Using a standard meeting template for all of your meetings can save you a lot of time and provide a much better documentation of your organization's decision-making.

[Meeting Topic]

Attendees:

• [Attendee 1]
• [Attendee 2]
• [Attendee 3]

Time/Date/Location: 

[Insert date information here]

Agenda

• 10 minutes: [Agenda item]
• 10 minutes: [Agenda item]
• 10 minutes: [Agenda item]
• 30 minutes: [Agenda item]
• 5 minutes: Wrap-up

Notes

• If you are having a physical meeting, the ideal is to project this page on the wall and add to it as the meeting occurs.
• This has two extremely positive effects
  • It ensures that all the meeting attendees agree on the notes
  • It eliminates the need for retyping notes later on

Action Items

• As the meeting progresses, add any action items to this section to make sure they don't get forgotten or dropped
• During the wrap-up phase of the meeting, review the notes and add any additional action items that spring to mind
• Each action item should specify the task, the person responsible, and the due date.  Here is an example:
  • Finalize and publish list of new features to PBworks.com Web site (Ramit Sethi, by 3/15/2008)