Because meeting always refer to what has already happened, they are written using the past tense using the third person (which means you never write or e.g. you would not ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘we’) write are deciding’ but was decided’. A useful phrase to use after a discussion is much ‘we ‘it ‘after discussion it was decided that’. This indicates that many people contributed to the discussion but it wasn’t necessary to report everything that was said. Avoid slang, strong adjectives and exaggerations. If one member gets annoyed and says think ‘I they’re all idiots in the Marketing Dept., everything is always late’, no one would thank you for including that statement in the Minutes. Instead you could put: Kent queried the delay with ‘John the promotion leaflets’. Useful phrases After prolonged discussion after much discussion… • …or, Following lengthy discussion of this matter, it was agreed that • … Ms X spoke at great length • … Many views were expressed on this subject • The meeting discussed this in detail and the following points emerged • … After discussion it was resolved that • …
Because meeting always refer to what has already happened, they are written using the past tense using the third person (which means you never write ‘I’, ‘you’, or ‘we’) e.g. you would not write ‘we are deciding’ but ‘it was decided’. A useful phrase to use after a discussion is ‘after much discussion it was decided that’. This indicates that many people contributed to the discussion but it wasn’t necessary to report everything that was said. Avoid slang, strong adjectives and exaggerations. If one member gets annoyed and says ‘I think they’re all idiots in the Marketing Dept., everything is always late’, no one would thank you for including that statement in the Minutes. Instead you could put: ‘John Kent queried the delay with the promotion leaflets’. Useful phrases • After prolonged discussion …or, after much discussion… • Following lengthy discussion of this matter, it was agreed that … • Ms X spoke at great length … • Many views were expressed on this subject • The meeting discussed this in detail and the following points emerged … • After discussion it was resolved that …
Contribute-to-Meetings-in-a-Business-Environment.docx