Planning a board meeting is an overwhelming task. Plan a specific agenda and distribute all materials in advance. Also, ensure that everyone is present at the meeting. Focusing the meeting is vital, but that doesn’t mean you cannot make it fun. The best method to encourage high participation is to draw on the special expertise that your board members have.
It’s also a good idea to send an announcement prior to the board meeting that outlines the expected attendance. This will avoid last-minute cancellations and ensure that all participants are aware of the expectations to be productive at the meeting.
Examining the minutes of previous board meetings is a crucial element of preparing. This will help the board to understand the discussions that took place in previous sessions, and allows them to tailor their discussion topics in line with this.
The most common board agenda item is an evaluation of the company’s performance from the last board meeting. Discussions can include sales figures, marketing traffic and other relevant metrics. It’s important to highlight any milestones or successes, but also identify areas for improvement, such as missed targets or increased expenses.
It’s also important to consider the legal and compliance aspects in order to ensure compliance to ethical and legal standards. It’s in this area that a designated record keeper can be extremely beneficial. They can keep track of discussion and decisions to aid future meetings.