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doc/minutes-styleguide.md

Minutes Style Guide

Written by Jesse H. Downing

Created:     23 Dec 2020
Modified:    18 Jan 2021

Table of Contents

About This Guide

This is the current style guide for recorded minutes for the Moss Point Computer Club and all adopted branches. Minutes are to be recorded for ALL meetings (with the exception of events) and to be turned in to the Moss Point Computer Club president at least once a month by one of the branch cabinet members. Branches that fail to do so risk being audited and having their budget penalized or their branch status removed entirely. Please submit your minutes IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS STYLE GUIDE. Alternative formats are not acceptable and will not be recognized. If you would like to propose a change or deviation from this style guide, please do so to the Moss Point Computer Club president. With this in mind, if the Moss Point Computer Club breaks a rule in their minutes (written after Fall 2020), it's likely you can break the same rule in yours -- for example, leaving out the author or attendance if the minutes are written later and these factors are unknown.

ALL LINE BREAKS IN THIS GUIDE ARE INTENTIONAL. IF THERE IS A LINE BREAK IN THE GUIDE, ADD ONE ACCORDINGLY IN YOUR MINUTES.

Style Guide

(Branch Name) Computer Club Minutes YYYY-MM-DD
Written by [AUTHOR](, edited by [EDITOR])

[SEMESTER] [YEAR] Meeting [0xFF]
Overall Meeting [0xFF]

Attendance: [Number Attendance]
- [Firstname Lastname]    (Cabinet Position)
- [Firstname Lastname]
- [Firstname Lastname]

[Cabinet Position] [NAME] officially called the meeting to order on [MONTH]
[DAY], [YEAR] at [TIME]

Headings without a bullet point are acceptable
+ All bullet points with proceeding points should be marked with a plus (+)
    - Minus (-) indicates there is no further sub-bullet
    + Pluses can be under pluses
        - Minuses cannot be under minuses
    - Make sense?
    - Do not
        - Do this^
    + This is
        - How you
        - should do
        - it.

+ Add a line break between first-level bullet points
    - Use TABs (\t), NOT spaces ( )
    - Unix (LF) is preferable, but Windows (CR LF) is okay too

+ PLAIN TEXT IS THE ONLY FORMAT THAT IS ACCEPTABLE
    - Do NOT submit your minutes in WORD, PDF, etc.
    + Write them in Notepad, Notepad++, Atom, or something with PLAIN TEXT
        - A text editor, NOT a word processor
        - If this is too slow for meetings and you need another editor to do it,
appoint one.

- Please don't put passwords or other sensitive information in your minutes

- All minutes must be turned in to the Moss Point Computer Club president at
least once per month. If you make them publicly available, that is even better.

- OVERALL meeting numbers should be in hexadecimal (base 16). Semester meeting
numbers can be in decimal (base 10), but hex is preferred.

+ It is strongly preferred that lines be soft-wrapped, but hard-wrapped at 80
characters is also acceptable.
    - For example, a soft-wrapped line will continue on without an actual
newline/line break. Text editors like Notepad++ accommodate for this and make
bullet points perfectly readable. This method is preferrable because it doesn't
add unnecessary line breaks and makes content more easily editable and
parseable.
    - A line can also be hard-wrapped, meaning that before 80 characters,
      there should be a newline character and all proceeding lines should
      be tabbed and spaced accordingly so that the letters begin at the same
      position on each line. Again, Notepad++ accommodates for this.
    - If you do hard-wrapping, remember to fix the position of the next line.
    - If you're using Windows Notepad, you may want to enable Word Wrap by
selecting `Format -> Word Wrap`

+ In the attendance, cabinet members and their positions should be listed first
in the order of cabinet position
    + Usual Order: President -> Vice President -> Secretary ->
Treasurer
        - This, of course, may vary based on what cabinet positions you have
available.
        + If a cabinet member officially holds more than one position, list them
both in the same parentheses separated by commas. Example:
            - Firstname Lastname    (President, Treasurer)
            - This is not necessary if they do not *officially* hold the
position or are filling in the position temporarily.
        - The first listed member should ALWAYS be the member who is LEADING the
meeting, even if it breaks the usual order. If the president and vice president
are both present but the vice president is the meeting leader, they should be
listed first.

[Cabinet Position] [NAME] officially adjourned the meeting (on [MONTH] [DAY],
[YEAR]) at [TIME]

Example Minutes

Moss Point Computer Club Minutes 2020-12-23
Written by Jesse Downing

Winter 2020 Meeting 0x01
Overall Meeting 0x40

Attendance: 4
- Jesse Downing        (President, Treasurer)
- Celina Morrison    (Vice President)
- Edan Collins        (Secretary)
- Joel Myers

President Jesse Downing officially called the meeting to order on December 23rd,
2020 at 7:30pm.

+ Net Cafe
    - January 32nd, 2021 @ 6:00pm
    - Jesse will bring a coffee maker and cups
    - Joel will bring tea and coffee
    - Celina will bring sugar and milk
    - Edan will bring creamer
    - All tables and stations will be 6ft apart, masks required, wipes and
disinfectant at every station
    - Will discuss equipment at next meeting

- "Fill me up with that dial up juice" -Jesse

+ Movie Night
    - December 33rd, 2020 @ 6:00pm
    - Hackers (1995) and Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
    - Microwave + Popcorn (Jesse)

+ Everybody ooo's and aaa's at Jesse's Altair
    - It is his boyfriend
    - "I like my computers like I like my men: able to be turned off."
    - They learn assembly or something

President Jesse Downing officially adjourned the meeting on December 23rd, 2020
at 8:30pm.

Acceptable Deviations

  • It is acceptable to use "Meeting Start: [Time]" and "Meeting End: [Time]" in place of the full sentences as long as the date at the top of the minutes is consistently correct and the first person listed under attendance is the meeting leader.
  • It is acceptable not to list attendance if the minutes are written retroactively and no attendance was taken. This is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED, however, as attendance may become a factor for funding at some point in time. Branches that consistently do not list their attendance risk a loss of funding.
  • Nicknames are acceptable within the attendance, as long as they are okay with the person being named and are identifiable with the member.

Other Things to Note

  • Minutes are not necessary for events. However, if you hold an event, please submit the event name, date and time, and estimated (or exact) number of attendees, including club members, the next time you submit your minutes after the event is held. Please also consider sharing pictures and video of your event with the Moss Point Computer Club, either over Discord or e-mail.
  • MINUTES MAY BE ADOPTED. If you hold a meeting with another branch or with the primary branch (The Moss Point Computer Club) and they take minutes, your branch may adopt those minutes instead of writing its own. For example, if you were the Millsaps Computer Club adopting minutes from the Moss Point Computer Club, your minutes may look like the following:
Millsaps Computer Club Minutes 2020-01-28
Written by Edan Collins, edited by Celina Morrison

Spring 2020 Meeting 0x03
Overall Meeting 0x42

Adopted minutes from the Moss Point Computer Club Overall Meeting 0x03

Attendance: #
- List your branch members

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