A board meeting for nonprofits must be informative and entertaining. This can be achieved by keeping the focus on the organization’s objectives and mission with clear communication. Many meetings are dominating by updates from the organization that take up time, or by impassioned discussions on particular topics by only a few people in the room (we all know who that person is). A little more can help keep the discussion lively and help board members stay engaged with the organization’s mission. For instance an opportunity to show a video of a customer testimonial could be a powerful way to re-connect board members to your purpose.
Be sure that your agenda for the board meeting is properly planned ahead of time. If necessary a facilitator at the meeting can be hired to assist with this or an advisory committee of board members board relations meaning should take responsibility for preparing the agenda and ensuring important documents are compiled and sent out ahead of the board meeting. Board members who are searching to find important documents as they are being discussed or worse, do not have them in the first place could ruin an otherwise productive meeting.
Boards should allocate no more than 25 percent of the meeting time to updates and “have-to’s.” A lot of time is spent by board members buried in the details of the officers’ report and committee chair reports and other items that are routine. Many of these items can be cut down to 5-10 minutes, and can easily be included in a pre-meeting packet or as part of regular e-mail updates to the board.
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