Online board meetings are a great source for making informed decisions. If they’re not properly managed, they could cause boredom and lower participation. Follow these simple tips to make your virtual meetings more lively and increase efficiency.
The agenda should be shared prior to the meeting with all participants to ensure everyone knows the topics to be discussed. Also, consider asking your board members to listen at a distance without distractions. Request that participants use the “raise hand function” of your virtual meeting software when they wish to speak, so that they don’t risk over-talking or missing the point.
Set a maximum duration for each topic in order to ensure that the meeting stays focused on the most important issues. This allows everyone to be involved and stops the discussion from straying off topic or distracting others. Encourage your board members to mute their microphones if they are not talking to minimize background noises such as children, pets and coworkers.
Finally, try to conclude the meeting at a reasonable time as this shows respect for your fellow board members’ time. It is also a good practice to release the minutes immediately after the meeting has ended. It is also beneficial to simplify the process of recording and distributing minutes by making use of the built-in features in your board management software, such as inline task delegation.
This will ensure that everyone is on the same page about what transpired at the meeting and what needs to be done between meetings.