Online board meetings are an excellent source of effective decision-making. If they’re not well managed, they could lead to boredom and low levels of engagement. To keep your virtual meetings lively be sure to follow these simple guidelines to improve the quality of your meetings and boost productivity.
The agenda should be shared with the participants prior to the meeting so that everyone is aware of the topics to be discussed. Consider asking your group to listen from an area that is calm and free of distractions. Likewise, ask participants to use your software’s « raise hand » function whenever they need to speak to avoid rambling and not getting the point.
Keep the discussion focused on the most important subjects by establishing an agreed-upon maximum time for speaking on each item. This allows all members to contribute and helps to avoid discussions going off-topic or distracting other participants. Encourage your board members to turn off their microphones when they are not speaking to reduce background noises, such as pets, kids and coworkers.
Finally, try to conclude the meeting at a reasonable time as this will show respect for your fellow board members’ time. It is also a good practice to send out the minutes when the meeting ends. In addition, it helps to streamline the process of recording and distributing minutes of meetings using your board management software’s built-in capabilities such as inline task delegation.
By doing this, you can ensure that all board members are on the same page about what transpired at the meeting and what must be done between meetings.