Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: meeting minutes

[Muriel Kranowski (murielk]

It's become general practice here to put a meeting summary at the top of
the minutes too, above the meeting detail. We also maintain a separate
decision log (it's part of a workshare job). I used to keep the raw
almost-verbatim notes from the meeting that I subsequently cleaned up into
the minutes that went out, but I've never needed to refer to them so I
don't do that any more.

On Wed, Sep 9, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah <welcome [at] 
olympus.net>
wrote:

>
> I've been the minute taker and archivist for much of our 25-year project,
> here at RoseWind Cohousing in Port Townsend WA.
>
> Taking minutes is a balance between keeping the flavor and reasoning of
> discussions, especially those leading to decisions, and providing a concise
> reference to the most important stuff. The short answer to the question
> posed is that I rarely keep the speaker's name attached to an idea:
> "A concern was raised as to whether our insurance company would allow X."
> Unless there is a specific reason to include identity:
> "Marge and Jerry are concerned that a shed in that area would shade their
> vegetable garden."
> I also often include the names of those with a "soapbox" item, as these
> tend to be personal opinions, rants, raves, or raising a new issue with an
> invitation for interested parties to contact them.
>
> Two things I've found useful:
> Near the top of each set of notes I include a Summary: Any decisions that
> were made get listed here (as well as in the body of the notes). This helps
> with the reference factor.
> I keep a copy of the raw notes I take at the meeting, copying and pasting
> into a working document that evolves into the official minutes. That way,
> if there arises a later question of interpretation, I can go back and see
> what the nearly-verbatim raw notes say.
>
> Maraiah Lynn Nadeau
>
>
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