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Getting everyone to agree on what happened during a meeting has never been easy.
In bygone eras, perhaps each important meeting had someone sitting there taking notes in shorthand and then circulating the annotated meeting minutes afterwards.
That’s not happening again anytime soon.
More than likely, the closest thing you have to that is someone sending you a link to a recording of an hour long video and expecting you to catch up.
Also not happening.
How do we update digital meetings so that we can still have virtual meeting minutes, without the arduous manual work of a stenographer, or watching videos of meetings between meetings?
Perhaps meeting minutes have fallen by the wayside while you work out the other kinks in your digital platform. Or maybe you’ve put a lesser sense of value on them. Whatever your reason for letting meeting minutes fade into obscurity, you need to bring them back. Pronto.
What are meeting minutes?
At their root, virtual meeting minutes are proof that the meeting happened, and what was discussed. Without some kind of summary, you can end up having the same meeting over and over again. They are one of the great options for how to end an online meeting.
Meeting minutes highlight:
- Context around the discussion
- Any decisions made or voted upon
- Tasks or projects people will take up
How are digital meeting minutes different?
When you try to convert meeting minutes to a virtual format, the very basic, Level 2 approach is just to start using a Word or Google Doc and send that out via email to everyone.
But let’s get a little more creative, shall we?
Examples of virtual meeting minutes
- One person takes the meeting minutes and puts them in a document that gets emailed out to everyone
- Everyone works collaboratively on a Google document
- You can have a new document for each meeting, or have one doc with a running list of meeting minutes
- You can record the meeting and get it transcribed automatically and then annotate it
- You can use a tool like CLIPr to highlight key moments of the meeting
- You can start an audio or video recording at the end of the meeting and summarize what happened
Benefits of digital meeting minutes
Storing your meeting minutes digitally makes things a lot easier.
- They are easier to search
- You can use variable colors, fonts, headings, and text sizes to stress importance or enhance organization
- You can include photos, graphs, whiteboards, videos, audio recordings, or anything else that can boost the spread of vital information
- There is more security since you can restrict who has access to the meeting minutes
Should virtual meeting minutes be durable?
By durable, we mean, “Should you still be able to find and use this document in six months?” We rarely think of needing meeting minutes much beyond we get to the next meeting. So, as long as they are safe until the next meeting rolls around, you don’t really need to worry about keeping a deep archive.
If important decisions were made, it’s best to document those somewhere else that is highly durable instead of expecting someone to sort back through all the meeting notes.
Virtual meeting minutes template
Before you jump into looking for a template for your virtual meeting minutes, think back to how you want to use them. If you are creating a searchable archive, then it definitely needs to be in text format. If you just need to disperse the information to others, then you can rely on audio or video.
Most virtual meeting minutes templates should include:
- Who was there
- What was discussed
- What was decided
- What was assigned
If you want to spruce things up, try the story spine model from Voltage Control.
Some platforms to consider for digital meeting minutes
Similar to many other aspects of digital companies, whether new or old, companies have sprung up with a variety of platforms to make digital meeting minutes easier to transcribe. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need them.
Great notetakers are a creative breed, so some might be content with an iPad and a stylus. For the sake of ease and a more unified approach to meeting minutes, consider a few of these meeting minute-specific products:
- Docket has a great set of tools for capturing and sharing what happened in the meeting
- Fellow will also take you to the next level for having better meetings
- LetsBuild is geared toward the construction industry, but a meeting is a meeting, amirite?
- nTask starts with project management, but has a great solution for capturing the essentials of the meeting
- Magic Minutes can help you capture digital meeting minutes in a very sensible way
You have plenty to think about as a manager or CEO in a digital forum. But don’t let meeting minutes get the short end of the stick. By adhering to a system and placing a crucial importance on meeting minutes, you make a dedication to the dissemination of vital information.
That, in itself, should be enough for you to get behind a system that works for you. Otherwise, the very people you trust to make decisions and get work done are left in the dust. Don’t let that happen to you.
Getting everyone to agree on what happened during a meeting has never been easy.
In bygone eras, perhaps each important meeting had someone sitting there taking notes in shorthand and then circulating the annotated meeting minutes afterwards.
That’s not happening again anytime soon.
More than likely, the closest thing you have to that is someone sending you a link to a recording of an hour long video and expecting you to catch up.
Also not happening.
How do we update digital meetings so that we can still have virtual meeting minutes, without the arduous manual work of a stenographer, or watching videos of meetings between meetings?
Perhaps meeting minutes have fallen by the wayside while you work out the other kinks in your digital platform. Or maybe you’ve put a lesser sense of value on them. Whatever your reason for letting meeting minutes fade into obscurity, you need to bring them back. Pronto.
What are meeting minutes?
At their root, virtual meeting minutes are proof that the meeting happened, and what was discussed. Without some kind of summary, you can end up having the same meeting over and over again. They are one of the great options for how to end an online meeting.
Meeting minutes highlight:
- Context around the discussion
- Any decisions made or voted upon
- Tasks or projects people will take up
How are digital meeting minutes different?
When you try to convert meeting minutes to a virtual format, the very basic, Level 2 approach is just to start using a Word or Google Doc and send that out via email to everyone.
But let’s get a little more creative, shall we?
Examples of virtual meeting minutes
- One person takes the meeting minutes and puts them in a document that gets emailed out to everyone
- Everyone works collaboratively on a Google document
- You can have a new document for each meeting, or have one doc with a running list of meeting minutes
- You can record the meeting and get it transcribed automatically and then annotate it
- You can use a tool like CLIPr to highlight key moments of the meeting
- You can start an audio or video recording at the end of the meeting and summarize what happened
Benefits of digital meeting minutes
Storing your meeting minutes digitally makes things a lot easier.
- They are easier to search
- You can use variable colors, fonts, headings, and text sizes to stress importance or enhance organization
- You can include photos, graphs, whiteboards, videos, audio recordings, or anything else that can boost the spread of vital information
- There is more security since you can restrict who has access to the meeting minutes
Should virtual meeting minutes be durable?
By durable, we mean, “Should you still be able to find and use this document in six months?” We rarely think of needing meeting minutes much beyond we get to the next meeting. So, as long as they are safe until the next meeting rolls around, you don’t really need to worry about keeping a deep archive.
If important decisions were made, it’s best to document those somewhere else that is highly durable instead of expecting someone to sort back through all the meeting notes.
Virtual meeting minutes template
Before you jump into looking for a template for your virtual meeting minutes, think back to how you want to use them. If you are creating a searchable archive, then it definitely needs to be in text format. If you just need to disperse the information to others, then you can rely on audio or video.
Most virtual meeting minutes templates should include:
- Who was there
- What was discussed
- What was decided
- What was assigned
If you want to spruce things up, try the story spine model from Voltage Control.
Some platforms to consider for digital meeting minutes
Similar to many other aspects of digital companies, whether new or old, companies have sprung up with a variety of platforms to make digital meeting minutes easier to transcribe. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need them.
Great notetakers are a creative breed, so some might be content with an iPad and a stylus. For the sake of ease and a more unified approach to meeting minutes, consider a few of these meeting minute-specific products:
- Docket has a great set of tools for capturing and sharing what happened in the meeting
- Fellow will also take you to the next level for having better meetings
- LetsBuild is geared toward the construction industry, but a meeting is a meeting, amirite?
- nTask starts with project management, but has a great solution for capturing the essentials of the meeting
- Magic Minutes can help you capture digital meeting minutes in a very sensible way
You have plenty to think about as a manager or CEO in a digital forum. But don’t let meeting minutes get the short end of the stick. By adhering to a system and placing a crucial importance on meeting minutes, you make a dedication to the dissemination of vital information.
That, in itself, should be enough for you to get behind a system that works for you. Otherwise, the very people you trust to make decisions and get work done are left in the dust. Don’t let that happen to you.
