Minutes

The minutes are the records of the assemblies. Also known as minutes of assembly or protocols, are the instant written record of an assembly or a meeting (division meeting).

Purpose: Minutes may be created during the meeting by a typist or recorder (DE: Protokollant), who makes notes of the assebly and then prepare the minutes and issue them to the members of the project afterwards through the distribution list.

Protocols are important because in case someone couldn't be at any assembly can get the important information discussed in the meeting and be up to date with the issues and topics which are relevant for our house and our events.

Format

The format of the minutes should vary that much. For that reason some guidelines were developed in order to keep an understandable way of preparing the minutes for everyone in the house and to be sure all the important information is being recorded avoiding unimportant information to be included.

Generally, minutes begin with the name of the body holding the meeting (e.g., a board) and may also include the place, date, list of people present, and the time that the chair called the meeting to order.

Since the primary function of minutes is to record the decisions made, all official decisions must be included. If a formal motion is proposed and seconded, then (regardless whether it passes) this is recorded. The voting tally may also be included.

The part of the minutes dealing with repeated information must be avoided. For that reason, it is important to highlight who proposes a motion and who seconded it. If the person who seconds the motion/comment is not adding more information to the discussion, it could be possible to add something like this "John agrees with Beth on this". It is not strictly necessary to include the name of the person who seconds a motion.

Where a tally is included, it is sufficient to record the number of people voting for and against a motion, but requests by participants to note their votes by name may be allowed. If a decision is made by roll-call vote, then all of the individual votes are recorded by name. If it is made by general consent without a formal vote, then this fact may be recorded.

The minutes may end with a note of the time that the meeting was adjourned.

--- EXAMPLE OF AN ASSEMBLY MINUTES SHOULD BE ADDED HERE ---

Minutes are sometimes submitted by the person who is responsible for them (often the secretary) at a subsequent meeting for review.