Organization compliance starts at the top. Your board must operate successfully for policies, procedures and information to trickle down effectively throughout the organization. Your board can do a lot for your business, not just administratively. Ensure your meetings leave board members feeling energized and confident in the direction and mission of the company. If you don't have board member buy in, you can forget the rest.
We've poured through the research and statistics, creating a list of Best Practices to ensure your board meetings are a productive, positive affair.
1. Send out the agenda before hand
Giving board members access to the agenda prior to the meeting allows them to read over what is expected to be addressed at the meeting enabling them to prepare anything they may need in advance. Nothing delays meetings more than the sudden interjection or add-on to a topic that was unexpected. ARALOC allows board secretaries and others that organize board meetings and documents to securely and easily share agendas with the board, at any time. Knowing the content is in a secure, unsharable format, any information shared before hand is locked down and safe from the wrong recipient. It also allows members to annotate within the application giving members a direct tool to jot down thoughts and questions, having them ready to go when the meeting beings.
2. Give each agenda item a set time limit
Without time frames, meetings can get out of hand and run entirely too long. Setting a limit per topic shows members you value their time and encourages participants remain on topic.
3. Keep official, secure minutes
Board meeting minutes are legal documents and may be requested for a number of a reasons. Keeping an accurate account of all decisions, discussion and notes in a location where members can easily access and approve is essential. The best board portals and board meeting software, like ARALOC, feature eSignatures, allowing minutes to be officially approved and signed off on, all from their personal device in your custom app.
4. Make sure all technology supports rather than hinders meeting success
Technology is great - if it works. The first step is to make sure those leading the meeting are familiar with and know how to use any technology that will be incorporated. If the meeting incorporates distance participants through a webinar, make sure the platform for the webinar is fully set up, there aren't time limits, microphones and screen sharing work prior to the meeting. Ensure participants are also informed of common technical interference by giving them instructions to: test microphone prior to meeting, mute their microphone once in the meeting unless speaking, check video feed prior to start if it's a video conference, or instruct to disable video if it is not. You can see how simple it is to use a product such as ARALOC on an iPad by watching our short YouTube clip here.