Establish a schedule of board meetings for the entire fiscal year so that board members can plan to attend. Whether meetings are in person or via conference call (reserve conference line via email), chapter boards need to meet regularly. Monthly meetings are optimal; boards are required to meet quarterly. Recruit a secretary to record attendance, topics of discussion, and action items. Share your meeting minutes with the Alumni Relations office.
Regularly scheduled board meetings are a way for your team to connect, share information, collaborate, and lead. Board meetings are also an important time to identify challenges, prioritize ideas, address the workload, recognize accomplishments, and motivate everyone.
Run meetings efficiently; start promptly and assign a timekeeper. An effective meeting stimulates everyone’s best thinking, encourages full participation, and supports clear decision-making and actions.
Send a reminder message a few days prior to each board meeting and include the meeting agenda. After each meeting, share minutes and remind the board about action items or important next steps.
Board Meeting Repository
Whether you use Google, Yahoo, Box, Dropbox, or other cloud-based services, your chapter will need an easily-accessible repository for meeting minutes, spreadsheets, the treasurer’s reports, bylaws, and photos.
Meeting Tips:
- Ask questions and listen actively.
- Save your opinion until after others have spoken.
- Engage everyone by asking for full participation and by eliciting opinions.
- Plan the agenda carefully.
- Ask a board member to serve as a timekeeper.
- Stay disciplined about the agenda and topics. Use a “parking lot” to capture ideas and questions to be addressed at another time.
- Review topics and timing. Is there enough time to cover all topics and establish next steps?
- Introduce the purpose of each topic and explain objectives.
- Prioritize and evaluate ideas by everyone voting.
- Determine if more discussion is needed or if you can move forward.
- Conclude with next steps or action items.
- Confirm those action items and owners. Clarify roles.
- Capture discussions and next steps in meeting minutes.