Acrobat for business | 10-Minute read
4 meeting minutes templates and examples.
Elevate your meeting minutes with these simple downloadable files.
What are meeting minutes?
Meeting minutes highlight all aspects of a meeting, including discussions and presentations. They identify critical decisions, next steps, and task items.
Meeting minutes are the responsibility of a designated individual. Some organizations have a secretary responsible for taking the minutes for larger meetings, but for smaller or informal meetings, any meeting attendee can be asked to be the notetaker. The meeting organizer should assign this task in advance to ensure accountability. Some departments may rotate the responsibility among team members.
Although all meeting attendees are welcome to take notes, the designated notetaker is accountable for summarizing discussions, clarifying decisions, listing action items, and distributing the minutes of meeting results to participants.
1. Standard meeting minutes.
Use cases: Team updates, staff meetings, quarterly company all-hands
The standard meeting minute template is versatile enough to be a starting point for any meeting. This template includes foundational elements of meeting minutes while providing opportunities for announcements, company promotions, or open forum discussions — feel free to customize these non-agenda sections as needed.
- Date
- Time
- Attendees
- Announcements
- Follow-up items
- Agenda items
- Agenda item 1: Discussion summary, decisions
- Agenda item 2: Discussion summary, decisions
- Other discussion items
- Action items
2. Detailed meeting minutes.
Use cases: Project meetings, client meetings, annual employee reviews
The detailed meeting minutes template incorporates most elements from the standard template and encourages a deeper review of projects or client meetings. This template can be used for tracking projects and milestones, especially where overall progress and outstanding action items must be part of the meeting. Depending on the needs of the meeting, the template can be customized to group agenda items by department, project component, or roadblocks.
- Date
- Time
- Location
- Attendees
- Absentees
- Progress updates
- Outstanding action items
- Agenda items
- Agenda item 1: Discussion summary, decisions
- Agenda item 2: Discussion summary, decisions
- Agenda item 3: Discussion summary, decisions
- Action items
- Next meeting details
3. Formal meeting minutes.
Use cases: Executive meetings, board meetings, HR proceedings
Formal meeting minutes, most commonly associated with a board meeting minutes template, include more structure than other templates. The order of the overall agenda generally doesn’t change, which helps the official notetaker become more familiar with the meeting process and expectations. Formal meeting minutes always include old and new business, open voting items, and a formal adjournment.
- Date
- Time
- Location
- Call to order
- Attendees
- Absentees
- Old business
- Minutes from the last meeting
- Approval of previous minutes
- Open issues for approval
- Outstanding follow-up items
- New business
- Agenda item 1: discussion summary, decisions
- Agenda item 2: discussion summary, decisions
- Agenda item 3: discussion summary, decisions
- Action items
- Additional Notes
- Adjournment
- Next meeting details
- Time the meeting was adjourned
- Minutes approval
- Secretary approval
- President/Chairperson approval
Formal meeting minutes generally require signature approval by the individual who documented the meeting notes. Adobe Acrobat helps you quickly sign the meeting notes PDF via electronic signature. If a company executive must also sign the minutes, send the updated PDF with your signature to the appropriate executive and repeat the signature process. With both signatures completed, you can easily upload the meeting minutes for all attendees to review.
4. Informal meeting minutes.
Use cases: Team huddles, stand-up meetings, manager and employee check-ins
Informal meeting minute templates are ideal for minimal agenda items and discussion, such as recurring one-on-one meetings between a manager and employee or a 10-minute team huddle. This template provides an adequate amount of easy-to-complete content sections while allowing plenty of customization options to fit the meeting occasion. No frills and ample flexibility.
- Date
- Time
- Attendees
- Agenda items (if needed) with discussion summaries and decisions
- Other discussion items
- Action items
Meeting minutes are a small part of keeping your business moving forward. Learn more about how Acrobat for business can streamline the way you work.
Best practices for writing meeting minutes.
If your manager or another team member asks you to create the minutes for a meeting, follow some best practices to ensure your success.
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Be prepared. Preparing for a meeting is more than just showing up at the appointed time. Be prepared mentally and physically — get sufficient sleep to be alert and attentive, and ensure you’ve eaten a meal or snack if needed. Also, ensure that you bring your computer to take electronic meeting minutes.
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Stay focused. To ensure you listen to each person attentively during the meeting, refrain from becoming distracted by anything that may divert your attention. Silence your cell phone and snooze any notifications on your computer that may not be relevant to the meeting.
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Group relevant items. The best meetings always have an agenda, and you should use it as an outline for the meeting structure. However, meeting minutes should be grouped into like-minded items — not by the meeting’s chronological order. For instance, action items that may result from a specific discussion topic can be listed in an Action Items section. Otherwise, they may get lost in the discussion summary.
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Take all meeting minutes as they happen. Don’t try to take notes about a meeting after it ends. If you are not confident about keeping up with the meeting discussions in real time, use an audio recorder to go back and fill in any gaps in your notes.
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Ask for clarification when necessary. If you do not understand an action item or the summary of a discussion item, speak up immediately. Always be specific about what you are asking.
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Use one tense. Although you are writing notes in real time, past tense is best for document meeting minutes and should be used throughout the document.
Why are meeting minutes important?
Meeting minutes serve as an essential company record. Not only do they help attendees recall meeting discussions and decisions, but meeting minutes also:
- Act as the source of truth for the meeting
- Provide a meeting summary for stakeholders not in attendance
- Resolve disagreements from previous decisions
- Increase productivity and accountability for team members
- Show the progress of company projects and tasks
- Record details for company audits
How minutes are different from meeting notes.
Although minutes and notes cover the same meeting material and the terms may be used interchangeably, the main difference lies in how the content is used. Meeting minutes are considered more formal than meeting notes, which are shorter and generally only highlight key takeaways. Taking meeting minutes ensures you’ve thoroughly noted all necessary information — documenting more details about the meeting may be better than not enough.
How to choose the right template.
Using the right template provides your meeting with a great foundation. Walking through a few simple steps will ensure you find a template that meets all your needs.
- Define the purpose. You may need to brainstorm ideas, solve problems, share announcements, or provide a status update. Depending on your objectives, you may only need a short template.
- Determine the schedule. Ask yourself if this meeting needs to be held daily, weekly, or other recurring interval. The meeting may only be held once a quarter or as needed. The content in the template may need to be customized to reflect the appropriate timeframe. For instance, minutes for a daily meeting designed to check in on a project’s status may only need to contain project and action item updates, not the full project details.
- Consider your audience. Consider who will be invited to this meeting. Your meeting may be acceptable for your entire staff, and a standard template may suffice. If you invite department heads, a template supporting multiple discussions may be needed. And, if you’re planning a formal meeting with the company board, you’ll know that you need an agenda that accommodates multiple agenda items and discussion topics.
- Classify the style. Spontaneous scheduling may be acceptable, or your meeting may require advanced planning. The template you use should complement the meeting style.
When working with a template, use Adobe Acrobat to edit the PDF content; you won’t have to create the meeting minutes from scratch or design a layout. Editing the PDF content allows you to directly type into the template and rearrange simple components, such as when you need to create more space within a section or rename a heading.
Review our four meeting minutes example templates and use the one that best fits your meeting’s objectives and style.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write minutes of a meeting?
Type the appropriate meeting information in real time using an electronic meeting template. Electronic notes allow you to rearrange content easily, check spelling and grammar, and seamlessly distribute notes for review. Do not take notes using your mobile device. Pay attention to all aspects of the meeting and use the meeting agenda as a guide. Be sure to clarify any misunderstood action items or discussion topics immediately.
At a minimum, include the date and time of the meeting, invited participants — note who did and did not attend — discussion of previous meeting minutes, agenda topics and any resulting decisions, and new action items.
As a guideline, put yourself in the shoes of those who may not attend and ensure you’ve captured the high-level summary of the meeting’s activities and decisions. Many of these individuals may be busy and don’t have time to focus on every little detail you may be tempted to document.
Is there a meeting minutes template in Word?
Is there a format for meeting minutes?
The format for a meeting depends on the meeting type and style. While there is no set format for meeting minutes, templates provide guidelines for essential information that should be included in your documentation.
Ensure the format you use accommodates all elements of your meeting — some will require a section for presentations and discussions, and others will only need space for project updates and action items. Don’t get too focused on the decorative layout of templates, as you’ll most likely prefer a clean design with plenty of white space for your notes.
What are the 4 types of minutes?
The four most common types of meeting minutes and meeting types include:
- Standard meeting minutes for staff or general meetings
- Detailed meeting minutes for project-based meetings
- Formal meeting minutes for board or executive meetings
- Informal meeting minutes for one-on-one meetings or stand-up meetings
What should not be included in meeting minutes?
Do not write down every detail within a discussion. Meeting minutes are not a meeting transcript; they focus on high-level, large-scale topics.
Do not include personal opinions or judgments, as meeting minutes are objective and impartial. As minutes are commonly considered official records for a company or organization, they should not be skewed in any way to affect the credibility of the notes (or the notetaker). Focus on documenting facts, decisions, and action items only.
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