Posted By Heather Collins
Jim

Two thoughts

1. Use an electronic white board for notes during the meeting and capture the main points on it with agreement from all present.

2. As you say, have a standard format and at each meeting bring along last time's format and simply add to it as you go along. Happy to send you a (blank!) copy of our format if you like.

Also don't try to write down everything. You simply need the gist of each point, what's going to be done about it, who's going to do it and what's the target date.

Posted By Jane Blunt
What I do is print out the agenda with 3 or 4 line spacing. I jot down under these headings the things that I really want to bring up and tick them off if I actually say it. In my notebook I write down what others say. The minutes are compiled from both sources, generally within 24 hours if I can while my memory is fresh.

The agenda is very detailed. I also circulate a draft so that people can mention before the meeting things that they want to bring up. This means that there is a note about most of the things that are going to be raised. It does not stop people bringing up fresh things at the meeting, but it does reduce the scribbling during the meeting.

Jane

Posted By Bryan Goldsmith 16052
Jim,

Being Exdeeps myself I would have thought that you would have been quite happy to sit in a corner and write down every thing that was said backwards on the reverse of a clear piece of perspex with a crayon - or was that before your time?

Seriously though I often have problems writing down and later being able to understand what has been said in a busy meeting. I usually just take bullet points which is fine if the meeting has your full attention. Where I work now we use Electronic Digital Pocket Memos - Like a Dictaphone - only more linked to a PC so that someone else can pick up the 'folder' and type up the document later.

Posted By Exdeeps
Everyone,
Thanks, there is some good stuff here, I am already feeling happier about the next meeting.
Bryan, the control room was a strange place inhabited by strange people with staring eyes, I was far happier back aft in manoeuvring, even in EBS, whilst operating the can in the middle and doing drills and generally wearing soaking wet ovies - that was living!
Jim

Posted By Angela Oakey-Jones
You could try using a mind map instead of making lines and lines of notes.

Mind maps are like spiders webs or bicycle wheels, where you note the title of the thing you're thinking about in the centre and then draw lines out with the ideas people come up with. Some people write the ideas, others draw little pictures to remind them and to speed up the process of getting the information down (rather like shorthand). Also, people use different colour pens to show things (in the safety committee you could use a different colour for management reps, safety reps and ex officio reps, for instance)

There are lots of easy, quick to read books on them. I enjoyed "mind maps in a week".

I tried this in a general meeting and found that I could track the information better than by trying to summarise what people had said. Against each agenda item I had one line saying the office manager's thoughts, and another for each person who contributed.

You could do this for each agenda item - maybe on a sheet of A4 for each item.

Hope this helps
Angela

Posted By Angela Oakey-Jones
Exdeeps,
I wouldn't worry what people thought of what I was doing if it was helping me be effective...
Hope it goes well!

Angela