How do minutes become confirmed if the persons present at the meeting when a decision was adopted are no longer in attendance?

This is a really common question and the answer sounds weird, but it is nevertheless the answer!

The scenario is that at meeting1 certain people are in attendance and the minutes are written.

At meeting 2, some (or possibly all) of the people who were at meeting 1, are absent.

The minutes of meeting1 are to be confirmed at meeting 2. Anyone can in fact move or second the confirmation motion and everyone present at meeting 2 can vote.

The issue is this Does meeting 2 accept that the minutes as presented are an accurate record?

The key word is accept

The question is not – Does meeting 2 know with certainty that the minutes are an accurate record?

So the confirmation of the minutes is really saying that in the opinion of the people at meeting 2, the minutes of meeting 1 are accurate.

By the way, just because a set of minutes is confirmed, that does mean they are set in stone. If at a later point an error or inaccuracy comes to light you can go back and amend any set of minutes but only with the approval of a meeting.

It all really comes down the faith the people have in the minute taker so always choose a good one!

I know it sounds weird but that;’s the answer folks!

Last year’s agm mintues have been sent out for a meeting later this month.  My name has been used for proposing items when I did not.  What can I do about it?

There are two things you can do. The first is attend the AGM and when the minutes are confirmed, stand and point out that you did not propose certain items and insist that the minutes be amended to reflect that.

The problem that may cause, is that the meeting may not recall who did propose the items. If they cannot recall, then that is still not your problem – it is the problem of the meeting and the minutes may then be amended to read the proposer could not be identified.

The second thing you can do if you cannot attend the meeting (and this worth doing even if you can attend) is formally write to the secretary of the organisation requesting that the changes be made to the minutes. If the items are a big issue for you, you could insist that the minutes, with the corrections be reissued.

Do you have to table minutes of an ordinary meeting at a special meeting?

I hate being pedantic, but it does depend on what you mean by a “special meeting”. I’ll explain what I mean.

If you have a meeting that is outside the regular timetable, for instance, on the 3rd Monday instead of  the 4th Monday, some people call that a “speacial meeting”. It’s not really a special meeting. it’s just that the day you meet has changed.

If you have an additional meeting, as well as your regular meetings, for instance to discuss a particular issue, then some people call that a “special meeting”. It’s not wrong to call it that, but it can be confusing if you ever have “Special General Meetings”.

So, if you have a special meeting like the last one I explained – a meeting to discuss something in particular, or at a different time or place, then the minutes you table at that “special meeting” are the ones from the last ordinary meeting because in meeting terms, this meeting is just a regular meeting – the only thing that makes it special is that it is called outside the normal timetable.

If however, Tepora is talking about a Special General Meeting, then that is whol;e new ball game.

A Special General Meeting is exactly the same as an Annual General Meeting, except that it is held between Annual General Meetings usually to make a decision on something important like a constitution change.

In this case, the minutes that are tabled at a Special General Meeting, are those of the last “General Meeting” which would probably have been the Annual General Meeting.

A “General Meeting” (whether is and AGM or an SGM) is one where every member has to receive a notice of the meeting in the prescribed format and time frame and also a notice of the business that is to be conducted at the meeting. No other substantial business should be conducted at that meeting.

What can you do if you are unable to locate the preceding AGM minutes due to poor record keeping and changeover of staff? The financial statements are available but the ensuing discussions are not recorded. Can we table a summary of items discussed at the preceeding AGM in place of the item, Minutes of the [year before] AGM?

The answer is really in the question.

The reality is that if the minutes cannot be found, then they can’t be presented.

Your suggestion to present a summary of items is a good one.

If it is queried, what else can you do?

The document with the summary should of course then be included in the meetings of this AGM with statement as to why they have replaced the minutes.

Do you actually have to read the minutes from the previous year’s AGM at the next AGM so they can get approved?

I assume you mean by read,  ”read aloud”.  If you do, then this is a practice that (thankfully) died decades ago. In today’s world of photocopying and email, the minutes can be sent to everyone or a copy can be given to everyone at the meeting.  Then the motion to approve the minutes can be moved and put to the vote.

The essential thing is that people have the opportunity to approve the minutes and to do that they need to know what is contained in them. Reading the minutes aloud is, as I have said, an ancient practice and does not really give people an understanding of what went on because it gets so boring listening  - people switch off.

A much better practice is to send a copy of the minutes to everyone or make them available and then the people at the meeting have a hard copy (or have had the opportunity to see a hard copy) and they can accept them or modify them based on that. Reading the minutes aloud is a very inefficient way to deal with the confirmation of the minutes.

If a well meaning , but “old fashioned” person does start to read the minutes aloud, then anyone can simply interrupt them and move that the minutes be taken as read – this is what a person who is savyy about meetings would do.

In regards to when the minutes should be sent out, you may like to read my previous post at  http://masterofmeetings.com/index2/annual-general-meeting-minutes

Please Note: The author accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.

There are really only two types of “general meeting” – the Annual General Meeting and the Special General Meeting (SGM) which is sometimes called an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

If the meeting is a “general meeting” as opposed to an ordinary or regular meeting, then the minutes which are approved are those of the last general meeting.

So if you have an AGM, and no other general meeting is held until the next AGM, then the minutes which are approved are those of the last AGM.

If you have an AGM, and then during the year you have an SGM or EGM, then the minutes that are approved at the SGM are those of the AGM – the last general meeting. Then, at the next AGM, the minutes which are approved are those of the SGM since it was the most recent general meeting.

Please Note: The author accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.

The trick here is to prepare in advance. If you prepare the agenda and make it very detailed, then when the meeting is running, all you have to do is fill in the gaps on the agenda document and it becomes the minutes.

Most minute takers I know who move to taking minutes on a laptop, never go back to doing it manually.

Remember the key understanding you must have about minutes is that minutes are a record of what is decided and what is done, NOT what is said. Once you have that understanding then taking minutes on a computer is a breeze because you simply capture main points during discussion and then the final decision and then the action that is required.

People who have the most difficulty with minutes whether they are manual or on a computer are those who try to capture what people say – and this is not what minutes should be.

A great advantage of taking minutes on a laptop is that there is no transcribing later – a huge time saver!. You may need to edit slightly but it’s a much easier task than trying to transcribe handwritten notes.

I have been training in minute taking for over 25 years and now, about 70% of the minute takers I meet take their minutes directly onto a laptop and would never go back to handwriting.

It may take a person not used to a laptop a couple of meetings to get used to the idea of taking minutes directly onto the laptop but it is worth persevering.

There are other hidden advantages also. People who take minutes on a laptop are generally more highly regarded by the other people in a meeting than those who hand write minutes – it sounds crazy I know, but it’s true.

Also, if you do the minutes on a laptop, you can distribute them very soon after the meeting and that goes down very well indeed. It is ridiculous, but true, that minute takers are judged by the time it takes the minutes to be distributed far more than they are judged by the content of the minutes! The reason is that almost no-one reads the minutes, but they know when they receive them!

Please Note: The author accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.

The answer is in two parts.

The first is to do with legislation or laws of the state you are in. Check with a local accountant as to how long financial records need to be kept – usually seven years in most jurisdictions, five in others, some have ten years – but check the law where you live.

Even though minutes are not necessarily subject to the same laws as financial records, this is a really good guide and it is smart to adhere to the same time frame as financial records.

Although it is rare, the rules or constitution of your organisation may dictate the time that minutes need to be kept also.

You must however check the laws in your state or country.

The second part of the answer is to do with the historical record.

It can be really great reading to read through minutes of 10, 15, or 30 years ago. The problem is that at the time they are recorded, people often do not see the historical value and so they dispose of the minutes.

My advice is to keep them for as long as possible if you can store them conveniently. You may like to keep a sample of minutes – say every 3rd or 4th set beyond 10 years. One thing is certain – historians find them fascinating and the more you can keep for as long as possible, future historians will thank you for it.

Please Note: The author accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.

Most meetings will have certain items about which there is very little disagreement. An interesting observation of human behaviour however is that even where there is very little disagreement, human beings seem to want to talk and talk and talk. Even though everyone agrees, human beings seem to want everyone to know that they agree.

While this may be interesting and while it may stroke people’s egos, it doesn’t contribute greatly to the productivity and effectiveness of a meeting. The use of a Consent Schedule can help this enormously.

Here is the way it works – The person preparing the agenda usually the secretary/minute taker and/or chairman works with the other person so that two people together decide which issues on the agenda will create minimal disagreement or none. These items are all left on the agenda but they are copied to another document called the Consent Schedule.

The Consent Schedule becomes a list of all of the items on the agenda which the president/chairperson and the secretary believe will not require discussion but can simply be agreed. This list may be short with only two or three items, or in a longer meeting it may include many items, each of which may be small in detail but may still be significant but for which there is anticipated to be no disagreement.

The Consent Schedule is then placed as a separate item on the agenda but very early on in the meeting, probably immediately following the confirmation of the minutes. This item is often called confirmation of the agenda. It can also be a separate piece of paper or it can be physically printed into the agenda itself, whichever way here is how it works.

The person chairing the meeting states that the Consent Schedule needs to be agreed to and asks if there are any items on the Consent Schedule which people want withdrawn.

One voice allows anything to be taken from the Consent Schedule or, you may over a time, determine that two voices are required to take something from the Consent Schedule – it’s up to you. My suggestion is to start with two and if that doesn’t work, go to one. So any two people can say – I’d like item x taken off the Consent Schedule and it then is dealt with when that item on the agenda is reached, because remember you’ve copied items from the agenda to the Consent Schedule, you have not cut them from the agenda – so they’re still there.

So you may end up with, let’s say, five items on the Consent Schedule upon which no-one disagrees and which everyone is happy to agree to. A motion is then called to agree to the items “en masse” of “en bloc”. One motion can be used for them all. The motion would be that all items on the amended Consent Schedule be agreed. That is moved, seconded and put to the vote. If it is carried then those five items when they are reached on the agenda are simply skipped because they are already dealt with. If anyone wants to raise them then, then it’s too late, they were dealt with in the Consent Schedule.

As your group or meeting becomes more mature it will get better and better at leaving things on the Consent Schedule in recognition of the increased effectiveness it gives and in recognition of the increased time it allows for the issues that really are worthy of discussion or where there is discussion required to reach agreement.

Consent Schedules are a useful tool to use in any meeting, business meeting or voluntary association or government appointed board. It is a wonderful way to take out items from the agenda upon which there is no disagreement and shorten the meeting.

Please Note: The author accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.

Firstly, just what are apologies? They are NOT a list of people who have not shown up. They ARE  a list of people who have asked for their apologies to be submitted to the meeting.

So what’s the big deal? Well 99 times out of 100 it isn’t an issue but just occasionally there can be some legal ramifications.

A story I heard recently will certainly stop you recording apologies when people have not aked for them to be recorded. A man was driving to a meeting and had an accident. Since he did not turn up at the meeting, they recorded his absence as an apology. Sounds fine so far.

The problem came when he made his insurance claim for the accident and of course said he was on his way to a meeting. The insurance company checked and found his apologies had been given and they interpreted that as meaning that he had no intention of going to the meeting (since he had given an apology) and he had therefore lied in his claim about where he was going.

Moral of the story is if you receive an aplogy, record it, if you don’t – the person is listed as “not present” or “absent” or left off completely. Most organisations simply record those present and those who have tendered an apology.

Please Note: The author accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.