Board meeting preparation involves a lot of reading, taking notes, thinking/contemplating, and seeking out and asking for additional information. This improves the efficiency of the board and allows them to spend more time focusing on strategies and less time on procedural issues. This also helps reduce the anxiety that directors experience when they attend meetings that are lengthy and filled with a lot of information, and do not produce specific action steps.
The most effective method to prepare for a board meeting is to start by reviewing the agenda, particularly for items that are important, ahead of time. Examine the list of planned issues and prioritize them according to relevance, urgency and aligning with the organization’s strategic goals. To refine and finalize the top priority items, seek input from your CEO or chair of the board. Then, create the meeting’s agenda so that the most pressing issues are discussed first, and then discussed in depth. This will enable the board to be able to leave the meeting with an understanding of the decision that needs to be taken.
Additionally, make sure to include updates on action tasks that were assigned from the previous board meeting. It is also important to confirm that the necessary information is being supplied by the presenters. Finally, it’s important to confirm that everyone will have access to the meeting via phone, video or other online platform. After the board pack and agenda are finalized and distributed, you must distribute them to all participants. The ideal time to send them out is one week prior to the meeting to allow participants have adequate time to review and request changes.
