A Practical Guide to Meetinps and Discussions

Sample Minutes of a Committee Meeting

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Thosepresent

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COMPUWARE MANUFACTURING COMPANY

Minutes of the Sixth Committee Meetingof the Staff Club

held on SaturdaS 20 January 20XXat2p.m. in the Conference Room

Present : Mr James Lee - ChairpersonMrAhmad ZaidiMr Raj Mahasingam - TreasurerMr Kamarul AriffinMs Zety IsmailMr Peter RatnamMs Nurlisa ZainalMs Elaine Wong - Secretary

Absent : Mr Khairul AnuarMs Lim Su Beng

l. Chairperson's Welcome Address

The chairperson called the meeting to order at 2.15 p.m. andwelcomed all the members.

2. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Mr Khairul Anuarand Ms Lim Su Beng as they were attending a seminar inPenang.

3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were read by the secretary.The following amendments were made:Item no. 3. The cash collected from the sale ofrecycled materials

was RM3,500 and not RM35,000 as reported in the minutes.

As there were no other amendments, the minutes were thenapproved as a true record and signed by the chairperson

4. Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes

Mr Ahmad Zaidi asked the treasurer if the budget for the familyday had been approved. The treasurer informed the members

that the budget had been presented and approved.

Continue tl 0n next ]?ag€

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Unit 5 After a Meeting: Minutes of a Meeting

5. Corresoondence

The secretary informed the committee that she had received

a letter of invitation from the Staff Club of MediaCorp Ltd.for their 'Cultural Nite'on 31 August 20XX. The members

agreed to accept the invitation.It was agreed that Ms Nurlisa Zainal would respond to the

invitation from MediaCorp Ltd. and be in charge of organizingthe trip to their 'Cultural Nite'.

6. Reports

The treasurer presented the latest report on the club's financialstanding.

Balance from the year 20XX - RM1365.47Netprofitfromsales of souvenirs - RM 671.35Membership fees for Jan. 20XX - RM 960.00Total balance RM2996.82

7. Special Business

7.1 Annual Dinner 20XX

The chairperson informed the members that as the AnnualDinner of the society was traditionally held in March, thepulpose of the meeting was to decide on the details of theAnnual Dinner for 20XX.

7.1.1 Venue:

Ms Elaine Wong proposed that the Annual Dinner 20XX beheld at the Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam. The motion wasseconded by Mr Peter Ratnam.

Ms Zety Ismail proposed that the Annual Dinner be held atthe Pan Pacific Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. It was seconded byMr Raj Mahasingam. After much discussion, it was decidedby a large majority that the Annual Dinner be held at

Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam.

'7.l.2Date:

The chairperson proposed that the Annual Dinner be held onSaturday, 10 March 20XX. It was seconded by Ms NurlisaZainaLIt was agreed unanimously by all members.

7.1.3 Entertainment:

Mr Ahmad Zaidi proposed that the UiTM Orchestra be invitedto entertain the guests for the Annual Dinner. It was seconded

by Ms Zety Ismail. The proposal was put to a vote and thedecision was unanimous. Mr Ahmad Zaidi volunteered to setin touch with UiTM to reouest for their orchestra.

Ms NurlisaZunal

MrAhmadZaidi

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7.1.4 Menu:

With regards to the menu, the members put forward severalproposals. It was finally decided that Ms Zety Ismail wouldapproach the hotel management for the menu and also gettheir quotation . Ms Zety Ismail was requested to present theinformation during the next meeting.

7.2 StaffFund

The chairperson informed the members that money had tobe raised for the stafffund in order to caffy out the variousactivities that had been scheduled.

After much discussion, it was unanimously agreed thatMs Elaine Wong would form an ad hoc committee whichwould come up with some suggestions for fund-raising. Thecommittee would discuss these proposals at the next meeting.

7.3 Staff Restaurant

Mr Raj Mahasingam reported that a number of complaintsbeen received from employees about high prices and a lack ofvariety on the menu in the staff restaurant. There were alsocomplaints about the unhygienic condition ofthe restaurant.

Mr Kamarul Ariffin proposed that the services of the companyoperating the staff restaurant be terminated in June when itscontract expires. An advertisement could then be placed in thelocal newspapers to invite tenders by any other companies tooperate the restaurant.

After a thorough debate, it was resolved by 6 votes to 1 thatthe services of the present company be terminated in June andadvertisements be placed in the local newspapers for a newcompany to run the staff restaurant. Mr Kamarul Ariffinwould be in charge of this matter.

8. Anv Other Business

The chairperson informed the committee that Mr JohnSamuel, one of their longest serving employees, was retiringon 1 July 20XX.

The members agreed that the Managing Director presenta gift to him at a small tea party sometime in June.Ms Nurlisa Zainal and Ms Elaine Wong were asked topick out the gift and organize the tea party. The committeeallocated RM1000 for this event.

9. Date. Time and Venue of the Next Meeting

It was decided that the next meeting be held on Saturday,10 February 20XX at 4.30 p.m. in the Conference Room.The secretary would send out a notice closer to the dateof the meeting.

A Practical Guide to Meetinps and Discussions

MsZetyIsmail

Ms ElaineWong

Mr KamarulAriffin

Ms NurlisaZainal andMsElaineWong

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Unit 5 After a Meeting: Minutes of a Meeting

83

A Practical Guide to Meetinss and Discussions

The table below shows examples of sentences where the form of theverb changes when the sentences are changed from the active voiceto the passive voice.

Active voice Passive voice

Simple presentThe company manufactures productsfor the oil and gas industry.

Products for the oil and gas industry aremanufactured by the company.

Simple pastWe introduced flexitime, a systemof working flexible hours, in thecompany two years ago.

Flexitime, a system of working flexiblehours, was introduced in the companvtwo years before.

Simple futureWe will employ a head-huntingagency to fecruit new managementpersonnel.

A head-hunting agency will beemployed to recruit new managementpersonnel.

Present continuousThe Research and Development Unitis creating a new product for theintemational market.

A new product is being created for theinternational market by the Research and

Development Unit.

Past continuousThe Production Department wasfinding ways to improveproductivity.

Ways were being found by theProduction Department to improveproductivity.

Present perfectThe company has spent a lot of moneyto promote a new line of products.

A lot of money has been spent topromote a new line of products.

Past perfectThe Personnel and ProductionManagers had reached a

compromise to the problembefore the meeting ended.

A compromise to the problem hadbeen reached by the Personnel and

Production Managers before themeetins ended.

Modal auxiliariesThe Personnel Department shouldintroduce flexitime as it is eood forstaff morale.

The company may reduce thenumber of personnel in the computerdepartment.

Flexitime should be introduced by thePersonnel Department as it is good forstaff morale.

The number of personnel in thecomputer department might be reduced.

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Unit 5 After a Meeting: Mintiles of a Meeting

Change the following sentences into reported speech.

Example:

'The objective of the company is to improve productivity without extrainvestment in equipment.'

The Managing Director stated that the objective of the comparyt wasto improve productivitt^ without extra investment in equipment.

1. 'I propose that we increase the price of the new products asdistribution costs have gone up.'

Z. 'The company needs to diversify so that it can become a dynamicfinancial services group.'

3. 'Our new headquarters should be located in Putrajaya as it willbe near the government administrative centre.'

4. 'On-the-job training will give students the competitive edge inthe job market.'

5. 'The price of tickets is too high. We'll not be able to atfiact alarge audience.'

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