# How to Write a Committee Report

If you are on a committee and need to create a report to discuss your meeting, it is important to make sure you are prepared for the meeting and understand the basics of how to write a committee report. Following several steps can take you from start to finish, and you will have a complete report ready to give to the individual or group monitoring your committee’s progress.

Bring a pen and paper or a laptop with you to your committee meeting. Make record of the date, the time, the attendees, including the titles and the length of the meeting. Write down the topics on the agenda and what may have been discussed without a specific time. Note who agreed and who disagreed, the reason, and other important information that occurred during the meeting. If a committee topic was not agreed on and the committee decided to table the discussion until a future meeting, make sure that you take note of that and when the committee will meet on the topic again.

Develop a report from your notes that reviews the meeting in greater detail, giving all of the information in an organized format. You may want to begin with a cover page that includes the date, time, length of meeting, and who attended.

Continue by writing the first topic of the committee meeting, as well as detailed information about what was discussed and what was decided, including the information on the committee’s votes. Go through each topic and do the same. Depending on the type of committee and the reason for meeting, you may want to include potential risk factors if an action is not followed through on or if an action is not determined. Write when the committee will meet again. Write a list of those who will receive the report at the bottom of the list.

Read through the report to make sure that the document is free of punctuation and grammatical errors. Check the committee report to ensure that the content is accurate and check back with your notes. Revise the document as needed prior to finishing a complete meeting report.

Make copies and provide the report to the attendees as well as the board of directors, other committees, managers or others if pertinent.

## Tips & Warnings

1. If you prefer to tape record the meeting, make sure that you have each committee member’s permission prior to taping the meeting.
2. Avoid putting information in the report that gets off topic to avoid filler, and stick to the facts. If someone on the committee began to speak about their children, for instance, do not include it unless it pertains to some work that the committee is doing, such as a reading program for children.