Creating a Well-Orchestrated Board Meeting Agenda
Your board meeting agenda is the roadmap that drives productive meetings and helps your organization achieve its goals. It sets the tone for the entire meeting, outlines the topics to be discussed and ensures that everyone is given the same chance to take part.
It is important to communicate the agenda prior to the time so that attendees are aware of what’s expected and are ready to participate. This also gives your participants the chance to ask questions and give feedback prior to the actual meeting. It is best to have someone who has a thorough knowledge of your organization’s goals and compliance requirements as well as the current business environment take the lead in crafting a well-structured board meeting agenda. This will usually be the founder of the business or the chairperson of the board.
Start the meeting by calling the meeting to order and then reviewing the minutes of the previous meeting. Include a section with reports from the department’s key committee leaders (e.g. Governance Committee report and Finance Committee report). It’s also a good idea to include an area for older business items (follow-ups or ongoing projects) and for new business items (proposals or strategic initiatives).
Each item on the agenda a set amount of time, but be careful not to overdo it. Too much information could cause confusion among participants and hinder productive discussion. It is preferential to include more details in an additional document and distribute it to those who are interested in the discussion afterward instead of bloating the agenda with unnecessary length or lengthy reports. Once all open issues and new business are discussed, the chairperson of the board or facilitator of the meeting will officially end the meeting of the board and adjourn it.