Drafting flash meeting minutes

What the flash meeting minutes contain

• Identification: subject, date, venue or channel, facilitator, drafter, participants, absentees and documents reviewed.
• Decisions taken, one decision per line.
• Actions, each associated with an owner and a deadline.
• Pending items, with the reason and the information or arbitration awaited.
• Next steps: date and subject of the next meeting, then the distribution list.
• Rules for drafting, circulation and carrying over overdue actions.

When to use the template

The template is suitable, in particular, for committees and project meetings. It is thus intended for project managers, committee secretariats and local authorities. Indeed, flash meeting minutes differ from a record of discussions: they record only decisions and commitments. One page is therefore sufficient. Any necessary background information then appears in an annex or in the working documents.

Instructions for use

The drafter first prepares the identification section from the agenda. The drafter then words each decision with a verb in the infinitive or the past tense. Next, the drafter associates each action with a named owner and a date. Finally, the drafter circulates the document within twenty-four hours. Participants then have forty-eight hours to submit their comments.

Expected outcome

The document thus fits on one page. It provides a record of commitments, without opinions or assessments of participants. In addition, the next meeting opens with a review of overdue actions.

Key facts

Limitations

The template covers neither adaptation to the specific case, nor review, nor validation, nor follow-up, which fall within consultations and packages. Nor does it recount the detail of the discussions.

Further reading: Information Systems & Digital Transformation.