What does the minute taker do if they don’t understand the content of the meeting?

Leave it blank. Yes, you read it correctly. Leave it blank. It happens all the time to minute takers in hospitals, scientific organisations, I.T. meetings and other technical meetings. You see, if you literally do not understand the content of the meeting then there is no way you can intelligently write anything down. If you do, when the “experts” read it, they will think you are incompetent. In other words by trying to do the right thing , you actually end up with a worse result.

The best way is to leave it blank with these words:

“Note for Chair. Didn’t understand this section, please complete it.”

The chair will fill in the gaps without even thinking and will think you are very competent to have pointed it out.

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