Note Taking & Minutes for Meetings – Training Course Outline

Most people have to take notes or minutes of meetings occasionally as part of their work.

Accurate and timely meeting summaries are extremely important for documenting meetings with colleagues, the public or other organisations.

Without a solid foundation in listening, writing and editing skills, Note-Takers may lack confidence in their ability to produce accurate and readable minutes.

This course concentrates on developing good listening techniques, includes organisational hints and tips for Note Takers, and covers grammar, punctuation and proof-reading to make sure the final document is completely professional.

What you will learn on this course

By the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Listen actively for relevant content and know how to maintain concentration
• Use a variety of techniques to ensure you have the best support when note-taking
• Avoid common grammatical and punctuation mistakes
• Write in a clear, concise style and be aware of accepted minuting conventions
• Use impartial and accurate descriptions that convey your content effectively and professionally
• Give your meeting notes that final polish before you send them

Course Duration

This course is a one-day, interactive workshop. We will discuss ways to strengthen listening, organisational and writing skills using typical examples.

Delegates will work together, contributing ideas and completing exercises to practise course content.

Course Contents

1. Are you listening?

• Six ways to listen powerfully
• Six things that can break your concentration, and how to avoid them

2. Organisational hints, tips and tools

• Invent your own shorthand – shortcuts when note-taking in longhand
• You call the shots – setting the agenda and managing the meeting
• Managing your Chair – constructive ways to work together
• Note-taker’s survival kit – the essentials to have at hand

3. Writing to communicate

• Clarifying your objective
• Analysing your audience
• Eight principles of writing
• Commonly confused words
• Things that make some people go mad!

4. Grammar – the building blocks of a sentence

• Articles
• Nouns and verbs
• Prepositions
• Adjectives and adverbs

5. Different ways to build sentences

• Growing a sentence from the simple to the complex
• Making verbs and nouns agree
• Connecting things – and, but, because, etc.
• Clauses and phrases – simple sentences
• Avoiding sentence structures that ‘clunk’

6. Techniques for writing good notes or minutes

• Benefits of good minute taking
• Importance of pre-meeting preparation
• Layout and style
• Recognising facts from chatter
• Knowing what to include
• Sharing ideas – what works for you?

7. Polishing your prose

• Making Word™ work for you
• The paragraphs
• The sentences
• The words
• The grammar and punctuation
• Proofing – how to see what’s really there

Book Now!

For details of timetabled courses, see the schedule. For prices, see the costs table.

To reserve your places you can either book on-line or call us on +44 (0)1635 202013/+44 (0)207 0960 749.