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Important pointers for BCHU Secretaries

Record Keeping - Chapter minutes

A question new chapter secretaries often ask is how long do I need to keep my chapter minutes. There is no specific answer, however the best answer is as a non-profit: forever. All Utah chapters are required in their bylaws to post their monthly meeting minutes on the BCHU website. Here are some of the most common tried and true methods for creating and saving effective meeting minutes:

Do's for meeting minutes

• Create typed, electronic minutes that are stored in the cloud or on a thumb drive.
• Include the Chapter name (or initals), date and time of the meeting in the heading.
• List all the meeting attendees as well as those who were invited but could not attend.
• Use the meeting agenda as the outline for the minutes. Do not forget to remove the agenda designation on the actual meeting minutes.
• Use the same naming convention for all minutes files. Include the date of the meeting and chapter initals. If possible, store all of your chapter minutes in a designated folder so they can be easily located. Even better, store them on a thumb drive to make it easy to pass on to the new secretary when you decide to no longer be the chapter scecretary.
• Record any amendments or corrections that are made to minutes from previous meetings.
• Mention any documents handed out at the meeting and store a copy with the minutes.
• Describe all of the decisions made at the meeting.
• Record the outcome of any votes taken as well as who made the motions and who seconded them.
• Identify and track action items and plans that are discussed, including any due dates.
• Detail any new business that is discussed.
• List items that are held over for future meetings.
• If you have trouble keeping up while taking minutes, use an audio recorder so that you can go back and fill in any gaps in your notes.
• Write the final copy of the minutes as soon as possible after the actual meeting, while it is fresh in your mind.
• Occassionally check that your chapter minutes have been posted, and are accessible on your chapter's archive page on the bchutah.org website.

Don'ts for meeting minutes

Just as important as what you should do is what you shouldn't do. Avoid these frequent pitfalls:

• If you're unsure about a point, don't just gloss over it. Ask for clarification during the meeting so that your minutes can be accurate.
• Do not switch tenses throughout the minutes. Use one tense (past tense works well).
• Personal observations or judgmental comments should not be included in meeting minutes. All statements should be as neutral as possible.
• Avoid writing down everything everyone said. Minutes should be concise and summarize the major points of what happened at the meeting.
• There can be a lot of debate that happens at a meeting as people offer their opinions, research, and experience, which should not be recorded. The minutes should summarize the outcome of the discussion, not every single point that was considered.
• Documents referred to in the meeting do not need to be summarized in the minutes. They can be attached to the minutes or the minutes can just indicate where to locate the documents.
• Meeting minutes are meant to be shared, but don't disseminate them until the meeting chair has a chance to review and approve them.
• Don't distribute paper copies of the meeting minutes if at all possible. Sharing them online means everyone can have ongoing access and they will be preserved as part of Chapter and State BCHU records.