Taking Minutes of Meetings (Creating Success series, 14)

Fantastic book, having read previous good reviews for earlier editions of this book I decided to give this a go. I was starting a new job which involved taking minutes and wanted to have some confidence/skills having never done this before or seen minutes from previous employers, so all in all I knew nothing about minutes . My first day of work involved being thrown into minute my first ever meeting, and once my Director checked the minutes a few days later, he advised they were the best they had ever had and was amazed how well structured the content was. This book talks through logical thinking processes to ensure your notes are well structured. Having never taken minutes before I would thoroughly recommend this book. No need to pay for a day course (which I was seeing online for £150-£400)when for under £15 the book teaches so much more. It is broken into well structered chapters and well worth investing in!

I bought this book for my daughter who has just started a new job taking minutes and she thinks its a great read and very helpful with lots of advice and tips.

I have been taking minutes for years, but I was concerned that I had picked up bad habits and been confused by how other people prepare minutes. This book is succinct and practical. It's only a small book so it doesn't take long to read cover to cover. It's also designed so that you can dip in and out of it and use for reference as there are plenty of cross references. It tells you all you need to know with examples of different styles how minutes should look. In fact, it provides guidance for all the organising required to set up a meeting in the first place too. The author has thought of everthing and there is no unnecessary waffle. I am thinking of buying more books in this series as this one has turned out so well.

I found the book to be useful as it gave me useful tips however the tips were given were the things that i was struggling with

A really useful book if you have to take minutes and you're worried about trying to scribble down everything people say and then end up writing something as long as a novel, full of'The Chair said thats'. The book reassures you that the aim is not to frantically try and get it all down verbatim but summarise it, ideally in plain English, and shows you how to do that, step by step, with lots of examples. There are also lots of tips for working with the Chair and participants. I deliver training courses on Minute taking and other communication topics and happily recommend this book to delegates on courses. Teresa Cook

This neat little "can-do" book contains a wealth of practical information, not just on producing minutes but on the whole process of servicing meetings. There is plenty of encouragement for those low-status employees who are unacknowledged mainstays of their organisations (as the task of minute-taking often falls to these people). A very good buy!

Pretty useful, especially if you are relatively new to taking minutes. useful as a refresher for someone more experienced.

I bought this for a friend who has just been appointed to the secretaryship of our Community Council. He tells me it has solved all sorts of problems for him and given him a host of ideas. He loves it. I look forward to the minutes that he produces

I gave this book as a gift to a member who was elected Secretary in our organization. She had never taken the minutes of a meeting before so I thought she could benefit from the information contained in this book. She was very happy to receive it and has done a fine job as Secretary this year. I think her performance speaks better than I could about the value of this book.

good

This book is proof of the old adage that good things come in small packages. The information provided for the notetaker at meetings is so useful! It includes not just tips on how to take notes, but also how to schedule meetings, keep track of who is (and is not) attending, keeping in touch with the meeting chairperson, and lots of other information that make taking minutes so much easier! I highly recommend this for anyone who gets tapped for taking minutes, scheduling meetings, setting agendas, etc.

Just skimmed it so far.

I learned good tips on writing and editing my meeting notes from this book. I used to write everything I hear in meetings but the book taught me how to organize my notes, weed out extra words and combine tidbits of information to make a coherent report. I recommend this book.