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Effective Minutes Writing with AI assistance

Too long, too short. Too detailed, too brief. Common frustration from chairpersons and bosses who wonder why their minute-taker just can’t seem to scribe the nice and nuanced touch. This is particular so in the sensitive environment of an organisation where AI assistance and interests of stakeholders are demanding additional dimensions.

OUR TRAINER – note-taker, staff secretary, meeting member and board chairman – has been on both the giving and receiving end of such complaints and compliments in minuteswriting. He has witnessed long meetings where discussions could have filled pages of meaningless minutes, as well as brief meetings where critical comments were discarded. It takes just a day and a minute for this compressed workshop to show you how to write with confidence and clarity; yet not missing a beat in proficiency and professionalism.

Confusion over past and present tenses, reported speech and attribution and a host of meeting madness will be dealt with using real examples and samples. Minutes need not be boring even if meetings are! And because you come from a sizeable agency with permissible AI-use, the needs to prepare a meeting well; understand the atmospherics at a meeting; and follow-up duties after the discussion become a key concern for many note takers. This workshop will address all of these issues and provide useful AI ‘hacks’ to short-cut the tedious process.

Objective

At the end of the one-day workshop, participants will be able to:
a. appreciate the concerns of chairpersons and members;
b. avoid common errors and blind spots; and
c. write minutes that are clear and concise with AI assistance.

Outline

THE QUALITIES OF A MINUTE-TAKER

• before the meeting
• during the meeting
• after the meeting

THE QUALITIES OF MINUTES with AI Prompts

• resolution notetaking
• action notetaking
• narrative notetaking

THE QUALITIES OF THE SYSTEMS APPROACH

• Practice with Content
• Practice with Structure
• Practice with Format
• Practice with Language

Who should attend

Secretaries and Staff Officers who write minutes for all kinds of meetings at all levels. Even the occasional note-taker minuting the annual meeting will benefit from the writing pointers shared by our writing coach.

Testimonials

“The knowledge shared in this course is extremely useful for those requiring to write concisely. Would recommend for others to attend.”
– Derek Shen, HIT. Policy and Governance (June 2023)

“Sunny is a clever writer – knows when to give, when to keep – good for those of us dealing with data overload.”
– PUB (Mar 2016)

Profile of Dr. Sunny Goh

Dr Sunny Goh is a Trainer of Trainers (TOT) and has taught many writing coaches to teach writing programmes he has designed for government servants and private sector officers. He was head of the International directorate in Mindef's Defence Policy Office, where he has written Cab Memos, budget papers and presented Singapore’s position at international fora. He was a member of the SAF Scholars Selection Board and chairman of a university’s Resource Panel.

He was also a Desk Editor at The Straits Times, where he taught reporting and interviewing skills at its School of Journalism. In all, his participants had included CEOs, professors, staff writers, technical specialists, undergraduates and students. It doesn’t matter how high a participant’s work status may be - all that mattered is a penchant for learning.

As a volunteer, he was a Mediator with the Ministry of Law, a Council Member of the Singapore Red Cross Society and writes regularly for the local and regional media. And, oh yes, he was co-founder of an attractive English Premier League supporters club in Singapore that neither don red nor blue.