My current organization insists that I supply every member with a copy of the minutes, everyone reads silently (at their own pace... yawn!), and then the Chair asks for changes, etc.

Which is correct: having the minutes read aloud by the secretary, or having each member read silently their own copy provided by the secretary? - Patricia Bagley, Jan. 5, 2000

A: RONR pp. 348-49 says that if the minutes are sent to all members before the meeting so that they have had an opportunity to review them, "the actual reading of them aloud may be waived if no member objects." You can take this to mean that if the members have not had an opportunity to read them, they should be read aloud.

If everyone has a written copy, it does help identify misspellings and other typos; therefore, I advise my clients to hand out the minutes at the meeting, and to have the secretary read them aloud while everyone reads along. I also advise them to prominently mark the word "DRAFT" on the minutes that are handed out so that no one takes them home believing they are the approved version. (Obviously, the secretary's version should not be marked "DRAFT.")