Tips for Making Online Board Meetings Productive
Online board meetings can be an efficient way for nonprofits and their staff members to conduct business. As with any gathering, a range of factors can impact the effectiveness of an online board meeting. This article will help you make virtual board meetings more productive and common pitfalls you should avoid.
Lack of Engagement
Many boards of nonprofits struggle to keep remote attendees engaged during meetings. This is particularly true if you’ve changed from face-toface meetings to remote sessions. Meetings may suffer from low participation in the event that your board members aren’t used to interacting via video or are struggling with the technology itself.
It is hard to convince participants to take part in a virtual meeting when committee reports are not the most interesting portion of the agenda. To combat this, encourage your committee chairpersons to include a question or request for feedback from the board in their reports.
Inadequate meeting minutes
Minute-takers in your board are accountable to document all critical meetings and the decisions that are made from virtual meetings. They should avoid describing personal opinions or informal discussions and should aim for an appropriate balance between thoroughness and conciseness. It is important to record your minutes verbatim and have a system for storing all documents securely including governing documents as well as financial reports. This will eliminate confusion and help improve accountability between meetings.