Academy/Minutes & Official Records
Minutes vs transcript
Your minutes are not a play by play of the meeting.
Minutes record what your board did, the motions made, who made them, and whether they passed. A transcript records what people said. Robert's Rules of Order, the parliamentary authority most associations use, calls summarizing discussion in the minutes not just unnecessary, but improper.
Two records, two jobs
A motion gets made, seconded, and voted on. Minutes record that it happened: the wording of the motion, who made it, and whether it passed or failed. That's the whole job.
A transcript is different. It's a word for word account of everything anyone said, every argument, every aside, every passing comment. Court reporters produce transcripts. Boards produce minutes. Confusing the two is one of the most common ways minutes go wrong.
Why "just a little detail" breaks the rule
A new secretary often wants to be thorough, and thorough can sound like writing down who argued for the vendor contract and who argued against it. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, the parliamentary authority most community associations adopt in their bylaws, treats that instinct as a mistake, not extra credit.
"Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Frequently Asked Questions, The Robert's Rules Association
"Not only is it not necessary to summarize matters discussed at a meeting in the minutes of that meeting, it is improper to do so."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Frequently Asked Questions, The Robert's Rules Association
If your minutes read like a summary of the debate, they are not more complete. They are wrong.
What to write instead
Robert's Rules structures minutes around actions, not conversation. They open by naming the kind of meeting held and confirming who presided, then record each motion: its exact wording, whether it was adopted or lost, and the name of the member who made it. The seconder isn't named.
| Record this | Leave this out |
|---|---|
| The motion's exact wording | Who argued for or against it |
| Who made the motion | The seconder's name |
| Whether it passed or failed | A summary of the discussion |
If your board wants a record of the actual conversation, word for word, that calls for a separate audio or video recording, not the minutes. See meeting recordings for what that involves.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your secretary's draft minutes include a paragraph summarizing who argued for and against a vendor contract. What should the board ask them to do?
A director asks whether the minutes should read like a court transcript of the meeting. What's true under Robert's Rules?
The board wants a record showing exactly how a heated discussion unfolded, word for word, for future reference. What should they do instead of relying on the minutes?
- Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Frequently Asked Questions, The Robert's Rules Association
Minutes & Official Records
Ready to draft real minutes? Learn exactly what minutes should contain, motion by motion.
Not every association adopts Robert's Rules of Order as its parliamentary authority, and some governing documents require more detail in the minutes than Robert's Rules calls for. Check your own bylaws before you shorten anything.