CAES1507 Professional and Technical Written Communication for Engineers

Session Two

Minutes Writing

Roles of Participants

   Chairperson?

Secretary?

Committee Members?

Effective Committee Meetings

–

The Chairperson

 Planning  Informing  Preparing  Controlling

Effective Committee Meetings

 The Secretary – – Providing secretarial and administrative assistance to the Chairperson at the planning, informing and preparation stages Taking notes during the meeting – Drafting the minutes after the meeting – Circulating the draft minutes for additions and/or corrections – Circulating the confirmed minutes among committee members

Effective Committee Meetings

 The Committee Members – – – Explaining their ideas clearly Reacting to other people’s ideas Helping the chairperson keep the meeting going

Causes of Ineffective Meetings

          Drifting off subject Poor preparation Lack of listening Verbosity of participants Length Lack of participation Lack of clear objectives or agendas Unclear results Poor organization Poor chairing

Improving Ineffective Meetings

 State the objective at the outset  Prepare an agenda  Be selective when picking participants  Manage meeting time  Take charge  Close with a summary

Note-Taking

 Follow the agenda closely and listen carefully throughout. necessary Ask for clarification wherever  Take brief, relevant notes under each agenda item. Summarize the main points raised and record action to be taken and by whom , if relevant

Note-Taking

 Interrupt the meeting at appropriate time if necessary, to make sure your notes accurately reflect what has been discussed  Check that you are happy about the notes after the meeting. If information is missing or vague – check with relevant member

Note-Taking

 It is very important that you actually take notes during a meeting. Do not rely on your memory alone .  Although, you will have developed your own style of note taking, you may want to consider other alternatives like the one shown on p. 14 of the course notes.

Agenda

The following is an example of a typical meeting agenda. Discuss the following questions:  Why do we need an agenda before the meeting? (i.e. what are the purposes of having an agenda?)  What should be discussed under items 1, 2, and 7?

Minutes

 Draft the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting  Keep your notes until the minutes have been approved  Be selective – be accurate, brief and clear with your writing

Minutes

 Put any action to be taken in a prominent place after each item. Include the names of the person responsible as well  Structure the minutes so that they follow the structure of the agenda, and avoid complicated numbering systems  Check your minutes with the chairperson and then circulate them to the other committee members as soon as possible (some time before the next meeting)

Minutes

 Read the following example (pp. 17-18) of minutes of a meeting, of which the agenda has been discussed in the previous section.

Discuss the following questions with your classmates

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What is the connection between the agenda and the minutes of a meeting?

What information should be included in the minutes?

How is information arranged under each discussion item to make it reader-friendly?

Which tenses are used in the minutes? Why are these tenses used?

Personal pronouns (we, you, I, he, etc) are not used in the minutes. Why not? How do we avoid using personal pronouns?

Format of Minutes (1)

 Title of the Meeting – Minutes of the 3 rd Meeting of the End of Year Project Exhibition Committee  Present: Name + Position – Linda Cooley Chair – Apology? Absence?

Format of Minutes (1)

 Item 1 Confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting –

If changes needed

The minutes of the previous meeting

were

confirmed subject to the following amendment:  Item X Y was amended to Z OR

If no amendment needed

– The minutes of the previous meeting

were

confirmed without any amendments

Format of Minutes (1)



Item number

Item 2 Matters Arising

Latest report of the items raised / discussed in the previous meeting

Item 3: Of the three companies contacted for banners to promote the exhibition, the Bandwagon Company, Ltd.

made

the best offer of HK$500 each for 1-3 banners and HK$400 each for 4-10 banners in three colours.

General information WITHOUT reporting verbs: verbs in different tenses

Format of Minutes (1)

 Item 2 Matters Arising AGREED: The Bandwagon Company Ltd.

will be Capitalised for attention asked

to produce 6 banners. ACTION: Rose

will liaise

with the banner company about the details of design, size, content and colour scheme.

Agreement / Actions not taken yet – Future tense

Format of Minutes (1)

 Item 2 Matters Arising Item 5: The Finance Office

confirmed

that the overall budget for the exhibition

would not be increased

from last year due to the economic downturn. The budget is fixed at HK$10,000.

REPORTING VERB – Past Tense + reported speech

Format of Minutes (1)



Item 3 XX (form of a noun phrase)

Insurance factors system be installed for the exhibition. UST and HK PolyU security systems

have required recommended

that a security Production Management Systems as providers of customized temporary

NOT REPORTING VERB – Different tenses

Format of Minutes (1)



Item 3 XX Item – Form of a Noun Phrase

AGREED: The subcommittee on security for the exhibition will contact Mr. Jackson of Production Management Systems to see what they can provide.

ACTION: Robin

Format of Minutes (1)



Item 5 XX

The Chair

informed

the committee that the Estates Office

had circulated

a notice stating that ALL visitors to the campus Parking.

would be required

to pay the fees set by Wilson AGREED:

A letter will be sent

to the Estates Office asking them to exempt visitors from paying fees.

ACTION: Denis

PASSIVE VOICE

Format of Minutes (1)

Item X A.O.B.

There being no further business, the meeting closed / was adjourned at 4:30PM Next Meeting: April 12 at 3:30PM

Minutes Writing Task

 Now you will be shown the video of the 4 th meeting of the End of Year Project Exhibition.  Take notes while you are watching it. You will be asked to produce the minutes for this meeting. The agenda of the meeting is on p. 19 of the course notes.