Staff Meeting Agenda Template

Related Templates

• Daily Huddle
• Weekly Review
• Weekly Team Meeting Agenda

The Art of Taking Staff Meeting Minutes

If there’s one thing people dislike more than attending meetings, it’s having to take the meeting minutes. If you’re taking staff meeting minutes, there’s no eating lunch during the meeting, which 24% of employees do, or answering emails which 55% do. Instead, you are focused on the discussions, no matter how off-topic or boring. Then, after the meeting, you have to formalize the minutes and distribute them. No wonder nobody wants to be responsible for staff meeting minutes.

Why Minutes are Needed

However, taking minutes doesn’t have to be an arduous task. With a little preparation, taking minutes can be more than a must-do task; in fact, it can contribute to more productive staff meetings. So, why are minutes important? They serve as a:

• Reminder of what was decided and what milestones should be met
• Reference that ensures everyone remembers what was agreed to
• Guide to what has and will transpire
• Productivity tool that minimizes the need to discuss topics that were addressed previously
• Record of how decisions were made and by whom

Meeting minutes capture details about decisions, tasks, and assignments. When staff meeting minutes are shared, everyone has a clearer picture of individuals and groups’ expectations.

Where to Start

The first place to start when preparing to take minutes is with the meeting agenda. If the meeting facilitator hasn’t developed an agenda, volunteer to help put one together. Having an idea of how the meeting will be organized makes it easier to keep information organized during a meeting. Looking at staff meeting minutes samples can also provide direction.

When preparing to take minutes, remember why minutes are important to ensure you record crucial information. Because minutes serve as a record of what was discussed, what was decided, and what should be done, all deadlines, assignments, and responsible parties must be included in the meeting’s minutes.

It is equally important that minutes be distributed as soon as possible after the meeting. Promptly sharing minutes ensures that everyone remains on the same page and stays focused on their assigned tasks. It reinforces assignments and allows corrections to be made if needed.

Now, let’s look at some templates to help get started.

Meeting Minutes Template

The meeting agenda or meeting notice should provide an outline of what will be covered in the meeting. It should also list the names of meeting attendees. Any handouts that will be referenced in the meeting should be included with the agenda. These documents should be stored in the same location as the meeting minutes, so there is a central repository for all related materials.

Before taking notes, look at staff meeting minutes samples that include the following:

• Date, time, and place of the meeting
• Names of attendees
• Names of those unable to attend
• Clarification of previous meeting discussions, if necessary
• Topics to be covered
• Date, time, and place for next meeting, if known.

Sometimes an item from a previous meeting needs further clarification. In those instances, the original topic should be listed, followed by the items that need clarification. Then, a summary of the clarifying information should be included.

Sample of Meeting Minutes with Action Items

Most meeting minutes templates include a brief summary of each topic on the agenda followed by key points as mentioned during the discussion. Any action items should be listed along with the individuals responsible for their completion and a deadline. Here is an example of meeting minutes with action items.

Topic 3: Submit Final Build to QA

To meet the upcoming release date, the final build of software must be sent to QA no later than July 15. The user verification module is not ready and has not been incorporated into the final build. Resources were reallocated to another project which has put development behind. More resources are needed to bring the work back on schedule. As a team, we need to determine what is required to meet the July 15 date.

Action Items

NameAssignmentDate

Bill Determine what resources are needed to complete the module Friday, Jun 4

Bill, Joe Meet to discuss reallocation of resources Monday, Jun 7

Whether it is tables or bulleted lists, make sure the staff meeting minutes template has a place to enter action items under each topic. Formatting may depend on the formality of the meeting.

Professional Minutes Meeting Format

Minutes can serve as a legal record of what transpired during meetings such as Executive Board or local government meetings. They may be used in staff meetings that involve members from different organizations. Because the team may use these minutes during external proceedings, they must reflect professional minutes in a meeting format. Experienced individuals use the following format.

• Date and place of meeting
• Time the meeting is called to order
• Names of those in attendance
• Names of those not in attendance
• Corrections to previous meeting minutes
• Additions to the current agenda
• Whether a quorum exists

A quorum is the minimum number of individuals that must be present at a meeting to conduct business. This requirement is part of parliamentary procedures as outlined in Robert’s Rules of Order. Reviewing the rules will help explain the terminology and the key parts of the process that should appear in the minutes.

If a quorum is established, the topics listed on the agenda are presented for discussion, usually divided into old and new business. Each topic should include a brief synopsis followed by:

• Motions that were made and seconded
• Voting results
• Actions to be taken
• Additional steps

The minutes should reflect items that will be held over to the next meeting. Therefore, the end of the minutes should include the date, time, and place of the next meeting, followed by the time of adjournment.

As with all minutes, distribution of the meeting minutes should occur as promptly as possible after the meeting. Both the agenda and minutes of the meeting should be saved for future reference.

Simple Staff Meeting Minutes Sample

Most staff meeting minutes are less formal, especially when the attendees only include internal staff. For those meetings, teams can use an informal meeting minutes template. Since most staff meetings follow a similar pattern, using templates makes sense. A simple staff meeting minutes sample begins with the following:

• Date, time, and place of the meeting
• Names of attendees
• Names of those unable to attend

After the basic information is recorded, staff meetings may include any of the following topics in any order. It just depends on what is essential to the group.

1. Ongoing projects
2. Recent performance
3. Next quarter’s goals
4. Industry news
5. Upcoming events
6. Process updates
7. Customer feedback
8. Design review
9. Product training
10. Current strategy
11. Backlog refinement
12. Annual budget

What is included in a staff meeting also depends on the company and its culture. Whatever approach is used, the group should customize simple staff meeting minutes. A simple staff meeting minutes sample might include the following:

Fun-in-the-Sun Staff Meeting

July 14, 2020, East Atrium, 1:00 PM

Attendees: Sam, Jack, Layla, Todd, Christie, Sally

Absent: John, Susan

Best Shades Award

Layla received the best shades award with her 1960s white frames.

Topic 1: Dashboard

Christie needs feedback on the latest dashboard designs by Friday. She can’t submit the designs by the approval deadline without everyone’s comments.

Action Item: Jack, Layla, and Todd will supply feedback no later than end-of-business on Friday.

Topic 2: Customer Service Update

Todd has collected customer service data from existing dashboards and presented the results to the Customer Service department. He is working with CS to establish key performance indicators to use to evaluate new dashboards when deployed. The KPIs should be in place by month-end.

Next Meeting

July 21 @ 2:00 PM in Conference Room 200

How to Take Minutes

MInutes are prepared after the meeting, using notes taken at the time of the meeting. Here are tips for taking notes.

Tip 1. Do not try to record the meeting verbatim. If that level of detail is required, consider videotaping or recording the meeting.

Tip 2. Have an outline of what will be covered in the meeting. This gives structure to note-taking.

Tip 3. Prepare a list of attendees ahead of time and mark those who are absent. It will save time, especially if there are several participants.

Tip 4. Develop a type of shorthand to reduce the number of words that need to be written out. For example, use PD for product development or initials for individual names.

Tip 5. Don’t write in complete sentences except for clarity.

Tip 6. Use a template to make it easier to keep information organized while taking notes.

Finding the best agenda and minutes templates can go a long way to making meetings less stressful. Agenda templates can get a meeting off to the right start, and minutes templates can ensure that critical information is not missed. Explore our free minutes meeting and agenda templates for the best ways to ensure every meeting is a productive one.