeting, the recommended approach is to send an email to all attendees with the meeting minutes attached, typically in an Excel format, and ask for their review to ensure accuracy and representation.

How can the meeting minutes template be used for recurring meetings?

For recurring meetings, the template can be copied several times, with each copy representing a different meeting. The date can be updated for each meeting, and previous minutes can be kept for historical reference.

Outlines

00:00

📝 Mastering Meeting Minutes: A Guide

This paragraph introduces the importance of writing meeting minutes in professional environments, particularly in consulting and corporate settings. The speaker shares their expertise and offers a template based on their experience in consulting. The template is designed to capture essential elements of a meeting, including the type of meeting, date, location, and participants. It emphasizes the need to document insights, tasks, and decisions made during the meeting. The speaker also provides guidance on how to structure the minutes effectively, focusing on action items and ensuring that they are relevant and concise. The template is available for free download for viewers to use and adapt as needed.

05:02

🔍 Engaging with the Audience: Seeking Feedback and Encouraging Interaction

In this concluding paragraph, the speaker invites viewers to share their own tips and experiences regarding meeting minutes, encouraging active participation through comments. They also remind viewers to like and subscribe to the channel for more content, explaining the importance of engagement for the YouTube algorithm. The speaker, Hinrich, expresses gratitude to the channel members for their support and announces the release of a new educational program, the Communications and Slide Writing Academy, aimed at professional development. The paragraph ends with a farewell, promising more videos in the future, and a call to action for viewers to explore the provided resources.

Keywords

💡Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes are the written records of the discussions, decisions, and actions taken during a meeting. In the context of the video, they are crucial for documenting the outcomes of important meetings, especially in professional services and consulting. The video emphasizes the importance of structuring meeting minutes in a clear and concise manner, focusing on action items, insights, and decisions.

💡Professional Services

Professional services refer to a business sector that provides expertise in a specific field, such as consulting, legal, or financial services. The video script mentions that writing meeting minutes is a frequent task in the early years of one's career in professional services, highlighting the importance of this skill for consultants and corporate professionals.

💡Consulting

Consulting is a type of professional service where organizations provide expert advice to their clients. The video is aimed at individuals in consulting roles, offering advice on how to take effective meeting minutes, which is a key skill for consultants to communicate and document client engagements.

💡Action Items

Action items are tasks or actions that need to be completed following a meeting. The video script provides a template for meeting minutes that includes a section for action items, emphasizing the need to document who is responsible for each task and the expected outcomes. This helps ensure that follow-ups are clear and accountable.

💡Insights

Insights in the context of meeting minutes refer to significant observations or information shared during a meeting that contribute to the discussion or decision-making process. The video script suggests documenting these insights to capture the essence of the meeting and to acknowledge the contributions of participants.

💡Tasks

Tasks are specific duties or activities that are assigned during a meeting and are to be completed by certain individuals or teams. The video script includes tasks as a key component of meeting minutes, advising on how to record them with clarity, including the responsible person and the nature of the task.

💡Decisions

Decisions are the conclusions or resolutions reached during a meeting. The video script advises including decisions in the meeting minutes, noting whether they were unanimous or had dissenting opinions, which is important for legal and historical records, especially in formal settings like board meetings.

💡Template

A template is a pre-designed format or guide used to structure content in a standardized way. The video offers a template for writing meeting minutes, which is meant to help viewers organize and document meetings effectively. The template includes sections for insights, tasks, and decisions, providing a clear framework for note-taking.

💡Corporate World

The corporate world refers to the environment of businesses and companies. The video script mentions that writing meeting minutes is also a frequent task in the corporate world, indicating that the skills discussed are applicable to a broad range of professional settings beyond just consulting.

💡McKenzie, BCG, Bane

McKenzie, BCG (Boston Consulting Group), and Bane are renowned global management consulting firms. The video script references these firms to establish credibility and to indicate that the advice given is in line with best practices in the industry. The mention of these firms suggests that the meeting minute techniques discussed are applicable to high-stakes, professional environments.

Highlights

Writing meeting minutes is a crucial skill in the early years of a career in Professional Services, Consulting, and the corporate world.

This video shares advice on how to write and structure meeting minutes in the style of large consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain.

A helpful template for meeting minutes is provided, based on documents frequently used in consulting.

The meeting minutes template includes a header, date, location, and participants.

For important meetings, it may be legally required to have a clear list of attendees in the meeting minutes.

The meeting minutes should be structured with a focus on insights, tasks, and decisions made during the meeting.

Insights are points shared during the meeting that are relevant and discussed.

Tasks are to-dos assigned to individuals with specific responsibilities.

Decisions made during the meeting should be recorded, noting whether they were unanimous or had dissenting opinions.

After the meeting, an email should be sent to all attendees with the meeting minutes attached for review.

For recurring meetings, keep a history of past meeting minutes for future reference.

Using this structured approach to meeting minutes has been well-received, even for more junior consultants.

The template for meeting minutes is available for free download in the video description.

Another video on note-taking techniques is available for those interested in improving their note-taking skills.

The Communications and Slide Writing Academy is a new educational offering for professional development.

The presenter, Hinrich, invites viewers to share their tips on meeting minutes and to engage with the content by liking and subscribing.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to support the channel and look forward to future content.

Transcripts

one of the things you will frequently do

in the first years of your career both

in Professional Services in Consulting

and also in the corporate word is

writing meeting minutes so writing and

distributing notes after important

meetings so in this video today I want

to share some crucial advice on how to

write and structure meeting minutes in

the style of large consulting firms such

as McKenzie BCG and Bane so welcome to

New coffee break here on my channel from

learning the place where I want to help

you to succeed in the first years of

your career so let's get started I

prepared for you a helpful template

based on a document that I frequently

use to take meeting minutes in my time

in Consulting if you want to follow

along pause the video access the video

description to get the link and download

the template for free let's start with a

header of the meeting minutes template

here I'd recommend you to clearly

mention what type of meeting it is and

also mention that this is now the

meeting minutes that you would be

currently looking at now the next

section here let's mention the date the

location and the participants so when

did the meeting take place where did it

happen so is it an online meeting or was

there any specific meeting room any

specific meeting location and then let's

also mention participants so for more

important meetings maybe board meetings

it's even legally required to have a

clear list of attends in the meeting

minutes so make sure that this included

for you as well and then I'd recommend

you to take the minutes with a simple

structure and here you will write down

all the action items right so this is

not intended to be used as you writing

down every single thing that someone

might have said this is usually not how

you write meeting minutes but instead

you focus on three main points three

main items that you want to write down

first insites second tasks third

decisions so let's start with the first

in insights so this is a piece of

insight that some person shared in the

meeting usually you're not repeating

things which already part of the meeting

document anyways but if someone is

sharing a point then is getting picked

up on in the meeting that then is

getting discussed in the meeting you can

write this down here as an Insight so to

some extent this might be a little bit

subjective what exactly you write down

here make sure that these points are

relevant so if you're filling out this

template during a meeting you are

writing down here the correct type of

item that you're referring to here for

instance I for inside you're writing

down now the inside here into the cell

and then you also you're mentioning who

is the responsible person or the owner

in this example who shared the Insight

in the meeting first type of items

second types tasks so these are the

to-dos right so these are things that

someone now is asked to you with the

letter t here for instance someone is

asked to investigate the drivers of the

cost per lead increase and potential

measures to reduce the cost to

historical averages until the next

hearing committee here now you can write

down who's supposed to do this the

responsible person Lisa in this example

next d a decision so the people meeting

have made a certain decision let's

imagine that this is a steering

committee maybe the board comes together

and here this was about a budget

approval that was decided in this

meeting for decisions you might also

want to write down whether they are

unanimous or whether some were in favor

or against it to take note of that as

well and now over time during the

meeting you can fill out add additional

points here to the sheet based on the

information that we just discussed and

then at the end of the meeting you will

send an email to all the people

attending the meeting adding the Excel

table here with the meeting minutes and

then ask everyone to review it and

potential let you know whether anyone

feels like he or she has been

misrepresented if this is a recurring

series of meetings as it's usually the

case with for inst instance steering

committees or board meetings you might

want to copy this tab several times for

every meeting that is taking place then

you can just change here the date for

the respective meeting and then also

keep always the meeting minutes of Prior

dates in here as a history for future

reference so whenever I use the

structure like this to write down

meeting minutes as a more Junior

consultant maybe also more senior one I

usually always got very positive

feedback I do hope that this template

helps you as well to write your meeting

minutes again you find it as a free

download in the video description feel

free to check it out if you want to

learn more about taking notes I will

link above another video I did on note

taking techniques but if you are really

serious to develop yourself

professionally I recently created my new

Communications and slide Writing Academy

this is the firm learning educational

Flagship offering if you're interested

to transform your career and learn

essential skills else Tau and firm

McKenzie BCG and Bane feel free to check

it out Link in the video description and

now I'd love to hear from you do you

have any tips you'd like to add on

meeting minutes feel free to leave a

comment if you took any value at all out

of this video please destroy the like

button and smash subscribe as well for

the YouTube algorithm my name is Hinrich

I release weekly videos here on the

channel see you again soon big thanks to

all the members of the channel thank you

so much for your support until next week