Minute Writing Made Simple, Edinburgh
Minute Writing Made Simple - London. Click here
If a meeting is worth holding, it’s worth recording properly
- Minute taking isn’t just for secretaries or office juniors
- Accurate minutes are easier to understand and follow up
- Good minutes don’t embarrass you with omissions or mistakes
From the Top
Taking minutes is a task not just confined to secretaries and PAs these days. Sometimes it gets dumped on the most junior person at a meeting, regardless of ability, experience or knowledge of the meeting subject.
No-one considers taking minutes to be pleasurable, but it has to be done – and done well - if the result is to be useful to all interested parties, as well as those who actually attended the meeting. In some cases, there may be financial implications or statutory requirements that depend on the accuracy and clarity of properly-drafted minutes.
If you are not a shorthand-trained secretary or PA, it can be difficult to keep up with what’s being said. When it’s also a less than interesting meeting – and let’s face it, they do happen - it can be hard to maintain your attention so you don’t miss something. And then when the meeting’s over it’s all got to be typed up and circulated – and most people think that’s about as much fun as watching paint dry!
You might well find it hard to believe we can make the job of minute-taking enjoyable, but after this workshop, you will not only know how to write minutes that are beyond reproach, you will even enjoy doing so! And that’s a promise.
We offer a choice of one-day and enhanced two-day workshops for minute writing skills
On the one-day workshop we will show you how to:
Enhance your listening skills to ensure you hear all key points
Sitting in a meeting and listening is easy enough, but actually hearing what’s being said is not just a matter of concentration, it’s about filtering the discussion so you can note the significant details. We’ll give you tips on effective hearing - with both ears.
Develop an effective partnership with the meeting’s chairman
The chairperson manages and directs the meeting, but needs to work in harmony with the minute-taker so that the flow of the meeting is noted properly. On occasions, this will require assertiveness from you – we show you how.
Improve the layout and grammar of your minutes for greater clarity
Research suggests that 16% of the adult population has literacy problems. We’re not suggesting that includes you, but today’s organisations can no longer assume that employees come to them fully-equipped to write grammatical English. Where help with the basics is needed, we provide it.
Condense your minutes down to the essentials, without losing the flow of the meeting
Different audiences have different needs and expectations from minutes. A CEO may just want an executive summary, while a project team may need to see detail. We’ll show you several methods of filtering your notes so you can zoom in on what needs to be included in the minutes.
Maintain your concentration during the meeting, regardless of subject
This is a tough one, especially if you’re not directly involved in the subject of the meeting. You may not even understand the terminology being used. Relax: our special techniques for improving concentration will help you breeze through the meeting - without dozing off!
Improve your note taking, with a variety of methods to suit your style
Ideally you write up meeting minutes straight afterwards. In practice, it could be a couple of days before you get round to it. By that time, the meaning of some cryptic comment with arrows pointing to a doodled diagram may have evaporated. Once you start applying one of several note-taking methods we’ll show you, such nightmares will be a thing of the past.
Deal with technical subjects and jargon so that your notes are meaningful
Where the meeting includes a lot of technical jargon and detail, it’s easy to lose track. There are ways around the problem, however, so even if you’re a complete technophobe we’ll make sure you’re covered in glory when your minutes are circulated.
Manage all stages of preparing, holding and following up a meeting
There’s more to a meeting than just arriving and sitting down to the coffee and biscuits. Knowing who’s attending and their expectations, for instance, will help you a lot when it comes to taking the notes you will turn into minutes that are a model of clarity. It also helps if you’re involved in the preparation of the agenda and invitation of the delegates and we will help you get up to speed with optimising these tasks as well.
Over the Moon
Who could be more persuasive than a delegate who’s already been on the course? Here’s what a few had to say about the Minute Writing Made Simple workshop.
“Just wanted to let you know how well the course benefited me. First thing on Monday mornings I have to minute a news team meeting. I had been struggling up until this Monday morning. I went into the meeting, confident and prepared to put all my new information to use....guess what? It worked really well. Usually it takes me the whole day to put the notes and action points together for the staff, this time I was finished by lunchtime! What about that!”
“Thanks for presenting such a helpful and useful course, I have already been recommending the course to my other colleagues and have put the word out to the other PA’s about the course in September.”
Kelly McNeil, Girlguiding UK
“Lovely venue, relaxed and enjoyable training session, extremely well delivered. I felt much more confident, and prepared to tackle the toughest of meetings!”
Angela Trevithick, National Childbirth Trust
“The trainers were great and the course was fun. I actually learnt something.”
Natalie Hendricks, London Borough of Merton
“Very glad I attended the course – although I’ve been taking minutes for years I have learnt “new tricks” today.”
Chris Lee, Halton Primary Care Trust
Name Dropping
When you sign up for the Minute Writing Made Simple workshop, we can guarantee you’ll be in good company. Below are just some of the companies who have sent staff to the Minute Writing Made Simple workshop recently.
- 2012
- ABN AMRO
- Barclays
- Boots
- Carphone Warehouse
- Chartered Institute of Housing
- DLA Piper
- Girlguiding UK
- Home Office
- Mercedes Benz
- Pfizer
- Rugby Football Union
- QinetiQ
- Selfridges
- Surrey Police
- UNICEF
Courses and workshops by Today’s PA are designed to engage and entertain, as well as inform – that’s how we can promise to make what can seem to be the dullest of subjects interesting. Our trainers have real-world experience at all levels of the organisation, so they speak your language and understand your issues and problems. And because they have ‘been there and done that’, they know how to get straight to the heart of every subject.
Our trainers ensure they keep right up to date with cultural and procedural changes in office life by engaging closely with course participants and building relationships with workshop.
Date and Venue
13 March 2009
The Dome
George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 2PF
Fee
All this for just £349 + VAT. Charities get a £50 discount.
Contact information
www todaysPA.co.uk
( +44 (0)20 7622 2400
* todayspa
52 The Warwick Building
Chelsea Bridge Wharf
366 Queenstown Road
London
SW8 4NJ
