Effective Minutes

Boon or bane, meetings are part and parcel of management process. Meetings serve as an avenue for group decision making and the minutes, written accounts of what transpired at meetings.

Suggested items to be included in your minutes template

AGENDA TOPIC : An item on the agenda
Discussion : A brief summary of what had been being discussed
(not a verbatim record of who said what)
Decision Made : A conclusion or decision made as a result of the discussion.
Motions and resolutions need to be recorded verbatim.
Action to be Taken : The follow-up action that needs to be taken
Person Responsible : Name of the person responsible for the action
Deadline : Deadline for the action

Repeat the above for each item on the agenda.

The minutes should be written and distributed as soon as possible after the meeting (not just before the next meeting) for the following reasons:

The proceedings of the meeting and the information are fresh in everyone’s mind so that mistakes in the minutes can be avoided or corrected.
The person responsible for the action to be taken can be reminded of his responsibility.

Here are various minutes meeting templates from Microsoft.