Don t forget that detailed minutes are a formal record so they must contain sufficient information to demonstrate when the meeting was held, who was there, what was discussed, what supporting material was supplied, what was said and what the decision was. They can be used in evidence in court and once approved by the subsequent meeting they become an inviolable record. Summarised minutes are quite similar, although less detail will be given of the discussion and they will often not go into detail about supporting information and previous references. This type of minute is used by NHS trust boards but not usually by local authorities or health authorities although practice varies. They are much more common as records of management or executive team meetings, joint consultation meetings and project or contract meetings.
Notes are literally that.
They contain a beginning and an end but little or no middle. They are utilised for general frequent co-ordinative meetings and informal meetings. The chief executive outlined the content of his report to the meeting. He explained that the catastrophic failure of the current administrative computer system necessitated the urgent procurement of a replacement system. Various alternatives had been investigated and costed bids had been received from three suppliers, ABC Computers Ltd, XYZ Computers Ltd and Eezitype Computers plc.