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Director Minutes

Taking meeting minutes at a board meeting is an essential and important role. The Board of Directors meets three times a year to examine the association’s progress in continuing its strategic directions as well as discuss and improve those directions as required. Directors meeting minutes are more than just a general accounting of board discussions. They serve as an official and legal record of the meeting of the Board of Directors. The Director Meeting Minutes typically include the president’s report, a business and financial agenda and a discussion of new issues the board addressed. Among other things, the Director Meeting minutes should reflect a record of motions, votes, and abstentions.

Steps for Director Meetings

There are essentially four steps involved in recording the effective director meeting minutes. You’ll have to spend a little time planning before the meeting, take notes during the meeting, and after that write a formal report of the meeting. These minutes will then be filed and shared with each member of the meeting.

Step 1: Preparing for the Board Meeting

Every organization has a different way of recording the minutes. You can have a discussion with the board president about any current or expected formats that you are expected to use. Also, it is good to review past meeting minutes and use them as a template. Moreover, ask the board president for a copy of the meeting agenda, including the names of all attendees, guests or speakers.

Step 2: Keeping a Record of the Board Meeting

Unless your organization expects you to type notes at the meeting, you can either type them out or write them longhand. The two most significant things to know while taking the record of the meeting is what information you need to record and how to present it.

Meeting minutes should include

  • Date of the meeting
  • Time the meeting was called to order
  • Corrections and amendments to previous meeting minutes
  • Names of the meeting participants and absentees
  • Motions taken or rejected
  • Additions to the current agenda
  • Whether a quorum is present
  • Actions taken or agreed to be taken
  • Voting-that there was a motion and second, and the result of the vote
  • New business
  • Next steps
  • Open discussion or public participation
  • Items to be held over
  • Next meeting date and time
  • Time of intermission

How you explain the discussions during a board meeting is as critical as making sure to include all of the information required. For each agenda item, write a short statement of each action taken by the board, along with a slight explanation of the rationale for their decision. If there are large arguments, write a brief summary of the major arguments.

Record discussions objectively, withdrawing inflammatory remarks and personal remarks. A better way to do this is by withdrawing adjectives and adverbs whenever possible. Check your language to be sure that it is clear and unambiguous.

As noted earlier, minutes are an official and legal record of the board meeting. In a legal arena, meeting minutes are presumed to be correct and can be used as legal evidence of the facts they report. These board discussions exactly reflect the actions and intentions of the board of directors. Boards have legal liability, so keep the information basic and language simple to avoid any legal complications that place the organization at a deprivation in any legal proceedings. Use names only when recording motions and seconds.

Step 3. Writing the Official Record of Board Meeting Minutes

Examine the agenda to gain the full scope of the meeting. Add notes for simplification. Review actions, decisions, motions, and votes for clarity. Edit the record so that the minutes are brief, clear, and easy to read.

It’s better to attach meeting handouts and documents that were referred to during the meeting to the final copy, rather than summarizing the contents in the minutes.

Step 4. Signing, Filing, and Sharing Minutes

Once your meeting minutes are fully written, you are accountable for making them official by having the Board Secretary sign them. Your organization may also want the President’s signature.

Always follow your organization’s by-laws and protocols for storing minutes. It’s a reliable idea to have backup copies either in print, on a hard drive, or (best case) a board portal.

After all this is done, the minutes are shared. Make sure the President has approved the minutes before sharing in print or online.

Helpful Tips for Taking Board Meeting Minutes

  • Ask for clarification as necessary
  • Do introductions or circulate an attendance list
  • Use a template
  • Check off attendees as they arrive
  • Record motions, decisions, and actions as they occur
  • Maintain the same verb tense
  • Write clear, brief notes, not full sentences or verbatim wording

Common Mistakes in Taking Board Meeting Minutes

  • Lengthy delays in providing minutes after a meeting
  • Failure to document a quorum
  • Adding information that could harm the board in a legal sense
  • Ambiguous description of board actions
  • Failing to file and manage documents
  • Delays in approving minutes from past meetings, missing words mistakes, etc.
  • Failing to get documents signed, so they serve as an official and legal record
  • Always be careful that the purpose of taking meeting minutes is to reflect the true intentions of the board and that they are an official and legal record.

How can IncParadise Help You?

IncParadise understands that you need to hold the meeting of the Shareholders and the Directors for the Organization when you start a New Corporation. Moreover, we also understand the fact that every year, on your company’s Incorporation Anniversary date, you need to have the annual meeting that includes the Shareholders and the Directors. So for recording the minutes, we are here to help you!

Corporation Annual Meeting

It will cost you $20.00. We will provide you:

  • Waiver of Notice for Shareholders and Directors meetings.
  • Minutes from Directors meeting.
  • Electing officers of the Corporation (President, Treasurer and Secretary).
  • Minutes from Shareholder meeting.

LLC Organizational Meeting

It will cost you $20.00. We assist in:

  • Providing LLC Operating Agreement.
  • Establishing operating procedures for a Limited-Liability Company.
  • Vesting management in the members or in the designated manager.

Corporation Organizational Meeting

It will cost you $25.00. We provide:

  • The Waiver of Notice for Shareholder and Director meetings.
  • Electing officers of the Corporation (President, Treasurer and Secretary).
  • Minutes from Director meeting.
  • Issuing shares and determining ownership.
  • Minutes from Shareholder meeting.
  • Adopting bylaws.
  • Electing Board of Directors.

This is our full service using template documents. You will tell us when the meeting is held, who will be elected, etc. We also offer self-service on your client account. Apart from that:

  • We will email them to you, signature ready, in PDF files.
  • You will have a copy available online in case you lose the originals.
  • We will prepare the documents.
  • We will also upload the forms in your account with us (https://incparadise.net/).

Order online your Organizational or Annual Meeting Minutes! For further information, you can contact our professional team at incparadise.net