Podcast Episode

Ep 15 Writing it Down

The Committee Room··18 August 2026·17 min

About this episode

It's three months after the meeting. There's disagreement about what was actually decided. Half the committee remembers it one way, half remember it another way. Someone pulls out the minutes. They say: "The committee discussed the matter and a decision was reached." That's it. That's the whole entry.The minutes are the legal record of your organisation's decisions. If they're not good enough to settle a disagreement three months later, they're not good enough. Full stop.In this episode Kate H and Kate M cover everything committees need to know about writing minutes that actually do their job — and a brief but important clarification on Iced Vovos and what it means to have "a Bex and a lie down."In this episode:What minutes actually are — a legal record, not a summary, not a newsletter, not a transcriptWhy "if it's not in the minutes, it didn't happen" is the most fundamental rule in the roomThe proper header every set of minutes needs — and why apologies and absences are not the same thingWhat the right level of detail looks like — with a good example and a bad example side by sideWhat not to include — and why individual attribution chills debateThe action list that turns good minutes into good governanceFree minutes template in the show notes.Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au