Online board meetings are a convenient and efficient way for nonprofits to conduct business. Like any other meeting, a number of factors can impact the effectiveness of an online ibabs board management software board meeting. This article provides tips for making your virtual board meetings productive and outlines the most common mistakes that can be avoided.
The lack of engagement
Many nonprofit boards struggle to keep attendees from remote locations engaged during meetings. This is especially when your organization has made the transition to remote meetings from face-to-face meetings. Meetings may suffer from low participation in the event that your board members aren’t used to interacting via video or are struggling with the technology itself.
It is hard to convince participants to take part in the virtual meeting if committee reports are not the most interesting part of the agenda. Encourage your committee chairs to include in their reports a question or a request for feedback from the Board.
Inadequate meeting minutes
Your board’s designated minute-takers are accountable for ensuring that the most important discussions and decisions in your meetings online are recorded in a clear and concise manner. They should not write about informal discussions or personal opinions, and should strive for a balance between thoroughness and simplicity. It is also important that your minutes are recorded in a formal manner and that you have a system in place to ensure safe storage of all documents that are related to the meeting, such as governing documents financial reports, and more. This will prevent confusion and help improve accountability between meetings.