08

Unit

Minutes & Action Plans

Effective Communication

Find this unit in the following modules:

 ead the article about taking minutes.

R
Who takes minutes in a meeting?
You may think that minute-taking is a skill you will never
need to learn. But it is not just secretaries and PAs who
take minutes at meetings. The task could be assigned
to any one of the participants. The appointed person
becomes the minute-taker and it is their responsibility
to make notes during the meeting. They need to focus
on the key points of what is being discussed, which may
include issues from the previous meeting and any future
business. Afterwards, the minute-taker must write up the
notes as part of a formal record.

Business Correspondence
Meetings
Business Grammar:
Infinitives of purpose
Infinitives in notes

The minutes are important both for the people who went to
the meeting and the people who were absent. They should
include the date, place and time of the meeting, the names
of people who attended the meeting, the main points which
were made, and details about the next meeting. Decisions
in meetings are often made by taking a voteproposals are
motioned and participants can vote for or against them (or
abstain). It is important that the results of any motions are
also recorded in the minutes.
Decisions are often made during meetings about action
to be taken in the future and the people to carry out each
action. An action plan is a list of these future actions. It may
also contain an overall objective as well as other information
such as the estimated cost and duration time of each action,
the resources available, and any time or budget constraints.
The action plan may be included as part of the minutes.
People can refer to it as a record of future plans and tasks
assigned.

B Use the words in the box to complete the sentencresponsible

motion
assigned

key
attend
write up

record (noun)
appointed
carry out

his notes from the conference in Madrid.

2 The committee agreed that Mrs Smith should be

3 All employees in the Sales department are to
4 Sarah

as the new Chair.

a meeting.

the task of sorting company mail to the new employee.

5 Michael is to

the task of updating the website.

6 Minutes are a
7 Kate is

of what was discussed and agreed during a meeting.

for ordering office supplies and equipment.

8 Fred moved that we increase the number of external security cameras. The
passed.
9 Minute-takers cannot record everything said during a meeting; instead they focus on the
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Infinitives of purpose
Infinitives in notes

es.
1 Rupert to

Grammar Focus

was seconded and

points.

EF Business English Book 1

Signum International S..r.l. Luxembourg, Luzern Branch, Luzern, 2012

www.ef.com

Category 1:
Effective Communication

Category 2:
Business Focus

Speaking unit Writing unit

 ook at how the infinitive is used to talk about a

L
future action. Find examples in Exercise B.
Adam to take minutes

 ead the meeting minutes. Put the information

R
in the correct order using the boxes.
a Minutes written by: Corinna Bose,
January 15, 2009
b Items discussed and action plan:
c 3. Lee to attend Annual Press Conference
and support the ceremony for the launch of
the new product at the manufacturing plant.
Report back at the next meeting (January 28).
d Meeting objective: Raise awareness of the
new League Pace sports shoe among target
audiences
e 4. Next meeting: January 28 at 10:00 am,
Boardroom
f Attending: Adam Clerk, Karen Lauria, Lee
Andrews, Corinna Bose

 ow use headings and infinitives to

N
write Sam Worfs notes as minutes.

Publication Printing
company

Office of Publication Printing Company

Meeting to arrange office party on

September 23, 2009 in the Meeting Room,
2:00 pm2:45 pm
Sara McNeil, Denis Gilliland,
Martin Jitney and myself.
We decided that the office party will be
on December 10. Martin is going to arrange
the food and drink, Sara has to make a
list of guests and send invitations, and we
asked Denis to book a room at the hotel.

ng

Printi
Publication
company

on Printing Company

Office of Publicati

g 2. Karen to look into new advertising locations

and report back at the next meeting (January
28).
h Date: January 15, 2009
Time: 10:00 am
Place: Boardroom
i 1. Adam to create a database of the products features and competitive advantages.
This needs to be emailed to everyone before
the next meeting (January 28).
There are set phrases that are used when writing up
the minutes of a meeting and action plans.
If you learn these, your minutes will look clearer
and more professional.

Match the definitions to the headings.

1 Items discussed and action plan:
2 Minutes written by:
3 Meeting objective:
4 Attending:
a the people who were at the meeting
b what the people at the meeting talked about
and what they decided to do
c the goal of the meeting
d who took the minutes
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25

Signum International S..r.l. Luxembourg, Luzern Branch, Luzern, 2012