A great board meeting is an opportunity to discuss the most important business issues as well as make decisions and establish company policies. To make the most of every board meeting, it is essential to plan ahead, set expectations about the amount of discussion possible, and stick to the agenda.
To avoid boring meetings, set realistic goals for your meetings. Review them frequently to make sure the meeting is on track. Being too involved with technicalities or reports that could have been reviewed beforehand can hinder the chance for the board members discuss business issues of strategic importance that cannot be easily resolved by the management team on their own.
Consider creating a consent agenda to cut down on the time spent in meetings. This will allow the board to swiftly approve any reports/documents that don’t need more discussion and prevents the meeting from getting too long.
Distribute the board package 3 to 4 days ahead so that attendees can read them prior to the meeting. This will reduce the time that is spent reading reports at the event and give attendees the chance to ask questions before the reports become more complex.
Include the word “parking lot” at the end of the board’s package to ensure that items that are not relevant to this meeting can be left for another meeting and will not interfere with the most important agenda items. This will also decrease the risk of the most important agenda items being delayed until later in the meeting or not being discussed in any way.