4 Board Meeting Planning Hacks You Can Use Right Now

Hacks to Help You Plan a Board Meeting

Why does it feel like you just finished hosting a board meeting and you’re already planning the next one? Are some of us destined to be in a perpetual state of board meeting prep?

Planning a board meeting can seem like a daunting task … but it doesn’t have to be.

In fact, streamlining your event planning process not only helps your upcoming board meeting run smoothly… but the one after that… and the one after that.

Here are four board meeting planning hacks you can use right now (and future you will thank you, too).

Hack 1: Make Building the Board Meeting Deck Easy For Everyone

There’s something to be said for starting the board meeting planning early, especially when it comes to compiling the board meeting deck.

Put your presentation template and structure for gathering information in place at least a few weeks out, even if it feels like you just wrapped up the last board meeting. Give your key contributors and stakeholders access early on, so they can add their pieces of content at regular intervals. You can even create a shared slide deck using Google Slides or MS Powerpoint, so multiple participants can edit the information in real time.

Create your agenda in tandem with the board deck, defining topics and board meeting goals clearly and distributing it to board members and meeting attendees at least one week in advance of the board meeting, preferably two.

Preparing the board meeting deck is an iterative and collaborative process, so it’s important to ensure everyone understands what’s expected of them with ample time to submit their deliverables, accept feedback, make edits and finalize content.

Hack 2: Create a Board Meeting Agenda With 3 Purposes in Mind

When you sit down to draft the board meeting agenda, resist the urge to be too much for too many, or you could end up disengaging everyone. Board members are busy professionals who want to feel like their time is being maximized for mission-critical work. In fact, 67% of board members are… well… bored.

To hold their attention, simpler is better. As such, when creating your board meeting agenda, topics should be broken down into:

1. Items for information: Things board members need to know to be able to do their jobs.
2. Items for approval: Motions and decisions that need formal or informal board approval and voting.
3. Items for discussion: Topics and questions that require open discussions, feedback, negotiation and in-person communication. Oftentimes, the heart of the meeting lies here.

If you can execute each board meeting with this framework in mind, you’re more likely to keep board members engaged, save everyone time, and make real progress from meeting to meeting.

Hack 3: Set Clear Cut Goals For Your Board Meeting

Once you have your agenda structure down pat, it’s equally important to define and set specific board meeting goals (because isn’t the point of a board meeting to have outcomes that move the organization forward?).

Send these meeting goals out to your board of directors in advance, along with the board meeting packet and any other supplemental documents. This will help you use their time efficiently and ensure mission-critical priorities are addressed up front.

And if you’d like to make things even simpler, Panels guides your goals to completion with customized templates that keep you on track. Wondering how the experts from your industry plan a board meeting? As a private beta user, you’ll receive special access to our “Templates” feature and more.

Hack 4: Tap Into Your Board Members’ Expertise

Board members don’t just want to be talked to. They want to be tapped into. Chances are, your board members show up for a reason: their expertise and their skill.

All too often, the board meeting packet goes out with an over-packed agenda and a flashy-but-nonfunctional board deck, and the directors become passive recipients rather than active contributors. They effectively remain blind to the major happenings of the organization itself.

You can break the cycle of board meeting burnout by creating a more collaborative flow and involving your board members in the planning process.

End the Cycle of Endless Board Meeting Prep

With the right collaboration tools, agenda prep, meeting goals and board member engagement, you can get the most out of your board meetings with the least amount of gruntwork. The key is to stay one step ahead while keeping things simple.

From streamlining board deck and agenda creation to setting and tracking to clear meeting goals to giving your board members opportunities to utilize their expertise — you really can organize a board meeting that’s easy and ‒ dare we say ‒ enjoyable to plan and participate in.