Corporate meeting minutes are the written record of the decisions a company’s board or shareholders make at a meeting and the actions that follow. They document everything discussed during the meeting and provide proof of any changes made. A corporate meeting minutes template is a ready-made form that puts the date, attendees, votes and action items in a set order, so you can fill it in online and print it.
Last Updated: October 2026. This guide is reviewed and updated regularly to reflect current law. If you notice an error or outdated information, please contact us.
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This meeting minutes template should be used for every meeting that you have for two reasons. The first reason is that you should have a record of any significant decisions made by your company. Meeting documents can be called upon as proof of the changes that the board has made and they can also be used for record-keeping purposes.
If you ever need to see your company’s history, organized and fully fleshed-out records make the search easier. The same goes for any other reason to delve back into your company’s records. However, the state does not need to see your meeting minutes records, and instead, the meetings can be reviewed by members of your corporation.
Common meetings to record with this template include:
For any good meeting to go off without a hitch, you need to prepare for everything. First, always give advance notice for meetings, at least a few hours if not a few days.
You don’t want anyone to not show up due to an easily avoidable scheduling conflict. So, make sure that all of the available board members can either be there or are given a reasonable excuse not to be there.
All shareholders need to show up at a shareholder’s meeting, board members need to be at a board meeting, and so on. If someone can’t show up at a meeting, you need to have them sign a waiver that states why they can’t be there. Once the meeting has been gathered, you will need to give everyone attending the meeting a packet about the topics of discussion and voting issues.
The packets should not only hold the documents and plans that are needed for the current meeting, but they should also have a page detailing the last minutes of the previous meeting. The previous meeting minutes should be the first thing you look at when bringing a new meeting to order.
Before the meeting starts, it helps to have these items ready:
Corporate minutes need to include various things for every meeting, which is why creating a template is one of the best things that you can do to make sure everything goes smoothly. First, you need to have the location and time of when the meeting took place, as well as the day that the meeting took place.
You should also have the list of who came to the meeting, any absent members, records if anyone left early or arrived late, and who is running the meeting. You should also write down if you have a quorum or a maximum number of people who can decide.
The purpose of the meeting, any votes taken, detailed accounts on who voted for what, and the meeting agenda should all be written down. It would be best if you also kept a timetable for when the meeting started and ended.
A complete set of minutes usually covers:
Writing corporate minutes can be hard for you and your secretary to do, especially if the meeting has many steps and votes that require a lot of writing to be done. You need to take a lot of notes, and the template can really smooth things along. You should focus on not writing down everything word for word, but instead, start by writing down key phrases and essential plot points.
You can also write down the points of view of all people who have taken a vote or argued for a specific topic. You don’t need to write down their entire argument, just if they agree or disagree.
You should also write down the purpose of the meeting and whether or not that purpose was achieved by the end of the meeting. Most meetings do end with their objective being resolved, but if the meeting doesn’t get a resolution, you should write down the steps you will take to ensure that the issue is resolved by the next meeting.
Once the meeting has been completed, you will need to make sure that you have all the information about the meeting filled out in the template. You should note any presentations made, reports filled, and you should make sure there’s an accurate tally of results for any votes or decisions made during the meeting process.
Writing minutes is easier when you follow the same order every time. The steps below match the order of a typical meeting, so you can fill in the template as the meeting moves along instead of after it ends.
Seeing a finished example makes the template easier to fill in. The sample below uses a made-up company and made-up names, so replace every detail with your own when you write your minutes.
Example Company, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting
Date and time: March 14, 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Place: Conference Room B, 123 Main Street
Notice that each entry records the decision and the vote, not the debate.
Small habits make minutes easier to write and easier to read later. Most of them take only a few seconds during the meeting, and they save time when someone needs to find a decision months afterward. Try these:
Meeting notes are your own shorthand, while corporate minutes are the clean, shared record of the meeting. Notes can be messy and personal. Minutes are written so that someone who missed the meeting can read them later and understand what was decided and who is doing what.
| Meeting notes | Corporate minutes | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Help one person remember | Record the decisions of the group |
| Audience | The note taker | Directors, shareholders and anyone who missed the meeting |
| Detail | Rough and personal | Short, factual and consistent |
| Format | Any layout | A set template with the same sections every time |
Good minutes are short because they leave out everything that does not help a reader understand the outcome. A clear record of the decision is worth more than a full account of how the group got there. Skip these items when you fill in the template:
Once you have the corporate minutes for your meeting all set up, you should get them into a filing system with all of the other important documents. These include your bylaws, your articles of incorporation, and the resolutions for your company. The documents should be categorized and you should keep them around for about seven years.
The state doesn’t need to review your minutes, but your corporation’s members can ask to review the meeting minutes with a reasonable request.
Corporate meeting minutes are the written record of what a company’s board or shareholders discussed, decided and agreed to do at a meeting. They list who attended, which motions were made and how each vote turned out.
Most minutes list:
Leave out most of the back-and-forth. Decisions matter more than debate.
Often the company secretary does, or another person the chair picks before the meeting starts. Choose someone who listens closely and types quickly, and give them the agenda in advance.
Short is fine. A page or two is common for a routine meeting. Record the decisions and action items, not every word that was said.
Select Create My Document at the top of this page, answer a few questions and save your progress. You can finish on any device, then download and print the document.
If you have an S or C corporation, it is a requirement that you keep meeting minutes in all states except for Delaware, Nevada, Kansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. Those listed states do not require minutes of meetings to be taken and you also don’t need to take minutes if you own an LLC corporation.
Otherwise, you need to take minutes on all of your board meetings, and often this job falls to a secretary who uses a template to make the process as easy as possible.
General information, not legal or tax advice.
