We all know how unavoidable it is to take notes during TNMs in order to draft minutes for a report. While taking notes it is fundamental to bear in mind its purpose, what are the notes for? Why are they being drafted? For instance, students summarise lectures for latter revising. Notetaking on a transnational meeting is no different, generally, notes are taken so to write minutes and share them with all the meeting’s attendees.
Minutes are the official written record of all the topics, drives and outcomes reviewed on a meeting. They serve as an aid to draft action plans, measure project progress, decision ownership and protection, and as a legal prerequisite, in most countries. In other words, minutes are an official requirement that offers the meeting participants a formal record to look upon if future doubts arise. In a transnational meeting, minutes serve a higher purpose as the participants do not share the same workspace and doublechecking information between colleagues is not always viable.
To guarantee all the proceeds of minute taking are fulfilled, it is of vital importance to collect some crucial information. For instance, the date, time, agenda, and attendees of the meeting; any corrections made to previous minutes; all decisions taken and the outcomes of any voting, as well as those members who differ with the conclusions; documents handed out and the member in charge; description, due dates, and members responsible for new action plans; and any new items discussed that were not on the agenda. It is unadvisable to include long descriptions or discussions, personal opinions or critiques of the documents handed out. Withal, partaking in a transnational meeting adds further difficulties as its participants are not deeply acquainted with each other. Therefore, presentations and explanations tend to run longer among other.
Taking it all into consideration, here are the most valuable tips when minutes taking on an international meeting: request the meeting’s agenda along with some previous minutes to settle a template and save time during notetaking and formalize the minutes into a document shortly after the event to prevent oblivion and risk omitting significant information.
All in all, minute writing is vitally important for any working team, but further with regards to an international team as it summarises the main interactions and work relation between its participants. Thus, it is fundamental to be as accurate as possible and to seek clarification for any misunderstood points to ensure the record is complete. Good luck with future minute taking!