For anyone taking notes in a client meeting
Meeting Minutes Template With Examples
Minutes for client and project meetings: each decision and who made it, every action with one owner and a date, open questions, plus a filled example.
What good minutes do
Five rules for meeting minutes, and where they come from
These sources were written for boards and other formal meetings. A client meeting needs less ceremony, but the same habits make its minutes easier to trust.
| Rule | What the source says | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Record what was done | Robert’s Rules of Order2: “Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said.” | End each item with a decision, an action or an open question. Leave out the debate. |
| Say who decided, and when | For nonprofit boards, the IRS’s Form 990 instructions4 describe records “that explain the action taken, when it was taken, and who made the decision.” | Write each decision as one sentence: what changes, from when, and who made the call. |
| Give each action an owner and a date | The Chartered Governance Institute1: minutes should make clear “who has responsibility for the action and the date by which it should be completed where a deadline has been agreed.” | Name one person, not a team. If no date was agreed, write [date to confirm] and ask for one. |
| Write for someone who wasn’t there | The Institute: “Minutes need to be written in such a way that someone who was not present at the meeting can follow the decisions that were made.” | Use full names and job titles, spell out shorthand, and give the reason for any decision that changes scope, dates or money. |
| Let people correct them | The Institute: there should always be “an opportunity at the succeeding meeting for directors to correct errors in the draft minutes before they are approved.” | Ask for corrections by a set date, usually two working days. After that, the minutes stand. |
Quotations checked October 29, 2026. The Institute, which qualifies company secretaries in the UK and Ireland, published this guidance in April 2017 under its former name, ICSA, and still publishes it. Robert’s Rules are default rules, which an organization’s bylaws or the law can override.
How it works
How do you write minutes for a client meeting?
Fill in the header before the meeting, note only outcomes while it runs, and send the minutes within 24 hours. The header holds the meeting’s name, date, place, chair, minute-taker, attendees and apologies (people invited who couldn’t come). In the room, listen for three things: what was decided and by whom, who agreed to do what by when, and what nobody could answer. A leaning such as “we’ll probably move go-live” is not a decision, so it goes under open questions with what it waits on.
Most gaps are easier to close in the room than by email a week later. When an action has no owner or date, ask before the meeting moves on: “Who will take that, and by when?” If a decision is unclear, the Chartered Governance Institute1 tells board minute-takers to always ask, and suggests “Excuse me, but just so that I am clear for the minutes...” Where nobody takes an action on, write [owner to confirm] rather than guess, and ask in the covering email.
Write the minutes up the same day, while you can still read your shorthand. Block the time: some experienced minute-takers told the Institute that drafting takes at least as long as the meeting itself. Put the decisions and actions in the body of the covering email, with a date for corrections. Or paste your notes above for a first pass from River, with every missing owner and date marked; a whole transcript goes to the meeting minutes generator.
How it works
From meeting notes to sent minutes
Download it or open it in River
Download the three Word documents free, or click Edit with AI. To get a first pass, paste your notes above before you click.
River writes a first pass
If you pasted notes, River fills in the decisions, actions, open questions and covering email, using only what your notes say.
Settle owners and dates
Missing owners and dates read [owner to confirm] or [date to confirm]. Settle them yourself, or let River walk you through them.
Send within 24 hours
Run the checklist, send the covering email with the decisions and actions in it, and ask for corrections by a set date.
Minutes · Larkfield weekly project meeting, Wed 9 Dec (example)
Dana Whitlock (COO, chair), Luis Ferreira, Ana Ruiz, Jo Mensah, Sam Ortega. Apologies: Owen Barker.
The Northfield pilot starts on Mon 14 Dec with a 12 p.m. order cut-off, no exceptions. Decided by Dana Whitlock.
Email the 212 pilot customers · Luis Ferreira · Fri 11 Dec. Check the order system can stop late orders · [owner to confirm] · Fri 11 Dec.
Can the two largest customers keep 2 p.m. after the pilot? Dana wants to see the results first.
Next meeting: Wed 16 Dec, 10:00
What you'll get
Decisions, actions with owners and dates, and a filled client meeting example
- Five parts: attendees, decisions, actions with owners and dates, open questions, next meeting
- A filled client meeting example, with a note on why each part works
- A five-line version for quick calls, and a covering email to send
Before and after
Your notes in. Minutes you can send.
Weds 9 Dec, weekly call w/ Dana, Luis, Ana, Jo. Owen off. Dana ok'd 12pm cut-off for all Northfield, no exceptions, pilot still 14th. Luis's team to tell the 212 customers by Fri. Jo briefing the depot Fri. Can the system block orders after 12? Nobody from IT on, someone to check. Big two want 2pm after the pilot, Dana: see numbers first.
Decided: the Northfield pilot still starts on 14 December, with a 12 p.m. order cut-off for all Northfield customers and no exceptions. Decided by Dana. Action: Tell the 212 customers about the cut-off · Luis (his team) · Fri 11 Dec. Action: Brief the depot · Jo · Fri 11 Dec. Action: Find out whether the order system can stop orders after 12 p.m. · [owner to confirm] · [date to confirm]. Still open: can the two largest customers keep 2 p.m. after the pilot? Dana wants to see the numbers first. To confirm: who should check the order system, and by when?
Anything your notes leave unclear is marked to confirm, then asked as a question in the covering email.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the meeting minutes template
- Meeting Minutes Template
Meeting details, decisions, actions, open questions and next meeting, plus six common mistakes and the rules behind the template. - Decisions, each with a decider
One sentence per decision, credited to whoever made it. Anything only leaned toward moves to open questions. - An action table
One task per row with one named owner, a due date and a status, plus actions carried from last time. - A covering email and checklist
An email with the decisions and actions in its body, a To confirm line, and seven checks before you send. - Example Minutes, Client Project Meeting
Finished minutes for an invented food distributor’s weekly meeting, the email that sent them, and why each part works. - Short Minutes for Quick Calls
Five lines for a call of 30 minutes or less, when to switch to the full template, and an example.
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What are meeting minutes?
Meeting minutes are the written record of a meeting: who attended, what was decided and by whom, who agreed to do what by when, and what was left open. Notes are for you; minutes are for everyone who was there or should have been, and they keep outcomes, not the conversation. On a client project, both sides go back to them when memories differ.
What should not go in meeting minutes?
Leave out the back-and-forth and who argued for what; Robert’s Rules2 even calls summarizing the discussion improper. Quote someone only when the exact words matter, such as a commitment or a figure. Keep out anything private to your own firm, such as fees or views on people. Long detail, like a full requirement, belongs in its own document, such as a business requirements document.
How long should meeting minutes be?
Aim for one to two pages for an hour-long meeting. Longer usually means you’re recording the conversation instead of the outcomes. A call of 30 minutes or less can use five lines: the call, what was decided, actions, what’s still open and what’s next. Board minutes often run longer, since UK governance guidance1 expects the key points of discussion and the reasons for decisions.
How soon should meeting minutes be sent?
Send client or project meeting minutes within 24 hours, while people can still correct them from memory. Put the decisions and actions in the email itself and ask for corrections within two working days. Boards move slower: deadlines for sending out drafts, as quoted to the Chartered Governance Institute1, ranged from two days to a week. Approval usually waits for the next board meeting.
How are board meeting minutes different?
Board minutes are a legal record. In the UK, section 248 of the Companies Act 20063 requires minutes of every directors’ meeting, kept for at least 10 years. The IRS’s Form 9904 asks US nonprofits whether each board meeting was documented by the next meeting or within 60 days, whichever is later. Startup boards can use the board minutes template.
Is this meeting minutes template free?
Yes. Download all three Word documents (the template, the filled client example and the quick-call version) with no signup. Edit with AI opens the same documents in a free River workspace, where River can turn your notes into a first pass. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
What does Edit with AI do?
Edit with AI opens all three documents in a free River workspace. If you pasted notes, River fills the template from them, covering email included, and writes [owner to confirm] or [date to confirm] wherever they don’t say. Without notes, the documents stay as they are. River’s privacy policy says neither River nor its AI providers train models on your notes.
Your next step