A meeting of the board of directors of a nonprofit organization should be informative and engaging. The best method to achieve this is to use clear communication that is focused on the organization’s mission and objectives. Meetings can be dominated by lengthy updates from the organization or heated discussions on specific topics by one or two individuals (we all know that person). A little extra can keep the meeting lively and help board members remain connected to your organization’s mission. A video showing client testimonials can be an effective way to reconnect the board members with your mission.
Make sure your agenda for board meetings is planned in advance. If necessary the services of a facilitator for meetings can be employed to help with this or a committee of board members should take responsibility for preparing the https://board-room.info/10-characteristics-of-successful-board-relationships/ agenda, and making sure important documents are prepared and distributed prior to the board meeting. Nothing can ruin a successful board meeting more quickly than board members in a rush to read important documents while they discuss them or, worse they don’t have the documents available at all.
Boards should limit their time to no more than 25 percent of their meeting time to updates and «have-to’s.» Too much time is often wasted by board members getting lost in the details of officers’ reports and committee chair reports and other items that are routine. Many of these issues could be reduced to 5-10 minutes, and easily included in a packet for meetings or periodic e-mail updates to the board.