As a member of a board you are expected to make important decisions that will affect the future success of your company or organization. The decisions you make are typically made during a discussion with your fellow board members, and it’s crucial that each person in the room is engaged and focused. However, when your board meeting is conducted in a remote location, it can be difficult to keep everyone’s attention. This article will show you how to organize a remote meeting which will increase your board’s productivity and effectiveness.
It is important to ensure that everyone has access to the meeting information including the meeting documents, documents and other information they need to work. Consider sharing documents in advance to allow participants to examine them prior to the meeting. This will avoid the need to ask questions if the answers are available by going through the document.
Use transition slides to highlight important details at the start of your meeting. This can include the consent agenda, action items and financial reports. This will help organize your meeting and keep the conversation flowing.
Encourage people to speak when they need to encourage participation. This can be achieved by calling the roll and announce everyone’s presence. It’s also a good idea to avoid scheduling meetings during meal times, to prevent people from eating in front of cameras or distracting others in the room.
Perform a technical check prior to the beginning of the meeting to prevent technical errors and interruptions that can waste precious time. It’s not uncommon for people to forget this step, so send an alert to everyone to walk them through the process of examining their microphones, software and cameras prior to when the meeting starts.