How to Write Effective Meeting Minutes

I used to think that the shorter the meeting minutes, the better. Just jot down the essentials and move on, right?

Turns out, I was wrong.

More than just documenting

One afternoon, I sat down with Theda, an Executive and Project Assistant to the CEO & PCRO at The Jakarta Post, and she completely shifted my perspective on what effective meeting minutes actually are.

“I used to think the same,” she said. “But over time, I realized that it is not about short or long. It is about whether the meeting minutes capture the goal and the key points of the discussion. And context matters too, so readers can follow along clearly.”

Another assumption I had was that meeting minutes were basically just transcripts, with someone sitting quietly in the corner, typing out every word. But Theda made me realize that effective meeting minutes are so much more than that.

“Writing meeting minutes is not the same as just writing down what is said,” she told me. “You need to summarize the core of the meeting in a way that even people who were not there can understand. You are not writing for yourself; you are writing for others. That is why clarity matters.”

Identifying the readers is also important when creating clear meeting minutes. Mo Nishiyama, a technical writer at Oregon Health & Science University, pointed out that it is important to know who was in the meeting—and who was not. “Are they people from my own team, or are they from different business units? Once I identify my audience, the next step is to create a shared need,” Nishiyama explained in his TED Talk.

It honestly sounded incredibly tough—having to distill all that discussion into something clear and useful, all while keeping the reader in mind. Especially when you're sitting in a room full of directors and executives, listening to high-level conversations that you might not fully grasp at first.

But Theda’s advice made it seem doable. She said one way she trains herself to summarize well is by reading and watching the news regularly. Then she asks herself: What’s the key takeaway here?

She also read the previous meeting minutes before going into a new one. That way, she will have context—and she is not starting from scratch when things get technical or complicated.

However, if there is something she did not understand—whether it is a term or a topic—it is her responsibility to ask for clarification.

 “Clarify things—during the meeting, after it ends, or even in between,” Theda said. “If your meeting minutes are wrong, the next meeting could go off track. That is a waste of time and energy.”

She even encouraged every note-taker to speak up when the discussion starts to go off track or if something is not clear. In other words, writing the minutes does not mean you are just a passive observer—you play an active role in making the meeting a success.

Mo Nishiyama echoed this idea, emphasizing the importance of engaging subject matter experts to avoid making assumptions. “When you are busy taking notes and someone starts talking about a new technology you are only vaguely familiar with, take a moment to pull the expert aside and clarify. That way, you capture the information accurately,” he explained.

Lessons learned

Of course, Theda didn’t develop these skills overnight. She made her fair share of mistakes when she was starting out.

“I used to skip writing down details I assumed everyone already knew,” she said. “For example, I would write that there will be 18 new hires, but I did not list who they were. You need to include those specifics.”

She also reminded me that good minutes do not just capture results—they capture the process. Let’s say a company sets a revenue target of IDR 1 billion. Good minutes should document how the team plans to get there: what problems they have identified, what the action plan is, who is responsible for what, and when things need to be followed up.

Speaking of follow-up, it’s just as important for note-takers. I read on Forbes that action items should always be logged clearly for follow-up, and the decisions made in meetings should result in real changes, like adjusting project deadlines or revising policies. If note-takers skip these updates, people end up relying on memory, which can lead to confusion.

Skill everyone should learn

Effective meeting minutes are not just a nice-to-have—they are essential. Good meeting notes can save companies time and labor costs by helping team members, especially those who missed the meeting, quickly get up to speed without needing extra explanations.

Whether you're on a corporate team or a nonprofit board, learning to take good meeting minutes is an underrated superpower. It’s more than just jotting things down: it’s about active listening, thinking critically, and making sure everyone walks away with the same understanding.

If you need help creating effective meeting minutes, join the “Link Up: Mastering Business Correspondence” workshop. This workshop will guide you through the essentials of clear, professional communication—starting from email writing to mastering meeting minutes—so you can document discussions with confidence and clarity.

After more than five years of writing meeting minutes, I would say Theda has definitely mastered that superpower. “I used to take almost a week to finish them. Now I can wrap it up in just one or two days,” she said, closing our conversation with a smile.

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Nia Janiar

Lead Writer at B/NDL Studios. An introvert at heart, but she loves connecting with people to spark inspiration for her writing.