Meeting Minutes Template: 10 Filled Examples by Meeting Type, With Action Items and Approval Lines

Disclosure: NOXI publishes this guide and is one of the tools it mentions. Every template below works in any editor, from a paper minute book to Word or Google Docs, and none of them needs NOXI.

Minutes go wrong in two ways: a page of "who said what" nobody can act on, or three vague lines that would not survive a challenge. Every template here keeps the record short, the decisions exact, and each action with one owner and one date.

Key numbers

Six figures on how fast minutes go out and how long they are kept, from the law or regulator that sets each, opened on 12 November 2026.

Which meeting minutes template fits: six quick routes

Six routes, each with the fact that makes it fit, checked on 12 November 2026. Five are somebody else's.

• If you want a designed file in Word now → open Microsoft's free minutes templates, because its page lists Board, Team and Educational meeting minutes that you edit in Word for the web and save, print or share as a PDF [11].
• If your meetings live in Google Calendar → type @ in a Google Doc and choose Meeting notes, because Google pre-populates them with the event's details, and work or school accounts can assign checklist items as tasks [13] [14].
• If your board or club follows Robert's Rules → use templates 5, 7, 9 or 10 and record what was done, not what was said, as the official Robert's Rules FAQ puts it (RONR 12th edition, 48:2) [1].
• If you are a charity trustee in England or Wales → use template 8 with the Charity Commission's CC48 list, which adds a discussion summary, declared conflicts and reasons [2].
• If you clerk a New York public body → use template 10 and follow Public Officers Law section 106: a record or summary of every motion and vote, available within two weeks [9].
• If you want your notes turned into finished minutes for you → use NOXI's Document format: attach your notes, get minutes with an action-items table, export Word, and invite the chair to edit the same document.

How to write meeting minutes in seven steps

The same steps work for a team and a charity board; only step 4 changes with your rules.

1. Start from the agenda

Copy the agenda's items into the minutes as headings before the meeting, with the same numbers. If you still need the agenda, our meeting agenda template page has fifteen, with timings and owners.

2. Name the minute-taker, and let them take minutes

The Charity Commission says the secretary usually takes the minutes, and a charity without one can ask a trustee or an employee [2]. In a team, rotate the job weekly.

3. Write the header facts in the first two minutes

California State PTA lists the opening facts: name, date, location, meeting type, start and end time, attendance, the presiding officer, and whether the previous minutes were approved as written or as corrected [10]. A formal body adds attendees' roles so the minutes show the quorum was met, as the Charity Commission asks [2].

4. Record decisions exactly, and discussion only as your rules ask

Robert's Rules' official FAQ calls summarising discussion "improper": minutes record what was done, not what was said (RONR 12th edition, 48:2) [1]. The Charity Commission asks charity trustees in England and Wales for more: a summary of discussion on each item, the exact resolution, and the reasons and information relied on, in proportion to the decision [2]. Both copy anything voted on word for word, with its result.

5. Write every action as a row with one owner and one date

"Marketing to look into it" is not an action. "Send the revised quote · Dana · Fri 13 Nov" is. An owner is a person, not a team; a date is a calendar date, not "soon".

6. Send the draft quickly

The Charity Commission says to send drafts to every trustee as soon as possible [2]. New York gives public bodies two weeks, and one week for executive session votes [9]. The IRS Form 990 instructions treat a charity's board records as contemporaneous if made by the later of the next meeting or 60 days [6]. For a team, a working rule is one working day.

7. Approve, sign and store

Minutes are approved at the next meeting of the same group [10]. Corrections at that point go into the text, and the minutes are recorded as approved "as corrected"; after approval the secretary does not rewrite them (RONR 48:4(5), 48:15) [1]. The chair then signs and stores them [2]; in the UK, directors' minutes authenticated by the chair are evidence of the proceedings (Companies Act 2006, section 249) [4].

What meeting minutes must include: the fields and who asks for them

Each field sits next to the published rule that asks for it. A team meeting needs the first two rows and the last three; a board needs all of them.

Meeting minutes template with action items: the table that makes minutes useful

Decisions say what the group chose; actions say who does what next. Keep them apart so each can be scanned in seconds. Every template here ends with this table.

Four rules: start with a verb; one owner, even when three people help; a calendar date; and read the open rows aloud at the next meeting so nothing quietly disappears. In Google Docs on a work or school account, a checklist item can be assigned to a colleague, who gets an email and sees it in their Tasks list [14].

Team, project, client and one-on-one meeting minutes templates

These four have no legal form: decisions and actions first, context only where someone absent needs it.

1. Team meeting minutes template (weekly)

For: a team of four to twelve. Why it works: it records what a colleague who missed the meeting needs: what was decided and what they owe.

2. Project meeting minutes template

For: a project manager and the core team. Why it works: one line of status, then the record goes to what moves scope, time or money: risks, change requests and decisions. For the monthly slide version, see our project status report presentation guide.

3. Client meeting minutes template

For: an account lead after a client call. Why it works: the client reads the same page, so it lists what both sides agreed and owe, and asks for corrections by a date. For a quarterly review deck, see our QBR presentation guide.

4. One-on-one meeting notes template

For: an employee and a manager. Why it works: one running document per person, newest at the top, recording agreements rather than a performance file. Health, pay and conduct belong in formal HR channels, not here.

Board, LLC and annual general meeting minutes templates

These are legal records: the articles, bylaws or operating agreement come first, then local law. The templates follow the common form and are not legal advice.

5. Board meeting minutes template

For: a company board and its secretary. What the law says: for a Delaware corporation, section 142(a) of the General Corporation Law gives one officer the duty to record the proceedings of stockholders' and directors' meetings in a book kept for that purpose, and section 141(f) lets the board act without a meeting if all directors consent in writing, with the consents filed with the minutes [7]. In the UK, section 248 of the Companies Act 2006 requires minutes of all directors' meetings, kept at least ten years [3]. For the slides, see our board meeting presentation guide.

6. LLC meeting minutes template (meeting or written consent)

For: members or managers of a limited liability company. What the law says: in Delaware's LLC Act, the information each member may obtain under section 18-305(a) covers tax returns, a member list, the LLC agreement and financial information, and does not name minutes; section 18-302(d) lets members act without a meeting if members holding the votes needed consent in writing, unless the LLC agreement provides otherwise [8]. Your operating agreement may still require meetings and minutes, so many owners keep minutes or signed consents for major decisions.

7. Annual general meeting minutes template

For: members or shareholders at an AGM. What the law says: in the UK, section 355 of the Companies Act 2006 requires minutes of all proceedings of general meetings and copies of members' written resolutions, kept at least ten years [5]. Clubs and associations follow their constitution. For the slides shown on the day, see our annual general meeting presentation guide.

Nonprofit board, school or PTA and committee minutes templates

These answer to bylaws, a regulator or the public, so they carry the most detail.

8. Nonprofit board meeting minutes template

For: a charity or nonprofit board. What the rules say: the IRS Form 990 instructions (2025) ask whether every meeting and written action of the governing body, and of committees with authority to act for it, was documented contemporaneously; documentation "can include approved minutes, email, or similar writings that explain the action taken, when it was taken, and who made the decision", and contemporaneous means by the later of the next meeting or 60 days [6]. In England and Wales, the Charity Commission's CC48 asks for declared conflicts and how they were managed, a summary of discussion, exact resolutions, the reasons for each decision, and who voted and how [2].

9. School or PTA meeting minutes template

For: a PTA, PTO or parent council secretary. What the guidance says: California State PTA asks for the PTA name, date, location, meeting type, start and end time, attendance and presiding officer, approval of the previous minutes, a treasurer's summary with dates and balances, every motion with who made it, the result and vote counts, and the secretary's signature and title. It says to record "what was decided, not who said what", never to post full minutes publicly online, and to keep minutes forever [10]. Your state PTA and bylaws may differ.

10. Committee meeting minutes template

For: a committee of a board, council or public body. What the law says: for New York public bodies, section 106 of the Public Officers Law requires open-meeting minutes with "a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions and any other matter formally voted upon and the vote thereon", available within two weeks, and minutes of formal votes in executive session within one week [9]. A private board's committee usually ends in recommendations.

Free meeting minutes template for Word, Google Docs and PDF

Every template above is plain text with a middle dot (·) between fields, so it pastes cleanly into any editor and turns into a table in one step.

Meeting minutes template in Word

Microsoft's page "Templates for keeping meeting minutes" lists free designs including Classic meeting minutes, Team meeting minutes, Board meeting minutes and a Meeting sign-in sheet; you open one in Word for the web, double-click to edit, replace the text, and save, print or share it as a PDF [11]. To use a template from this page, paste it into a blank document, select the action lines and, in Word for Windows, click Insert, Table, Convert Text to Table [12]; choose Other as the separator and paste the middle dot to get columns.

Meeting minutes template in Google Docs

In a Google Doc, type @, click Meeting notes and select the calendar event; Google says the notes are pre-populated with the event's details, and the organiser can Share and attach them. From Google Calendar, an event's Take meeting notes does the same [13]. Paste the minutes template under that header. For actions, type @checklist: on a work or school account, each item can be assigned to a colleague with a date, and they receive an email [14].

As a PDF for signing

Once approved, save a PDF of the final version, have it signed as your rules require, and store it with the earlier minutes; the signed PDF is the record. California State PTA names signed PDFs in a secure PTA drive as one way to keep the permanent copy [10].

Meeting minutes example vs meeting notes vs agenda: which one you need

People search for all three when they mean one.

Number the minutes the same way as the agenda, and anyone can see which item produced which decision. The ten filled examples above are meeting minutes examples you can copy, swapping names and numbers.

Turning minutes into slides: an eight-slide monthly update

Some teams also show last month's record as slides at the next meeting or send it to leadership. Keep it to eight slides, and keep the signed minutes as the record.

1. Cover: the team, the month, the meeting date.
2. Who was there: attendance and apologies, one line.
3. Decisions: three to five, each as a full sentence.
4. Actions: the action-items table, open rows first.
5. Risks and issues: what changed, each with an owner.
6. The numbers: one chart of the measures the team tracks.
7. Next meeting: date and the items already on the agenda.
8. Approval: who took the minutes and when they were approved.

The all-hands meeting presentation guide covers the company-wide version. Building the slides on the train? See how to make a PowerPoint on your phone.

What to check before you send the minutes

Minutes are relied on later, sometimes in a dispute, so these checks matter more than the design.

Three ready requests to paste into NOXI

Paste one into NOXI, attach your notes, and replace the words in brackets.

Make it in NOXI: meeting minutes from your notes in one request

NOXI (noxi.ai) is an AI maker for presentations and documents: you describe what you need in one request, and it builds a designed deck or document in one of 14 formats; the free plan covers five documents a month, downloads carry no watermark, and files export to PowerPoint, Word and PDF.

Minutes are a Document: A4 or Letter pages, with tables where they help. Every change after a document is made, by chat or by hand, is free, and no credit card is needed to start. The formats are listed in the NOXI 2.0 launch article.

Frequently asked questions

What should meeting minutes include?

The body's name and meeting type, the date, time and place, who attended and who chaired, whether a quorum was present, approval of the last minutes, each decision or motion in exact words with its result, actions with an owner and a due date, the next meeting date, and the secretary's signature. Formal bodies add declared conflicts and vote counts.

What are the four things that meeting minutes should include?

Most rule sets agree on four: when and where the meeting took place, who was there and who chaired, what was decided, with the exact wording and result of any vote, and what happens next, as actions with one owner and one date. Boards and charities then add quorum, conflicts of interest and approval of the previous minutes.

Is there a meeting minutes template in Word?

Yes. Microsoft's page "Templates for keeping meeting minutes", checked on 12 November 2026, lists free designs such as Team, Board and Educational meeting minutes, which you edit in Word for the web and save, print or share as a PDF. You can also paste any template from this page into Word and convert it to a table.

Does an LLC need to keep meeting minutes?

It depends on the state and the operating agreement. Delaware's LLC Act, for example, does not list minutes among the records members may obtain, and lets members act by written consent instead of a meeting unless the LLC agreement says otherwise. Check the operating agreement, which may require meetings and minutes, and keep signed consents for major decisions.

Should meeting minutes include what people said?

Under Robert's Rules, no: its official FAQ says minutes record what was done, not what was said, and calls summarising discussion improper. Charity trustees in England and Wales follow different guidance: the Charity Commission asks for a summary of discussion and the reasons for each decision. Follow your bylaws or regulator, and always record motions in exact words.

Who approves and signs meeting minutes?

The same body approves them at its next meeting, as written or as corrected, and corrections go into the text being approved. The secretary usually signs the draft with name and title, and the chair signs once they are approved. In the UK, directors' minutes authenticated by the chair are evidence of the meeting's proceedings.

How long should you keep meeting minutes?

It depends on who you are. UK companies keep directors' and general meeting minutes for at least ten years. Charities in England and Wales that are trusts, unincorporated associations or CIOs keep them at least six years. California State PTA treats minutes as permanent records kept forever. Check your own law, bylaws and retention policy.

How soon after a meeting should minutes be sent?

As soon as possible, while people remember. New York public bodies must make minutes available within two weeks, and executive session votes within one week. IRS Form 990 instructions count a charity's board records as contemporaneous if made by the later of the next meeting or 60 days. For a team, aim to send the draft within one working day.

What is the difference between meeting minutes and meeting notes?

Meeting notes are informal and personal: anything useful, in any form. Minutes are the official record of the group: attendance, decisions in exact words, votes and actions, approved by the same body at its next meeting. You can take notes during a meeting and turn them into minutes afterwards, but only approved minutes count as the record.

Can NOXI turn my meeting notes into minutes?

Yes. Choose the Document format, attach your notes and the agenda, and describe the minutes you need; NOXI builds them from your files with an action-items table, exports Word or PDF, and lets you invite the chair as an editor of the same document. The free plan covers five documents a month, and every change after that is free.

Sources & methodology

Every rule, time limit and list comes from its publisher, opened on 12 November 2026, signed out. The ten templates and filled examples are editorial; the people, companies and figures in them are invented. Nothing here is legal advice: your bylaws, articles, operating agreement and local law decide what your minutes must contain.

• [1] FAQ 15: "Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said"; summarising discussion is called improper (RONR 12th edition, 48:2). FAQ 16: corrections at approval are made in the text of the minutes being approved, which are recorded as approved "as corrected"; later corrections use the motion to Amend Something Previously Adopted, and the secretary does not alter the original minutes (RONR 48:4(5), 48:15) · Robert's Rules of Order, official site, frequently asked questions, checked 12 November 2026.
• [2] "Minutes are the written legal record of what happened at your meeting"; not word for word, but with the exact wording of resolutions; contents: charity name, meeting type, date, time and venue, names and roles of attendees to show the quorum was met, declared conflicts and how they were managed, a summary of discussion on each item, decisions, full reasons and the information relied on, specialist advice, actions, the next meeting; who voted and how; the secretary usually takes minutes, or a trustee or employee if there is none; send drafts to every trustee as soon as possible; approve at the next meeting, then the chair signs; keep at least 6 years (trusts, unincorporated associations, CIOs) or 10 years (charitable companies). Updated 19 July 2024 · Charity Commission for England and Wales, Charity meetings (CC48), checked 12 November 2026.
• [3] Section 248: "Every company must cause minutes of all proceedings at meetings of its directors to be recorded." and "The records must be kept for at least ten years from the date of the meeting." · Companies Act 2006, section 248, legislation.gov.uk, checked 12 November 2026.
• [4] Section 249: minutes recorded under section 248, if purporting to be authenticated by the chairman of the meeting or of the next directors' meeting, are evidence of the proceedings · Companies Act 2006, section 249, legislation.gov.uk, checked 12 November 2026.
• [5] Section 355: every company must keep copies of members' resolutions passed otherwise than at general meetings and "minutes of all proceedings of general meetings", for at least ten years from the date of the resolution, meeting or decision · Companies Act 2006, section 355, legislation.gov.uk, checked 12 November 2026.
• [6] Part VI, line 8: whether the organisation contemporaneously documented every meeting held and written action taken by its governing body and committees with authority to act for it; documentation "can include approved minutes, email, or similar writings that explain the action taken, when it was taken, and who made the decision"; contemporaneous means by the later of the next meeting or 60 days after the meeting or written action. Instructions for the 2025 form · IRS, Instructions for Form 990 (2025), checked 12 November 2026.
• [7] Section 142(a): one of the officers shall have the duty to record the proceedings of the meetings of the stockholders and directors in a book to be kept for that purpose; section 141(f): unless the certificate of incorporation or bylaws restrict it, the board or a committee may act without a meeting if all members consent in writing or by electronic transmission, and the consents are filed with the minutes · Delaware Code, title 8, chapter 1, subchapter IV (General Corporation Law), checked 12 November 2026.
• [8] Section 18-305(a): the information each member may obtain (business and financial condition, tax returns, a list of members and managers, the LLC agreement and certificate of formation, contributions, other information as is just and reasonable); minutes are not listed. Section 18-302(d): "Unless otherwise provided in a limited liability company agreement", members may act without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, if consented to in writing by members holding the votes needed at a meeting where all were present · Delaware Code, title 6, chapter 18, subchapter III (Limited Liability Company Act), checked 12 November 2026.
• [9] Section 106: minutes of open meetings "shall consist of a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions and any other matter formally voted upon and the vote thereon"; executive session minutes record formal action as a summary of the final determination, the date and the vote; available within two weeks of the meeting, executive session minutes within one week; most recent revision dated 12 November 2021 · New York State Senate, Public Officers Law section 106, checked 12 November 2026.
• [10] Secretary job description: minutes include the PTA name, date, location, type of meeting, start and end time, attendance and the presiding officer, approval status of previous minutes, a summary of the treasurer's report, all motions with who made them, the result and vote counts, summaries of reports, and the secretary's signature and title; "Focus on recording what was decided, not who said what"; minutes are approved at the next meeting of the same group; never post full minutes publicly online; minutes are permanent records kept forever, for example as signed PDFs in a secure PTA drive · California State PTA, toolkit, job description for secretary, checked 12 November 2026.
• [11] "Templates for keeping meeting minutes"; templates listed include Meeting minutes (simple), Classic meeting minutes, Team meeting minutes, Educational meeting minutes, Board meeting minutes and Meeting sign-in sheet; how to use: explore minutes templates in Word for the web, double-click to edit, replace text, save, print or share as a PDF · Microsoft Word, minutes templates, checked 12 November 2026.
• [12] "Select the text that you want to convert, and then click Insert > Table > Convert Text to Table."; choose the separator options in the Convert Text to Table box · Microsoft Support, Convert text to a table or a table to text, checked 12 November 2026.
• [13] In a Google Doc, type "@", click Meeting notes, search for and select an event; "Meeting notes are pre-populated with event details but aren't attached to the event"; the organiser clicks Share and attach; in Google Calendar, an event's Take meeting notes attaches pre-populated notes to the event · Google Docs Editors Help, Add meeting notes to Google Calendar events, checked 12 November 2026.
• [14] Enter @checklist, click Add to Tasks beside an item, enter the assignee and an optional date; on a work or school account you can assign tasks to yourself or people in your organisation; the assignee receives an email and sees the task in their Tasks list and, with a date, on Google Calendar · Google Docs Editors Help, Assign tasks from Google Docs, checked 12 November 2026.