Meeting Records #
When a synchronous meeting is unavoidable, it is critical to produce a clear and thorough record.
The meeting record is important as a reference for what happened at the meeting. In particular, any decisions made or actions assigned need to be clearly recorded for future reference.
A good record will also be invaluable to anyone who was not able to attend an in-person meeting.
Meeting Record Template #
Below is a suggested template for a meeting record document. The template uses Pandoc Markdown. Parts of the template are already filled with explanations of how they should be used.
---
title: Short meeting title
date: yyyy-mm-dd
author:
- List of authors of the this record
abstract: |
Summary of meeting purpose. Should help readers decide whether they need to
read the record.
keywords: []
# Pandoc LaTeX variables
papersize: a4
fontfamily: fourier
fontsize: 12pt
colorlinks: true
---
# Meeting Record
## Agenda
1. Itemised Agenda
1. Should be agreed in advance
## Present
- List of people present
## Notes
- Summary of discussion points
- Use subsections if appropriate
## Decisions
- Record any decisions made during the meeting
## Actions
| Owner | Action |
|-------|--------|
| | |
For printing or wider distribution, a meeting record following the template may be converted to pdf using Pandoc,
pandoc meeting_record.md -o meeting_record.pdf
A Pandoc YAML metadata block at the top of the template contains metadata about the meeting and helps the record render into a good-looking pdf document.
How To Use #
- Create the meeting record document before the meeting.
- Use a collaborative text editor like HackMD so that all attendees may edit the document.
- Circulate the document to allow others to add and agree on agenda items.
- Distribute the record or store in a location visible to everyone who may need to read it.
The template may also be used to avoid a meeting entirely. The document can be completed collaboratively and asynchronously while achieving the same result.