Effective Minutes Writing
Minutes are not just for the record; very often, it is also the basis for action and decisions.
Many of us may have been asked to take minutes of meeting although we may not be the meeting secretary. The task of minutes writing is no longer reserved for secretaries or personal assistants only. Any person who attends a meeting may be asked to take up this important task.
As minutes provide an official record of what has taken place during the meeting, you must be very accurate and clear. You need to know how much to take down during a meeting and how to write them correctly; you also need to be able to choose the appropriate type of minutes recording styles suitable for its purpose. You also need to know how to phrase what has been spoken so that it represents the tone accurately and politically acceptable.
"I have learnt quite an extensive scope about minutes writing from language to styles, which will help me to be more effective."
- Ms Lee Yee Tin, HR Assistant, QB Net International
This course will equip you with these essential skills and techniques through lectures, examples, group discussions and practice sessions.
Detail
| Date: |
01 Aug 2012 - 02 Aug 2012 |
| Duration: |
2, day(s) 9:00AM - 5:00PM |
| Fee: | $510.00 |
| Venue: | Stamford Road, near Dhoby Ghaut MRT |
Fees are subjected to prevailing GST of 7%
For more information, please contact JobsDB Learning at 65788111 or email to learning@jobsdb.com.sg
Payment must be made before the commencement of the workshop. No cancellation is allowed 7 days prior to workshop.
Participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance upon course completion.
SDF Funding Approved!
Please contact JobsDB Learning for more detail.
Outline
Nature of Minutes
- purposes
- variations in meeting proceedings
- problems faced by minutes takers
The Importance of Minutes
- conciseness
- accuracy and completeness
- political acceptability
- representation of the tone
Notice and Agenda Writing
Common Meeting Terms
Different Types of Minutes Recording
Style in Minutes
- paragraph size
- sentence length
- note form or sentences
- attributability
- tense
- reported speech
- active and passive voice
- numbering
- punctuation
- notes
Vocabulary
- choice of words
- ambiguous wording
- buzzwords
- unnecessary stock phrases
- colloquial expressions
Standard Layouts of Minutes and House Styles
Note-taking Techniques
Summarising Discussions
Facilitators
Ms Florence Au
Florence has been training adult learners in business communication for about 23 years. Her initial training stint in the private sector saw her teaching secretaries and administrative staff in the writing of letters, memos, reports, press releases and minutes of meetings for examination courses. With this experience and that accumulated from her job as an administrator and later a training manager, she went on to train public officers.She has since been training at the Civil Service College (CSC) for more than 9 years. At CSC, Florence conducts public-run written communication courses in the Write programme, which includes grammar, emails, letters, reports and minutes of meetings. Besides these, she also develops and trains customised programmes for the Singapore Police Force, Ministry of Education, Health Promotion Board, Singapore Land Authority, Building Construction Authority and People’s Association. In addition, she has re-written three courses for IPAM – Writing Reports and Proposals, Writing Minutes of Meetings and Writing Effectively- The Quality Service Approach.
Florence holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Literature, a Diploma in Translation and Interpretation and professional qualifications from the UK in writing minutes of meetings and shorthand.
Methodology
Participants are guided through practical steps of the topic with a combination of lectures, case studies and group discussions.
Testimonials
"I have learnt different variety of minutes for different type of meetings."
- Ms Rino Juwy Lim, Senior HSE Officer, Keppel Shipyard Limited
"I have learnt key terminologies and formats, and that I can apply different format writing for different type of meetings."
- Mr Jimmy Tan, Corp Communication Officer, Temasek Polytechnic
Objectives
At the end of this two-day workshop, participants will be able to:
have an overall understanding of how meetings are conducted
learn the techniques for taking and summarising notes of meetings
practice writing notes of discussions and minutes of meetings clearly and concisely