How to Have an Effective Non-Profit Board Meeting
Non-profit board meetings should be effective. This means you should touch on all the important issues you need to, without the meeting being drawn out and leaving every member yawning from boredom. To conduct the meeting effectively, you need to be aware of the purpose of the meeting and make sure you are prepared. If you are prepared, the meeting will be productive, which is the needed end result.
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Instructions
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First, establish who needs to attend the board meeting, what issues need to be covered and what the purpose of the meeting is. Clearly communicate this information to those who are expected to attend. Often, members who cannot make the decisions you need are invited to a non-profit organizational meeting. They end up feeling bored and useless, so be sure to only invite the people who need to participate. It's important to know all the details about the upcoming non-profit board meeting.
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Second, call or email all the members that need to be in attendance at the board meeting. Let them know the place, date and time the meeting will be conducted. Send out a reminder email as the meeting approaches.
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Next, write an agenda to distribute to the members of the board meeting. Focusing on the task at hand and staying on topic are vital, and an agenda will help ensure that. You may want to email the agenda to the attendees in advance.
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Then, create documents and presentations that will add visual interest to the topics being discussed to help members visualize what the goals of the project or meeting are. Video or slide presentations keep the meeting interesting and keep everyone focused.
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Finally, assign a secretary to take notes at the meeting and who will type up the results to send to every member present. Send a copy of your agenda to the secretary so he will be familiar with the topics that will be discussed.
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On the day of the meeting, greet everyone as the non-profit board meeting commences and distribute the agenda. Give a brief overview of the meeting and start the discussion promptly. As the meeting's facilitator, you are responsible for keeping everyone on task and accomplishing your goals for the meeting.
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Limit the amount of time for each issue and for questions board members might have. Give a warning time allotted for discussing each issue is about to expire. Explain that it is important to address all issues given on the agenda within the alloted amount of time.
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Review the most important points on the agenda and designate assignments to members who are willing to take them. Understand that the time these members allot to these assignments is donated, so avoid giving assignments that are too time consuming or difficult to carry out. Assign teams if a project seems complicated.
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Adjourn the meeting and thank everyone for coming.
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Send every member a copy of the minutes the secretary took and re-emphasize the assignments and the responsibilities members volunteered for.
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References
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