What is précis-writing?

Summary records are official documents constituting the permanent records of the United Nations bodies for which they are authorized. They are intended to provide a clear, concise and accurate account of the proceedings of a meeting. They summarize the views of the speakers and record the decisions taken. In striving to produce a concise account that focuses on the substantive issues, the précis-writer routinely omits certain details, such as courtesies, digressions and widely known facts, and summarizes others as briefly as possible. The summary record includes only speeches or statements that were actually made during the meeting.