Making Online Board Meetings Productive and Effective

The quality of your board’s meeting is dependent on the amount of work that members do prior to every meeting. When participants make the effort to prepare and prepare, they can make online meetings more efficient and productive. A well-prepared group is more likely to stick to the agenda and avoid getting distracted.

It’s essential to communicate clearly to board members from remote locations how they should be participating in meetings. It’s best, for example to remind members that they should mute themselves when speaking and only speak up when asked to do so. This will stop people from talking over each other or leaving a meeting without feeling heard. It’s also important for the convener to ask participants if they need help in a tech issue prior to beginning.

It’s also helpful to include the rules for virtual meetings in the materials for board members’ orientation to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what’s expected of them before and after the meeting. It’s crucial, for instance to provide the agenda prior to the meeting and then follow up each day or early in the morning to confirm the details. You can also provide the Zoom or meeting link to participants again and remind them about any other preferences you have (such as asking them to listen to the meeting from a quiet area to reduce distractions). It is also recommended to add an executive session placeholder to each agenda item and to include this at the start of the meeting to avoid confusion as to whether there is an executive session or not.

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