This Effective Minute Taking & Report Writing Skills Workshop has been designed to help you meet all of your daily challenges. As your role expands and constantly changes your need to know all of the tips and tricks to get your job done professionally and in a timely manner. If it is important that you do your job with the best advice, the best training and the best strategies to further your career then this is a must attend workshop. You will understand how to efficiently organize day to day administration and be able to support your manager by interpreting financial information and preparing budgets for small projects. You’ll also gain key skills to fast track your career and apply these skills to improve your overall performance and in decision making. We encourage you to attend this workshop and look forward to welcoming you at this event.

DAY ONE

Presentation of information as a determinant of acceptability by the reader.


• Layout

• Appendices

• Charts and Graphs


Role and Responsibilities of the Minute Taker

• 
Building familiarity with the agenda and issues to be discussed
• Identifying what is important and needs to be captured

• Understand what is going on in the meeting, both contents, and dynamics

• Understand the importance of the relationship with the chairperson


Best Practices Relating to Minute Writing

• 
Developing effective listening techniques

• Selecting the most important and relevant information to be recorded
• Effective note taking – distinguishing between facts & opinions
• Translating notes to minutes

• Summarizing skills

• Write to ensure minutes are unemotional and unbiased


Refining your Minute Writing Skills

• 
Recognizing how mediocre minutes can be turned into a professional document

• Ensure your use of language is professional by turning colloquial into formal

• Proofreading techniques to ensure your work is 100% correct

DAY TWO

Formatting and Presenting Minutes
▪ Identify documents that need to be attached
▪ Using different formats of minutes for different purposes
▪ Learn the most accepted style used in organization’s today
▪ Following up on actions after the meeting

Understanding the requirements of effective report and proposal writing
Reports and proposals -the differences and similarities
Evaluating writing habits

Writing an Abstract – Correct grammar in a document projects a professional image
▪ Readability
▪ Concise Language
▪ Avoiding Repetition
▪ Reducing Sentence Length
▪ Vocabulary

Effective planning is fundamental for writing well-structured documents
▪ Types of objectives
▪ Setting an objective
▪ Researching: concept, programme, expenses
▪ Mind mapping in a Minute: organizing the information
▪ Profiling the Reader: reader analysis and adaptation

DAY THREE

Increase your knowledge of report writing
▪ Five important requirements of report writing
▪ Types of Reports: Incident, Accident, Sales, progress, Feasibility, Site and Case Study
▪ Research Reports
▪ Informative/Evaluative Reports
▪ Formal/Full report structure -Front matter: Title page,Acknowledgements, Executive

Summary/Abstract, Terms of Reference.
Methodology/Procedures – Core:
Introduction/Background, Findings/Analysis, Conclusions,
Recommendations -Back Matter: Bibliography, Appendix, Glossary
Report Writing – Writing proposals with confidence
▪ Five important requirements of proposal writing
▪ Psychology of persuasion: using proposal guidelines, distinctive features, evaluation

criteria and strategic thinking
▪ Using the 4P proposal structure
▪ Formal/Full proposal structure
▪ Front matter: Introductory letter, Executive summary/abstract
▪ Core: Introduction, Background or Statement of problem, Proposed Solutions,
▪ Procedure/Methods,
▪ Evaluation Plan/Project Review, Conclusions Back Matter: Budgets or costs, Appendix

Using the correct language ensures that the reader understands and appreciates your
Writing
Style and Tone: emphasize the positive Degrees of Formality

Editing forms as an important part of successful report writing before the writer sends
the document to the reader
Being Critical: what went wrong?
Types of Editing: Content, Linguistic Flow, Style and Tone, Accuracy Tracking the Improvement

Introduction: challenging our thinking and learning
Challenging our thinking about projects, diversity, team-work and leadership
Understanding collaborative behaviours that can grow highly proactive and effective teams

Project Fundamentals
Customers, sponsors and other stakeholders – tools to get their buy in
The project management process – outputs are different from
Outcomes Projects’ cross organizational boundaries – tools for avoiding matrix conflicts
Turning an idea into a project
Learning fast before deciding to start – doing a feasibility study
Case Study: A business case that scopes a project to get approval or funding