How to Make Virtual Board and Committee Meetings More Effective
As the default format for Board and committee meetings has shifted to a virtual platform, nonprofit organizations must be careful to not let these regularly recurring governance meetings become stale and boring. It is time to freshen up these virtual governance meetings with a renewed focus on the smart use of time, attendee satisfaction, and maximizing impact and engagement.
When Board and committee meetings were mostly in-person we prepared differently, often putting more effort into the preparation process and relying on side-bar conversations during the in-person meeting to make content changes and improve attendee engagement. The transition to holding mostly virtual governance meetings has led to new opportunities to hold more meetings, decreased burden on attendee travel time and travel related expenses, and potentially increased meeting attendance, but has also presented new challenges to up our efforts to improve meeting flow and encourage increased attendee engagement with meeting content.
When is the best time to consider making changes to virtual governance meetings? The best time is sooner rather than later. Begin by hitting the “pause” button and adding an assessment process for what was or was not working at the last virtual meeting. Using this information, you can start incorporating “real changes” and not “hope for changes” to make better use of precious virtual meeting time and enhance impact.
Over the years, I have had the good fortune to serve in different roles for multiple unrelated nonprofit organizations. I have served as a volunteer Board member, officer, and committee member, as an outsourced CFO, and as a third-party fiscal and financial advisor. Each of these roles gave me a unique perspective and opportunity to observe many different types of governance meetings, both good and bad.
From these real-life learning experiences, I have developed a checklist of Tips and Techniques for Planning Virtual Board and Committee Meetings, which has now grown to four pages and is available to SE4N subscribers.
My top three tips and techniques from the checklist are as follows:
Give extra thought to pre-meeting planning and preparation – A little effort here will yield excellent results and enhance a positive perception. Start by drafting meeting agendas earlier than in the past. Condense the agendas to better fit a shorter virtual meeting format and keep the content tight. Send draft agendas to key thought leaders (Committee Chair, Board Chair, CEO, Staff Liaison, etc.) and insist on pre-meeting “walkthroughs” with these thought leaders.
Adjust meeting agendas to align with each meeting leader’s style and engagement approach – Spend time with each person who will be leading a portion of the meeting. Learn about their experiences, résumé, and presentation style. Look closely to see if they have a hands-on style or are more apt to delegate. Be considerate of how you make requests of their time and efforts, especially if they are busy. Finally, align the meeting agenda to meet their comfort zones, giving preference to early agenda items that the meeting leader is comfortable with while delegating later agenda items to other staff liaisons.
Have a plan for managing attendee engagement – This will impact the flow and perception of your virtual meeting. Balance is the key. Too much individual participation and the meeting could be disrupted, run long, and/or veer from the meeting agenda. Too little engagement and participants will feel marginalized. Aim to be artful like an orchestra conductor, creating great harmony while not attracting too much attention. Time the agenda components and flag sections for engagement. Build in natural breaks for discussion of important agenda items. Be aware of individuals who are overly engaged and avoid waiting until the end of the meeting to call out individuals who were silent.
Download the full checklist and see all four pages of tips and techniques.
Planning Tip – Make improving virtual Board and committee meetings a core strategic goal for staff as well as senior management. Encourage regular post-meeting assessments and debriefings. These do not have to be overly formal, but make sure they occur within 24 hours after the meeting. Use targeted, simple questions such as: (a) what were three key positives and negatives?; (b) was the meeting format effective?; (c) if you could do the meeting over what would you have changed?; and, my favorite, (d) was the meeting perceived as a good use of both staff and volunteer attendee time?
Another key planning tactic to consider is to revise and rearrange agenda items from meeting to meeting in a way that keeps the focus on high-priority items and improves meeting flow. Throw out the notion that one standard agenda and meeting style needs to be used for every regularly occurring governance meeting, including meetings of the Board, finance committee, investment committee, and/or audit committee. There is a balancing act between being in compliance and being boring. Yes, it is important to make sure Board members are covering their fiduciary responsibilities and addressing the organization’s strategic goals, but there is no rule that you have to do this in a standard, boring way with little creativity and no energy. A well-crafted agenda that arranges agenda items and content in a thoughtful and flexible manner will spur enthusiasm, engagement, and positive discussions.
The best part of improving virtual Board and committee meetings is that even small changes (such as repositioning agenda items) can make a big impact. This approach only requires a small investment in awareness and an eagerness to be innovative.
