Making Online Board Meetings Productive and Effective

The quality of your board’s meetings will depend on the amount of work that members complete prior to each meeting. If participants are able to plan their meetings for online meetings, they will make the meetings more efficient and productive. A well-prepared team is also more likely to stick to the agenda, and ensure that they aren’t distracted by any tangent.

It’s important to communicate clearly to remote board members how they should be participating in meetings. For instance, it’s important to remind members to silence themselves and only speak when asked to speak. This will stop people from talking over one another or leaving the meeting without feeling heard. Before a meeting begins the convenor must ask participants if there are any issues with technology that they require assistance with.

Include the rules for virtual meetings in the board member orientation materials so that everyone is aware of what to expect Strategic Planning before, during and after the meeting. It’s important, for example to communicate the agenda prior to the meeting and follow up on the day before or in the morning prior to the meeting to confirm the agenda details. It is also possible to give the Zoom or meeting link to the participants and remind them about any other preferences you might have (such as asking them to listen to the meeting from a quiet space to reduce distractions). It is recommended that you add a placeholder for an executive session to each item on your agenda and include it at the beginning of the meeting in order to avoid confusion.