Unique Lab November 8, 2024The quality of your board meeting is contingent on the amount of work that participants do prior to every meeting. Online meetings can be more productive and efficient if participants prepare. A well-prepared team is more likely to adhere to the agenda, and ensure that they don’t get sidetracked by an unrelated tangent.
It is important to establish clear expectations for board members who are remote on how they are expected to attend meetings. For instance, it’s best to remind participants to mute themselves and only speak when called upon. This will prevent people from talking over one another or leaving the meeting without feeling heard. It’s also important for the convenor to ask participants if they require assistance with a technology problem before beginning.
It’s also helpful to include the rules for meetings that are virtual in the board member’s orientation materials so that everyone has a thorough understanding of what’s required of them prior to the meeting, during, and after the meeting. It’s essential, for example, to send out the agenda in advance and to follow up with the attendees in the morning or day prior to to confirm the agenda details. You can also provide the Zoom or meeting link to the participants and remind them of any other preferences that you may have (such as asking them to tune in to the meeting from a quiet space to limit distractions). It is also recommended to add a placeholder for an executive session to each agenda item, and to include it at the beginning of the meeting to avoid confusion over whether there will be an executive session or not.