Taking Minutes

Index

Taking Minutes

Taking Minutes can be done in various ways. In this blog post, I will show how I took minutes. Taking minutes is called 'notuleren' in Dutch. It is different from taking notes (aantekeningen). The difference will become clear when reading my blog post. 

Taking Minutes During A Conference

When I worked as a project employee at E-Quality (Atria) between 2005 and 2007, I was responsible for taking and transcribing minutes for several conferences. I also did the same for the Forum Institute for Ethnicity & Diversity during a conference between 2004 and 2005. As a consultant at STOGO Onderzoek + Advies between 2007 and 2009, I supervised the minute-taking process at a conference and participated in biweekly meetings where minutes were taken.

Transcribing

Between 2023 and 2024, I transcribed several online meetings (Belastingdienst) and one offline meeting (World Café) for IPSOS I&O. Transcribing (online) meetings can be monotonous and repetitive work, and highly susceptible to RSI. There, I learned that transcribing is still RSI-prone work. The online meetings were recorded and transcribed by the meeting program itself. I had to check the transcript to ensure everything was transcribed correctly. This meant watching the entire meeting, reading along, correcting the transcript, and adding missing sentences or words. It takes decades for technological advancements to occur. I believe that in the future, transcribing will be less RSI-prone and more a matter of reading along and correcting.

Taking Minutes During An Interview

I primarily work with quantitative data and book or archival research, which doesn't require minutes like qualitative research. I recorded all the interviews with parents about raising children in three neighborhoods in Rotterdam I conducted for E-Quality in 2007. I did not transcribe them myself. I did transcribe the interviews about ethnicity, which I conducted for the Forum Institute for Ethnicity & Diversity (2004-2005) myself.

Taking Minutes During A Focus Group

During the developement of the Reality Keeper app me and the other creator of the app Reality Keeper held several focus groups. The focus groups were recorded. The minutes were used to further develop the app Reality Keeper, for the research report and to account for the money spent on the app Reality Keeper to the grant providers.

Taking Notes VS Taking Minutes

Minutes are taken during meetings and interviews. Not all minutes are recorded. What is said during meetings and interviews is transcribed. The transcription can range from a written transcript to a simple to-do list. The former is usually necessary for research, while the latter is common for board meetings, informal gatherings between colleagues, project meetings, and meetings between client and contractor. When there is no meeting and I take notes while reading a book, report, or archival material, it is called note taking, not minute taking.

Learn To Take Minutes 

The best way to learn to take minutes is by doing it, but a bit of learning about taking minutes can help. I followed the workshop Begrijpend Tekenen with the Betekenaar, the ecourse Mapping for journalist with DataJournalism and the ecourse notuleren with Laudius.

Related blogs on my website

• 7 ways to get out of a survey participation 

• Big Data eCourse 

• BKR, VOG & BIG 

• BTW & Other Dutch Taxes 

• Career 

• Chalkback 

• CityStories 

• Coding Emotions In Categories From A Survey Answer 

• Coding Qualitative Interviews & Focusgroups 

• E-Quality 

• Fieldwork agency VS research agency 

• Forum Institute

• From mandatory desk to self-chosen place to work 

• Geografie: Vrouwen toegevoegd aan Rotterdamse architectuur 

• Guiselaine & Big Data 

• Guiselaine & Curriculum Vitae 

• Guiselaine & Excel 

• Guiselaine & Projects 

• Infographic 

• Infographic the way to visualize a lot of information on 1 sheet 

• Internship Police 

• Internship Staal & Select 

• Interviewing & Coding Interviews For De Nederlandse GezinsRaad

• Interviewing For A Guest Blog During My Pacific travels 

• Ipsos I&O, fieldwork 

• Jump to a good conversation 

• Management tools 

• Nonviolent Communication 

• PreTesting Report Reality Keeper App 

• Qualitative Research I Did 

• Recensie Gebouwen Door Vrouwen 

• Research 

• Schooling 

• Shortcuts, I don’t thinks so 

• SPSS 

• Stogo Onderzoek + Advies 

• Supervising An Interview Team Which Spoke Papiamento To Interview People From The Dutch Caribbean In Dutch 

• The 12 Things I DId In Apeldoorn 

• The Research Behind The Book Gebouwen Door Vrouwen' Is Big Data Research 

• To interview by phone or not? 

• Using a decision tree to determine where to go

• Veldwerk 

• Who Cares 

• Why I always say yes when someone asks if I want to participate in a survey 

• Women & Elections: 8 Facts

• WordPress With Kids 

• Working in a team a blessing or a curse 

Related Affiliate Links

• Cursus Notuleren (Use the Code: GUISELAINE and get 10 percent discount)