ESL Podcast 500 - Taking Minutes of a Meeting

absent - not present; not there; not participating in something, especially in a class or a meeting

Three students were absent yesterday, apparently because they were sick.

elected - chosen through a vote for a particular role, job, or position

Is the Secretary of State elected by Americans or chosen by the President?

secretary - a person whose job is to write notes during meetings and provide other administrative, typing, and clerical support

Michelle types very slowly, so she hired a secretary to type everything for her.

to take minutes - to create a short report about what happens and what is talked about during a meeting

Did anyone take minutes for the last meeting? I wasn't there, but I'd like to read about what was discussed.

to transcribe - to write down something that is said or recorded

The doctor records his notes on a small mp3 player, and his assistant transcribes them for the written records.

to summarize - to say or write the most important parts of something, without including all the details

Please summarize the problem when we present it to the vice-president. He won't want to hear all the specific details.

chair - chairperson; the person who leads a meeting, deciding who can speak, for how long, and on which topics

The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and then asked Nimia to speak about her project.

to call the meeting to order - to formally start a meeting; to ask everyone to be quiet so that a meeting can begin

They called the meeting to order at 9:34 a.m. and it lasted for almost two hours.

roll call - a way to determine who is present or at a meeting, calling out each person's name and waiting for that person to say "present" or "here" if he or she is in the room

It was very difficult to pronounce some of the names during the roll call!

agenda - a written plan for what will be discussed in a meeting and when

The agenda shows that we have 20 minutes to talk about sales, 30 minutes to discuss marketing, and 10 minutes for questions.

old business - topics that have been discussed in the past but need to be discussed again; ongoing topics or issues

We discussed five things in last week's meeting, and we're going to talk about three of them again today as part of old business.

a show of hands - having people hold up their hand in the air if they agree with something or are interested in something

The teacher asked for a show of hands to see which students had finished the assignment.

in favor of - wanting something to happen; voting "yes" for something; liking or approving something

Very few people are in favor of tax increases.

opposed to - not wanting something to happen; disliking something; rejecting something

Why are you opposed to opening a new library? I think it's a good idea.

new business - topics that have not been discussed in the past; topics that are being discussed now for the first time

If you have a new idea for the neighborhood association, you should talk about it when everyone is discussing new business.

to table - to delay or postpone; to stop discussing something before the conversation is finished, planning to continue discussing it at a later time

We've been arguing about this for hours. Let's table the discussion and come back to it later after we've had some time to think about the issue.

to adjourn - to officially end a meeting and let people know they can leave

The president didn't adjourn the meeting until almost 11:00 p.m. last night, so we're all really tired today.

officer - someone who has an official position in an organization, often an elected position

The organization has four officers: the president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer.