The quality of your board’s meeting is dependent on the amount of work participants do prior to every meeting. If participants are prepared, they can make online meetings more productive and efficient. A well-prepared team is also more likely to stick to the agenda and ensure that they aren’t distracted by any tangent.
It is essential to clearly communicate to board members from remote locations how they can participate in meetings. It’s best, for example to remind members to mute themselves when speaking, and only speak when they are asked to. This stops people from talking over each other or leaving the meeting without feeling heard. It’s also important for the convener to ask participants for assistance in a tech issue prior to getting started.
Include the rules for virtual meetings in the orientation for board members materials so that everyone is aware of what to expect prior to, during and after the meeting. For instance, it’s essential to send the board agenda ahead of time, and to follow up with the participants a day or a morning prior to the meeting to confirm the details, send them the link to the meeting or Zoom again and remind them of any other preferences for meetings (such as requesting attendees to be in an area that is quiet to avoid distractions). It is also recommended to include an executive session placeholder to each agenda item and include it at the beginning of the meeting to avoid confusion regarding whether there is an executive session or not.
