The spread of the disease is making it harder for nonprofits to garner community support and operate. Many are currently relying upon remote meetings to make critical decisions and ensure their continued existence. However it can be a challenge to conduct a successful remote board meeting without the physical presence of all members.
An agenda that is clear and specific will aid in keeping the board meeting remote on topic and focused. Include your board in the process of establishing the agenda. This will help you decide what issues should be discussed. Then, distribute the agenda in advance to all attendees so that they can plan. This will help ensure they are aware of what’s going to be discussed, and they can add any items to the agenda ahead of time. Using an online board portal that is secure to distribute the agenda and other documents will aid in reducing security risk.
Video can be used to improve the engagement of remote board meetings by adding a vital face-to-face aspect to discussions. Video also lets participants be aware of the body language of others and note non-verbal signals such as frustration, impatience, or boredom.
Meeting in person may be difficult to schedule for busy boards that have to manage multiple personal and professional commitments. Finding the right time that is suitable for everyone is much easier using remote board meeting software. Tools like SavvyCal’s free polls for meetings allow you to suggest multiple times for your meeting and let everyone vote on the times that work best for them. This can eliminate the need to send back-and-forth emails, and could save you a lot of time and effort.