A board meeting is the top level of decision-making and discussion in a company. In addition to assessing the past performance, these meetings help establish future strategies and approve plans of action that will aid in progress. These meetings are private and confidential or open to the public depending on the size of your business.
Usually, the management assistant or executive secretary is responsible for preparing the agenda for a board session with input from the chairman and CEO. It includes information about logistics such as the time, date, meeting link or location as well as the attendees. It also contains an overview of the previous minutes and the agenda items pending. Before discussing new topics, it is important that board members review the minutes of the previous meeting, and then approve the results.
Reports that are too long as well as other routine tasks can drown a conference in details. Try to limit time spent on reports to 25 percent or less of the total meeting. This will keep meetings efficient and interesting. The leaders and chairpersons of committees should be encouraged to send a summary before the meeting instead of giving an in-depth account.
It’s also beneficial to have a parking lot at the end of your agenda for new discussion topics that do not fit into the top two priorities of the meeting. This will ensure that you don’t end up being sidetracked, and wasting time in the meeting. Focusing on the most important issues will increase the value of every minute spent in a board meeting.
