AGENDA AND MINUTES

Agenda and Minutes of Meeting

General
The function of organizing a meeting progresses
through the following three phases:
1.The Preparatory phase
2.The Conduct phase
3.The Follow-up phase

The overall responsibility for the organization of

the meeting is that of the Secretary.
• The “Purpose of the Meeting”, is the starting point
of all preparatory actions.
• The aim of the meeting should be clear and
unambiguous.
• In case the aim is not clear, the agenda will not be
clear.
• Meetings are held periodically. They can be weekly,
monthly, quarterly or annual.
• The agenda for such meetings are normally fixed.
• Once the purpose of the meeting is clear, the
preparatory actions can commence.
• The agenda can now be set to prepare the
participants to attend the meeting.
 AGENDA
• The function of the agenda and minutes is to
ensure that the group decision making process in a
meeting runs smoothly and to ensure the
cohesiveness of the group.
• A well structured informative agenda is absolutely
necessary for a successful meeting.
• The agenda should outline the specific items to be
discussed; name the person responsible for
bringing up the topic; the time allotted for each
item; any supporting information to be reviewed
and any preparation required by the members.
 AGENDA
An agenda for a meeting should be prepared well
in advance. It should include a list of things to be
discussed. It should contain the following
components:
1. Name of the organization and location.
2. Day, date, year, time and place of meeting to
be convened.
3. Minutes of the previous meeting.
4. Various issues to be discussed.
5. Signature of the concerned authority or
Secretary.
 A Meeting Agenda:
• Makes sure all group members are adequately
prepared for the meeting.
• Makes sure each agenda item is raised by
specific persons and achieves the desired
outcome.
• Prevents waste of time during the meeting.

The order of listing the agenda should conform

to the order in which the items would be
discussed during the meeting.
Meetings can be held for various purposes:
• Reviewing the state of progress of various
activities.
• Take up issues on which decisions have to be
taken.
• Sharing of information.
• All of the above.

It is therefore quite clear that a decision/action is

not always required.
 Example of an Agenda
__________________________________________________________
Reddy’s Company
Allahabad

A meeting of the Finance Department is scheduled to be held on Wed, Aug, 29

2007 at 3:30 p.m. in Racchu’s hall. The agenda for the meeting is:

1. Confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting.

2. Review of action to be taken against latecomers.
3. Finalization of the summer training schedule.
4. Penal deductions.
All members of the Finance Department are requested to be present for the
meeting.
Abhishek Dahuja
Secretary
Enclosure: Minutes of meeting held on Aug 22, 2007
_____________________________________________________________
 MINUTES

1. Are a formal recording of the proceedings of a meeting.

2. Are written to ensure that all relevant issues being discussed
are put on record and can be cross - referred to by members of
the organization at a later date.
3. Provide a detailed record of the discussions and are always
written in reported speech form. Direct quotations are
avoided.
4. Emphasize the main points of a discussion, the conclusions
arrived at and the recommendations made.
5. Are written by the Secretary of the company or by the council
or a person especially designated for the task.
6. Are signed by the Chairman only after everyone has approved
it. In the event of any controversy regarding the recording of
issues or even details, there is further discussion. Only when
everyone is satisfied, do they sign the minutes, which acts as a
seal indicating acceptance.
 MINUTES
• Effective minutes do much more than recording
the procedure and outcome of the meeting.
• Minutes aid in maintaining the record of who
participated in the decision making process;
what are the decisions made and who is
responsible for implementing them.
• Minutes are generally recorded in two parts:
- Discussion.
- Decision. (Normally recorded as resolutions.
Uses the expression, “It has been resolved to . . .”)
 Recording of Minutes
- Details of the person who initiated the
discussion.
- Details of the participants who took part in
the discussion along with the gist of their
contribution.
- Record of the decisions arrived at.
- Record of the directions/instructions passed
by the Chairman.
- Details of the person/dept. who should take
action.
- Minutes are records of discussions, which take place in
regard to an item.
- The Secretary of the meeting records minutes.
- A meeting shows the following:

The details that should be present in minutes are as

follows:

1. Name of the organization.

2. Specification of the place, date, month, year and time.
3. Name of members, listed in order of seniority. The designation
of officers may also be specified.
4. Name of the Presiding Officer should be listed above the names
of the members for greater emphasis.
5. Names of members who were
invited for the meeting but could
not make it are also listed in a
separate column.
6. Specification of the agenda.
7. Details of dissension, if any.
8. Record of details.
9. Signature of the Secretary and the
Presiding Officer.
10. Vote of Thanks.
 Expression and Language used
Some phrases and expressions used in the
recording of minutes are as follows:

- “Mr. Ram briefed all those present….”

- “Mr. Shyam was of the view……”
- “Mrs. Alpana suggested……”
- “Mrs. XYZ presented…….”
- “The Chairman expressed concern…..”
- “The Chairman appreciated…..”
• Some of the discussions end in decisions by the
participants.
• In arriving at such decisions the suggestions
/opinions are taken into account.
• The amount of detail to be recorded in the
discussions part should be such that no important
issues are missed out.
• Normally the first minute which is recorded is
that the meeting has been initiated. This can be
recorded as under:
- ‘The Chairman called the meeting to order . . .’
- ‘The Chairman welcomed all the participants to
the meeting . . .’.
• There is no one way of organizing the minutes
of a meeting but there are certain widely held
conventions.
• The title, ‘Minutes’, the name of the group and
when the meeting took place, are recorded at
the top of the document.
• Most groups also record in the minutes who
attended the meeting and who was granted
leave of absence.
• Normally, the order of recording the minutes
will be similar to that of the agenda.
 Follow-up phase
Circulation of Minutes
• Minutes are recorded in draft form - prepared
normally within 24 hours.
• Draft minutes are circulated to all the
participants.
• Comments asked for and if any received, they are
examined and necessary amendments made.
• Customary to add a sentence at the end of the
minutes, or in a covering letter under which the
minutes are circulated, which could be as follows:
“In case no comments are received by… (date), it
will be deemed that the minutes are agreed to”.
 Examples of an
Agenda and Minute
 A Notification is to be issued
for a Student Council Meeting.

This is how the notification

will read.
Draft Agenda
Specimen Draft Minutes