Class Details
Effective Minute Taking Course: Writing and Editing
Course summary
Minute-taking is an essential way of documenting the decisions made during business meetings. Given that minutes are legal documents, they require a careful balance of stakeholder consensus, subject-matter expertise, and clarity on what each decision means for your organisation.
In this half-day foundational workshop, participants will gain an introduction to managing their minutes across the three distinct stages of minute-taking: planning, drafting and editing.
The content includes discussion of best practices in minute-taking, case studies, and participants’ experiences, along with several hands-on exercises. These are designed to hone participants’ skills in key areas such as active listening, and editing for clarity and conciseness.
The workshop also addresses various issues that can impact the clarity and consistency of minutes, often within the same organisation. These include:
- ideal length – minutes are not transcripts, so keep them short at 2 to 3 pages
- instructional templates – ensure consistency by embedding instructions into your templates
- difficult discussions – learn how to manage meeting attendee behaviour with confidence.
The training uses examples drawn from various sectors and different disciplines, including HR, operations and business development.
If your organisation’s work affects large stakeholder groups, budgets, and services, fostering a culture of keeping correct, concise minutes is essential. This workshop will set you and your team on that path.
Aims
This course provides you with an overview of the three main stages of minute-taking. It also shares practical tips, techniques, and frameworks to use in each stage.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- know what best practice minutes look like
- plan the questions to ask and topics to clarify ahead of any meeting
- match each meeting discussion item to the meeting agenda
- practice people management techniques that will help keep discussions on track
- refresh your understanding of plain English techniques to use in minutes.
Content
1. Planning ahead
- Legal considerations of minutes
- What best practice looks like
- Different templates to consider
- The 3 stages of minute-taking
2. Drafting the minutes
- Typing vs. handwriting – the pros and cons of both
- Managing digressions and disagreements
- Techniques for active listening to help distil the key points
- Minute-taking practice for a 6-minute mock meeting
3. Editing for structure and style
- Sentence grammar refresh
- Tips for writing in plain English
- Effective list formatting
- Best practice punctuation and formatting
Who this course is for
This foundational minute-taking course is aimed at all professionals in any sector who need a practical, clear introduction to minute-taking.
The course can be taken in conjunction with the Effective Minute Taking Course, or as a standalone course.
Prerequisites
None. However, if you have some prior minute-taking experience, you can be more certain that you’ll finish the workshop with your major questions answered.
Delivery mode
- Face-to-face, presenter-taught training
- Online training via the platform Zoom
Delivery style
Interactive half-day workshop featuring a combination of pair, group and solo work. The facilitator will share best practice techniques in the areas of planning, listening, writing and editing, with various practical exercises where attendees can improve their skills. Participants will receive real time feedback on their work, both for the face-to-face and the online workshops.
Materials
All course materials are provided electronically (via Dropbox).
Sessions
Location
Face-to-face (CCE Building, Sydney)
Public transport
As bus and train timetables regularly change, we suggest you visit the Transport for NSW trip planner before you set out.
The nearest train stations are Newtown Station and Macdonaldtown Station. Macdonaldtown Station is closer by distance than Newtown Station, however trains do not stop as frequently as at Newtown Station.
Other information
Parking
Nearby parking is available at Wilson Parking - RPA Medical Centre Car Park (entry via Elizabeth Street off Carillon Avenue).
A Flexi Saver Rate is available but must be booked in advance online and includes the booking fee. Bookings can be made via the Wilson website or by downloading the Wilson Parking App. Otherwise, hourly parking rates will apply, as advertised on the Wilson Parking website.
Meet the facilitators
Stephanie Oley
Stephanie is an experienced business writer and coach who has developed a sound method of teaching concise, jargon-free writing that tells the story and sets clear reader expectations. Her early career was in government and publishing, before she moved into business writing and coaching in 2006. She has led various writing workshops and programs throughout both the government and private sectors. Some of her notable clients include the Reserve Bank of Australia, NSW Health, Woolworths, Transport for NSW, Credit Corp Group, Law Society of NSW, NHVR, and various Local Councils. In 2013 Stephanie followed her business nose to become partner at Sydney creative agency, The Offices, where she oversees day-to-day proposal writing, content marketing and a range of corporate client writing projects.
Stephanie has a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Sydney, majoring in Linguistics and English Literature, and holds a Cert IV in Training and Assessment. She is a member of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce and volunteers her writing expertise for a number of not-for-profit organisations.
