Your Role as the Club Secretary
Your Responsibilities include:
 Keeping an accurate record of all meetings
 Maintaining a list of all members and their
attendance at meetings and activities
 Calling the role of members
 Completing the minutes and signing them prior to
the next meeting
 Standing to read complete and accurate minutes at
every meeting
 Correcting minutes as directed
 Restating motions and looking up items in the
minutes if requested
 Sharing correspondence with the club
 Writing letters as directed by the club
 Sending a copy of the club’s minutes to the UWExtension Office to be place in the club’s file. This
can be an electronic copy sent to rene.mehlberg@ces.uwex.edu or hard copy mailed to:
o UW-Extension Office
o Attn: 4-H
o 625 E Cty Rd Y, Suite 600
o Oshkosh, WI 54901
Meeting Minutes Should include the Following:
 Name of your club
 Place and date of the meeting
 Name of the President (or whoever is filling in that role if the President isn’t there)
 Time the meeting began
 Number of members, leaders, parents, and guests present
 A statement that the minutes were approved as read or corrected
 An accurate treasurer’s report that shows
o beginning balance,
o total money received since last meeting,
o total payments made after the last meeting
o current balance
 Complete motions including:
o Name of the person making the motion
o Exact wording of the motion
o Who seconded the motion
o Whether the motion passed or failed
 Committees formed and who is serving on the committees
 If a guest speaker, type of program and presenter’s name
 Names of members giving demonstrations and their topics
(over)
Tips for taking successful minutes:
 Talk with the club leader to get an agenda a head of time. Ask them to leave space for
you to write to include the items that must be included. Maybe work with them to create
a template that you can use each month to take minutes

The agenda for the 4-H club meeting could be given to you as a paper copy or emailed
to you electronically. If you have access to a laptop and feel comfortable enough to try
it, you could type the minutes as the meeting goes. If you have an electronic copy of the
agenda, you may want to create your own template that you would type in before the
meeting starts.

It’s okay to ask someone to repeat something if you missed it. It’s important to get all of
the information that the minutes should include especially treasurer balances and
motions. It’s better to ask than not to record the information.
Resources for the Club Secretary can be found on the Winnebago County 4-H website under
the “Club Officer Resources” heading:
http://winnebago.uwex.edu/4-h-youth-development/forms-and-applications/
 Book Cover
 Roll Call Sheet
 Club Meeting Note Template
2011