Online board meetings are a convenient and efficient way for nonprofits to conduct business. As with any meeting, a variety aspects can impact the efficiency of an online board meeting. This article highlights tips on making your virtual board meetings productive and addresses common pitfalls that can be avoided.
The lack of engagement
Many nonprofit boards discover that they struggle to keep members who are not in the office. This is especially true if you’ve switched from face-to-face meetings to remote sessions. Meetings could be affected by low participation if members of the board aren’t comfortable speaking via video or if they aren’t comfortable with the technology.
It can be difficult to convince participants to attend an online meeting when committee reports aren’t the most interesting item on the agenda. To combat this, you should encourage your committee chairs to include a question or ask for feedback from the board in their reports.
Inadequate meeting minutes
Minute-takers on your board are accountable to document all critical meetings and the decisions that are made from virtual meetings. They should avoid describing informal discussions or personal opinions, and should try to strike an appropriate balance between thoroughness and clarity. It is also essential that your minutes are recorded verbatim and that optimizing M&A transaction workflows with technology you have a system in place to ensure the safe storage of all documents including governing documents, financial reports, and much more. This will help prevent confusion and help improve accountability between meetings.