One of the best ways to make sure your board meetings are effective and productive is to take time to plan. Preparing for a meeting is not only about ensuring you have the proper room and equipment, but also ensuring that your entire team is equipped with the knowledge required to have a successful discussion.
The agenda should be set first. Set the date and time in advance so that your team can have time to plan their attendance and mark their calendars. This also allows you to send out materials for board meetings in advance, ensuring that your board members have time to examine them prior to the meeting.
It’s important to ask yourself, during this time, what topics are most important and important to discuss. Also, think about what you’d like to accomplish during the meeting, including any milestones or action items to achieve. This will help you determine how much time to allocate to each item, and help keep your meetings focused and on the right path.
Create a plan of action and distribute it to the board chair and executive as well as any other stakeholders in the mix. Most often, new ideas are suggested at this stage, so it’s crucial to be flexible and realistic about the way you manage new items. Consider parking or leaving items for another meeting if they don’t seem to be appropriate.
Additionally, it’s important to have an effective system for recording and dispersing minutes. Boardable makes it easy to distribute minutes and publish them as soon as they are available. You can assign tasks to board members and track their progress between meetings.