A board meeting for nonprofits must be a lively and informative affair. This can be accomplished by keeping the focus on the organization’s objectives and mission through clear communication. Meetings are often dominated by board-room.info a long-winded presentation of the organization or by passionate discussions about certain topics, usually by one or two people (we all know that person). The addition of a few extra elements to the meeting could keep it engaging and help board members remain committed to the purpose of your company. A video showing client testimonials can be an effective method of reuniting your board members with your mission.
Make sure your agenda for board meetings is well-planned in advance. If necessary an event facilitator could be hired to assist in this or a committee of board members is responsible for preparing the agenda, and making sure important documents are compiled and distributed prior to the board meeting. Board members who are scrambling for important documents while they are in the middle of discussing them or worse, do not have them available at all could ruin a productive meeting.
Boards should not be spending more than 25 percent of their meetings on updates and “have to’s”. Too much time is wasted by board members who are lost in the details of committee chair reports, officer reports and other routine items. Many of these items could be reduced to 5-10 minutes and easily included in a packet for meetings or periodic e-mail updates to the board.