MEETINGPOINTBUSINESSSKlllS.
TIPS FUR WRITING
MINUTES
ProtokollführenineinerFremdspracheistnichteinfach.WieSie
dasindenGriffbekommen,weißKENTAYlOR. i:n,,!iT
aking(heminuresofameetinginasecond13n-
guageisnotallthateasyandm:cdsearefulthought.
Hereare3 fewusefulripstomolkeireasicr.1.Preparethoroughly
Usually,youareasked(0takethcminutesoolyinmeet-
ingswhereyouarefamiliarwirhrhesubjecrsrobedis-
cusscd.ButYOllstillneedtOreadrhe~carcfully
beforethemeetinganddiscussanythingthatisunc1eat
withrhectW,r.Ifyouarenorfamiliarwirhrhecontents,
rhenyouncedtopteparcyOllrselfevenmorethorough·
Iy.Talkrorhcchairaodgothrougheveryrhingwbedis·
cussed.YOllwon'tbeahlecowritegoodminutesifYOll
don'tunderstandthecontentsofthedilicussions.2.Usedifferentapproachesinthediscussionphase
andinthedecisionphase
InthediSCllssionphase:- Writedownkeywordsforthemainarguments.You
don'tneedtoincludeeverythingrhathasbeensaid
whcnYOllacruallywriteuptheminutes. - Ifyoumisssomething,pura qucstionmarknexrto
Itandcheckitatrheendofthcdiscussion.Don't
bte:lktheflowofthediscllssion. - Writefullsentenceswhcl1thereisa clearpropos3l.
Hereyou ncedthecompletewordingsothatthe
chaircan refertoitdutingthedecisionphase.You
willalsoneedco havetheproposal weineninfull
whenyouproducetheminutesanerthcmeeting.
Inthedecisionphase: - Usemoredetailsthaninthediscussionphase.
KENTAYLORisa partnerinAxiom,acommunica-
tlonsconsultancy in landon(www.axiomskills.
coml,and!heau!harof 50 WaystoImproveYour
Te/ephoningandTeleconferencingSkills(Summer-
lown).Contact:[email protected]- It'SimportanrtoputdownthefoUowinginconcer
detail:exactlywhatwasdecided;howthedecision
will beacredupon;whowillberesponsible;what
Jeadlinesareinvolved;howthcimplementatjonof
thcdecisionwillbcfoUowedup. - Askthechairtocxplainanythingthatisundearro
youandcosummarjzethedecisions. - Readourwhatyouhavewtitteninthemeetingso
thatcorrectionscanbcmadeimmediately.
3.Listencarefully
Speakersoftenhelp}'OU[(')makeflores becausethey
emphasi7.ekcywordsinthesentence.Listenfotehese
key wotdsanJusethem in)'ournotes.ForeX<lmplc:
Speaker: "\XIc needIO increase ourproductivity while
decreasjngmanoower.Howcanwcdothis?Let'Slookat
outsourcfnli!sameofthcmorebasicsupportfunctions...
YOllrDOles:lncreaseproductivityburdccreasemanpow-
er.How?Outsourcingsupportfunctions.I.....)leamffiOfephrasesatwww.busJfless-spotJight.derskilfs
4.Learnthesehelpfulphrases,whichyoucanuse
duringthemeetingtokeepcontrolofthesituation
Atthestart:
"IsitOKif 1 interrlJpttocheckmyu~defstanding?"
")slJggest 1 readoutmyslJmmariesattheendofeachitem.
IsthatOK?"
Interrupting:
"Excuseme."
"GanIjustcorneinhere?"
Inrhemeeting:
'·Gan 1 iustcheckI'veunderstoodthiscorrectty?"
'·Yousaid...lsthatcorrect?"
"Exacttywhatdidwedecidehere?"
"Sorry,couldyoujustexplainthatagain?"Finally,alwayskeepyouroriginalnoresumiJthemin-
uteshavebeenagrecdandapprovedatthenextmeet-
etw.betonen ing- incaseyoußeedrorcwriresomething. m
etw.weitenoerfolgen
Umsetzu,.
Arbritskrafte
Protolloll
(Funktionen.Arbeitusw.)
nachaußenverlagern
etw.zusammenfassen
Zusammenfassung
grilndlich
WortlautTages.ordnung
HerangehemMeise
Vorsitzende(r)
Beratungsfirma
(Abgabe-lTermin
etw.reduzierenaeendar~'d3Cnd:lJ
approachj;)'pr:lutD
(halfIIJe::lJ
cOfl5Uitancy{k~n'~...ll:msi]
deadliner'<kJlaml
decrease51h.L,di:'kri:~1
emphasize5th.I'emr~ul
fotkrw5th.upr.r"I;ou'...pl
implementaliOfll,lmphmen'ltII"IlJ
manpower1'm.:n1pau;l]
minules['mmIl5]
outsource('al,)b;l:~1
5ummarize51h.['s...m~ralzJ
summary['Sl\m~rn
thoroughly['Il,.,r;)liJ
wordingI'W3:dlllJ5/2005