Informal Meetings | Informal Meeting Minutes Template

Tomahto.. Tomayto..

Informal meeting minutes.. Meeting notes..

Say it the way you like, they are basically the agreement that everyone at a meeting makes about the information and action items of the event.

And to make the agreement stronger, these notes are drafted in a document that's shared with all meeting participants.

That's why we designed an informal meeting minutes template that's inclusive of all items one might need at an informal meeting. Customize this minutes template to your needs, add your own elements, and share it with the team afterwards.

But first things first... 

What are informal meeting minutes?

Informal meeting minutes are obviously a simpler form of the formal meeting minutes. Informal minutes are less detailed, are short, and only capture the basic information of a meeting.

Informal meeting minutes are usually referred to as meeting notes, as they don't have to be approved or signed by anyone. They are quickly revised and shared with meeting attendees afterwards.

As with any other type of meeting templates, whether agendas or minutes, informal meeting minutes are a way to end up with an efficient meeting where actions and outcomes are documented and shared with everybody.

Informal meeting minutes template

Before the meeting, the agenda is shared and a minute-taker knows what type of minutes they're required to take.

If your role is to take minutes of an informal meeting, then download informal meeting minutes template below and customize it to your team's needs.

You might want to download and keep this formal meeting minutes template as well, in case you're designated the role of a minute-taker for a formal meeting or a board meeting.

As a minute-taker, you'd want to be fast and accurate; here's how to take meeting minutes as a pro with some tips and tricks at the end of the article.

But as a general rule of thumb, use the meeting agenda as guidance while taking meeting minutes. This gives you an idea about the topic before it's discussed so that you are prepared to capture every important detail without being overwhelmed.

Meeting agenda templates examples

Successful managers and leaders strongly believe that a meeting agenda is kind of mandatory in any  meeting, no matter how big or quick it is. An agenda keeps the meeting on track, makes sure that participants are focused, and prevents derailment and off-the-topic discussions.

We have previously published a number of meeting agenda templates for different types of formal and informal meetings. Feel free to download the agenda template relevant to your team's needs and then customize it with your own elements.

✔️ Board meeting agenda template

✔️ Team meeting agenda template

✔️ Brainstorming meeting agenda template

✔️ Sales team meeting agenda template

✔️ Quarterly planning meeting agenda template

Given its importance, organizations and teams of all sizes resort to a meeting agenda software, which is usually part of an all-in-one meeting management software, to facilitate the whole process and automate many parts of it.

What's the difference between formal and informal meetings?

The differences between a formal meeting and an informal one are not huge; yet, they are distinctive.

Here are some major distinguishing characteristics of both types of meetings:

Formal meetings

• Having an agenda is mandatory.
• Minutes language is formal and structure is official.
• The atmosphere is somewhat tense and everyone is tightened up.
• Decisions are taken based on formal votes from a certain number of attendees.
• Discussions are regulated and the chairperson decides who gets to talk.

Informal meetings

• Having an agenda is optional; yet recommended.
• Minutes language is simple and structure can be loose.
• The atmosphere is relaxed and everyone is at ease.
• Decision-making is less structured, where a simple "Yes" would suffice.
• Discussions are free-flowing and participants can join in a conversation at any time.

Who uses an informal meeting minutes template?

As a matter of fact, most of our day-to-day meetings fall under the category of informal meetings, where the informal meeting minutes template would be just perfect.

Where else can an informal meeting minutes template be of use?

• Weekly stand-up meetings for teams
• Brainstorming meetings
• Team progress-updates meetings
• One-on-one meetings
• Orientations, training, and workshop meetings

Successful teams of all sizes resort to a meeting minutes software, which is usually part of an all-in-one meeting management software, to automate many parts of the event and guarantee that meeting content is accurately captured, safely kept, and easily referred back to.

And while there may be multiple meeting management solutions available, here is why adam.ai is the all-in-one meeting management platform you can trust:

• adam.ai is one of Atlassian Ventures' portfolio companies.
• In the meeting management software category on G2, adam.ai has been ranked a leader and a high performer for successive quarters in the past years.
• adam.ai has been included in the Forrester Report in the AI-enabled meeting technology landscape.
• adam.ai is trusted and used by powerful teams and organizations worldwide for all types of critical meetings, like board, committee, project management, and business development meetings.
• And most importantly, adam.ai integrates with your existing workflow, is SOC2 compliant, provides dedicated support and success, and has a free trial option.