Meeting minutes are an official record of discussions and actions taken during a meeting. They typically contain the following information:

• Meeting date and time 

• Participants and contact details

• Meeting goals

• Discussion topics

• Action items

• Decisions

• Next meeting date and time

Meeting minutes aren't simply meeting transcripts. They cover essential meeting highlights and summarize what was discussed and accomplished during the meeting.

Meeting minutes tips

Atlassian’s meeting minutes template effectively captures notes, tracks discussions, and documents next steps. Some other ways to ensure your meeting minutes don't go to waste include:

Promptly sharing meeting notes

Ensure meeting notes are shared with relevant coworkers and team members as soon as possible. Quick distribution can keep the action items relevant and remind people of their responsibilities.

Gathering feedback and confirmation

Depending on the scope and purpose of your meeting, you may want to invite participants to review the meeting notes beforehand. Encourage team members to leave notes or confirm they understand their assignments.

Making multiple meeting minutes templates

You can make separate meeting minutes templates for different purposes. For example, you may have one meeting minutes template for informal meetings and a different template for team meetings. You'll want all your meeting minutes templates to have a similar format for consistency.

Use AI tools

Consider using AI tools or virtual meeting assistants to assist with note-taking. Various tools use  AI to pull key meeting takeaways and produce action items. Leveraging these tools is an effective way to record your meeting minutes without having to designate a note-taker.