Records: Prewriting
Purpose of minutes
Your purpose in writing a minutes document is to record:
Minutes are rarely word-for-word (verbatim) reports, unless the meeting is a highly formal one. Minutes are a record of what was done and what was planned, not what was said.
An effective minutes document reflects the two basic functions of a meeting:
Therefore, an effective minutes document records the essential information related to those two functions, and writing minutes effectively requires strong skills in listening, analysing and summarizing.