Effective Virtual Board Meetings

In-person board meetings provide more opportunities for natural conversation and non-verbal cues which aren’t able to be replicated in a click now virtual space. However, with a bit of planning and effort, nonprofits can ensure an effective meeting environment when they change to virtual formats.

Utilizing the best practices of the past makes it possible for virtual board meetings to be just as effective as meetings in person. Follow these suggestions to ensure that your meetings will be successful and entertaining:

Comprehensive Preparation

Virtual meetings require more thorough preparation process than in-person sessions. Before the meeting, directors should be provided with a written agenda with clearly defined topics for discussion as well as time limits for each. This will allow them to research any information required and prepare questions or ideas before the meeting.

Share meeting materials early

If you are able to easily check your social media or your email and forget about the meeting. Make it a priority to provide all essential meeting materials, information and documents at least one week before the session. Doing so will help to ensure that participants don’t waste valuable meeting time and allow more time to participate with discussions and participate in the decision-making process.

Utilize a virtual board-management software platform such as OnBoard to provide your board members access to all required materials and resources prior to the meeting. By doing this you will avoid the frequent distractions of technical issues and connectivity problems that can delay or disrupt meetings. To avoid issues like this make sure that your board management software provider test all connections and equipment for each participant prior to the start of the meeting.