The first paragraph contains:

1. The kind of meeting (regular, special, adjourned).
2. The name of the society.
3. The date, time and place of the meeting.
4. The fact that the regular chairman and secretary were present, or else the names of the pro-tem officers.
5. A record of any approval of minutes of prior meeting(s), noting that there were corrections if any (the corrections themselves are made to the text of the original minutes), and noting the date of the minute's meeting when not the immediately preceding regular meeting.

The body contains a separate paragraph for each subject matter. For each important motion, the minutes should show the name of the mover. The body should show:

1. All main motions or restorative motions. (Withdrawn motions are generally not shown.) Shown for each such motion:
   • The wording in which each motion was adopted or otherwise disposed of, noting only parenthetically if it was debated or amended.
   • The disposition of the motion, e.g., it was adopted, failed adoption, was temporarily disposed of (e.g., laid on the table, referred to a committee). If temporarily disposed, the minutes also show any adhering motions (e.g., pending amendments, motion to refer or limit debate or divide the question).
2. Secondary motions that were not lost or withdrawn, when needed for completeness or clarity.
3. All notices of motions
4. All points of order and appeals, how resolved, and the chair's reasoning.

The last paragraph shows the time of adjournment.

Minutes should be signed by the secretary; some societies also require the president to sign. It is no longer necessary or customary to close with "Respectfully submitted."

Note:

1. The name of the seconder is not recorded.
2. Counts are recorded for counted votes. Names are recorded for each side for a roll call vote, and enough abstainers' names under a heading of "present" to demonstrate the presence of a quorum. No special note is made of whether the chair voted or not.
3. Committee reports given are noted, but entered in full only by order of the assembly.
4. The name and subject of a guest speaker can be given, but not a summary or text of his speech.

Approval of Minutes

1. Minutes are approved with a quarterly time period. If the next meeting is not that soon, a minutes approval committee or the executive board should be authorized to approve them.
2. Special meetings do not approve minutes. When minutes for more than one meeting are to be approved at the same later meeting, they are approved in the same order as the meetings occurred (p.343).
3. Sessions with meetings on more than one day usually have the minutes of the preceding day's meetings read and approved at the first meeting of the day.

The reading of minutes can be "dispensed with" at the scheduled time, but consideration of approval of these minutes can be taken up at any later time in the meeting by majority vote, or automatically at the beginning of the next regular or adjourned meeting. If copies of the draft minutes have been sent to all members in advance, minutes are not read unless requested. Otherwise, to approve minutes without reading them requires suspending the rules (2/3 vote).