Minutes of meeting (MoM) format, with an example

Copy this minutes of meeting format

Paste this original office template into Word or Google Docs. Fill the blank fields, duplicate the agenda-item section as needed, and delete optional fields your meeting does not use. It is a starting layout, not a prescribed legal form.

MINUTES OF MEETING

Meeting name / team:
Meeting reference:
Date:
Start and end time, with time zone:
Location / meeting platform:
Chair:
Minutes prepared by:
Document status: Draft for review

Present, with roles:
Absent / apologies received:
Quorum, if required by the governing rules:
Previous minutes / actions, if on the agenda:

1. Agenda item:
   Relevant context, if needed:
   Decision / outcome:
   Action reference:
   Task:
   Owner:
   Due date:

2. Agenda item:
   Relevant context, if needed:
   Decision / outcome:
   Action reference:
   Task:
   Owner:
   Due date:

Other business:
Next meeting, with time zone and location:
Meeting closed at:

Prepared by / preparation date:
Approval or confirmation, if required: Pending
Approved by / date, once completed:

“Apologies” means people who sent word that they could not attend. Keep those separate from unexplained absences. Record who actually attended rather than copying the invitation list.

The quorum field is conditional. Quorum is the minimum attendance required under the applicable rules; counting everyone in the room may include people who do not count towards it. SS-1 defines quorum for company boards and sets its own counting rules. Check your body's rule before filling this field. [2][3]

How to write numbered items

For an ordinary office MoM, use these steps as writing advice:

1. Copy the agenda numbers. If item 3 was not taken up, keep “3. Deferred” rather than making item 4 look like a different subject.
2. Give subtopics clear numbers such as 2.1 and 2.2. Give actions their own references, such as A01, so two actions under one item remain distinct.
3. Write the outcome that actually occurred. “The team discussed a backup rota” leaves approval open; “The team approved the backup rota for 2–3 November 2026” records an agreement.
4. Check each action with its owner. Use a task someone can finish, then record the agreed due date. If either detail was left open, write “Owner not assigned” or “Due date not agreed.”

An item number works like a street address. “22 October MoM, item 2” points to one passage; “the thing we discussed last week” sends everyone looking. Include the meeting date or reference when citing an item from another meeting.

Use third-person past tense for the narrative

Write “Nisha confirmed the review order” instead of “I confirmed the review order” or “We are reviewing the order.” Name the person when attribution matters; use “the team” for a collective decision. Avoid turning an opinion into a finding: “Ravi reported a delay” records the report without claiming the delay was independently checked.

ICSI's SS-1 §7.3.2 and SS-2 §17.3.2 require third-person past tense for the narrative and present tense for resolutions, within their respective scopes. [2][3] [4][5] Keep the exact adopted wording of a formal resolution. An action list can use an instruction such as “Send the revised rota”; the past-tense rule describes the meeting narrative, not every field label.

Keep decisions separate from actions

These are invented wording examples, not records of real meetings:

Use “resolved” for an adopted resolution. Do not supply unanimity or a vote count from memory of the mood in the room. For company board minutes, SS-1 specifically requires records of dissent and abstention. [2][3]

Complete MoM example

This is an original, fictional internal team meeting. Every name and event is invented. Approval is pending in the example (a filled document can still be a draft).

MINUTES OF MEETING

Meeting name / team: Customer support launch readiness
Meeting reference: SUPPORT-2026-10-22
Date: 22 October 2026
Start and end time: 10:00–10:45 a.m. IST (UTC+05:30)
Location: Cedar Room, Bengaluru
Chair: Nisha Rao, Head of Operations
Minutes prepared by: Dev Menon, Operations Coordinator
Document status: Draft for review

Present:
- Nisha Rao, Head of Operations
- Dev Menon, Operations Coordinator
- Asha Iyer, Support Lead
- Ravi Das, Technical Support Lead
Apologies received: Karan Shah, Training Lead

1. Launch-week support coverage
   Context: Asha reported that the late shift lacked backup on
   2–3 November 2026.
   Decision: The team approved Asha as the primary contact and
   Ravi as backup for the late shift on both days.
   Action A01: Publish the revised rota in the team folder.
   Owner: Asha Iyer. Due: 27 October 2026.

2. Help-centre article review
   Context: Dev reported that four launch articles awaited review.
   Decision: The team agreed to review the payment article first
   and the account-access article second, before the other two.
   Action A02: Send the payment article to Nisha for review.
   Owner: Dev Menon. Due: 26 October 2026.
   Action A03: Return edits on the payment article to Dev.
   Owner: Nisha Rao. Due: 28 October 2026.

3. Payment-outage escalation
   Context: Ravi asked which contact route the late shift should use.
   Decision: The team agreed to contact the on-call engineer through
   the existing incident channel. No new channel was approved.
   Action A04: Add the on-call contact link to the launch checklist.
   Owner: Ravi Das. Due: 29 October 2026.

4. Additional help-desk software
   Context: The team had no cost estimate for the proposed software.
   Outcome: The team deferred the purchase decision to the next
   meeting on 30 October 2026. No purchase was approved.
   Action: None assigned at this meeting.

Other business: None raised.
Next meeting: 30 October 2026, 10:00 a.m. IST, Cedar Room.
Meeting closed at: 10:45 a.m. IST.

Prepared by: Dev Menon, 23 October 2026
Approval / confirmation: Pending

Item 4 records the unresolved choice without inventing a follow-up owner. In a real meeting, ask who will obtain the cost estimate before everyone leaves. If that was missed, confirm the assignment afterwards and identify it as a later follow-up rather than rewriting what happened.

MoM email version

For an informal office meeting, use a searchable subject and put each action on its own line. This email corresponds to the example above; it is a draft for corrections.

Subject: Draft MoM | Support launch readiness | 22 October 2026

Hi all,

The support launch-readiness meeting took place on 22 October 2026,
10:00–10:45 a.m. IST, in Cedar Room, Bengaluru. Nisha chaired it.
Present: Nisha Rao, Dev Menon, Asha Iyer and Ravi Das.
Apologies: Karan Shah.

Decisions / outcomes:
1. The team approved Asha as primary and Ravi as backup for the late
   shift on 2–3 November 2026.
2. The team agreed to review the payment article first and the
   account-access article second, before the other two articles.
3. The team agreed to use the existing incident channel to contact
   the on-call engineer during a payment outage.
4. The software purchase decision was deferred to 30 October 2026.
   No purchase was approved and no action was assigned for this item.

Actions:
A01 | Asha Iyer | Publish revised rota | 27 October 2026
A02 | Dev Menon | Send payment article to Nisha | 26 October 2026
A03 | Nisha Rao | Return payment-article edits to Dev | 28 October 2026
A04 | Ravi Das | Add on-call link to launch checklist | 29 October 2026

Next meeting: 30 October 2026, 10:00 a.m. IST, Cedar Room.

Please reply with corrections, quoting the item or action reference.
These minutes remain a draft pending confirmation.

Regards,
Dev

Sending an email does not complete a formal minute-book or signature process. Use the required procedure for your body; Indian company examples are below. [1] [2][3] [4][5]

What rules apply to board, AGM, and RWA minutes?

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the governing law and your organisation's articles or bylaws before treating an office template as formal minutes. Robert's Rules also explains that its default rules yield to applicable law and an organisation's own rules. [6]

For Indian company meetings covered by section 118 of the Companies Act, 2013, the Act requires a fair and correct summary, including appointments made. Board and board-committee minutes must identify directors present and directors dissenting from or not concurring with a resolution. Section 118 also addresses the minute book and approved secretarial standards. [1]

ICSI's SS-1 covers company board meetings; SS-2 covers company general meetings, including AGMs, subject to their scope and exemptions. Use these differences to find the relevant provisions, not as a complete compliance checklist. [2][3] [4][5]

Both columns describe SS-1 and SS-2 as revised with effect from 1 April 2024. General-meeting minutes also have a 30-day signing deadline under SS-2 §17.5.1. [2][3] [4][5]

A discussion summary is not appropriate under every procedure. Under Robert's Rules, omit it and record what the meeting did; its official FAQ 15 makes that distinction explicit. [6] For an Indian society AGM or residents' welfare association (RWA), check the applicable state law and registered bylaws instead of assuming SS-1 applies. Outside India, including the Philippines, check local requirements for your type of organisation. This page does not establish your quorum or approval process.

Which tools help you prepare and share MoM?

Choose a document editor for the record and, if useful, a separate source for checking what was said. We haven't run this test yet. Where a table shows a product's behaviour, it's what that product's maker says, checked on 4 November 2026.

Google said on 16 July 2026 that, on Business Standard and Business Plus, "Take notes for me" turns on by default for meetings with three or more participants, starting no sooner than 21 September 2026. Admins can change that default, and users can turn it off in their Meet settings [15].

To start a Google Docs draft from an event, type @, choose Meeting notes, and select the Calendar event. Google says event details are prefilled; later changes to the event and the notes do not sync. Check the date and actual attendance before sending. [14]

A transcript can help settle what words were spoken. If it leaves agreement unclear, ask the participants; a polished AI summary cannot establish that a proposal passed.

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Candor's docs on this page's topic: What the summary includes.

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Last checked: 4 November 2026. Candor details come from Candor's documentation and homepage. [12] Report an error to support@candor.inc.