Online board meetings are a great method to keep in touch without putting your coworkers or yourself at risk. Attendees don’t need to rework their schedules, or even block out an entire day for travel across time zones. This gives them more flexibility in scheduling meetings. For board members working overseas it’s also possible to attend meetings regardless of travel restrictions and quarantine.
As with any meeting the success of a board meeting online is contingent on the planning and communication. It’s important, therefore, to establish some rules of engagement that will ensure all board members are able to follow the conversation and remain engaged. You can ask guests who aren’t in the room to turn their phones on silent or vibrate mode and remind them to not place their feet directly in front of windows that can cause unwanted glare.
Video is a second option to increase engagement in meetings. Instead of relying on audio, you could use video. This allows attendees to interact with each other and better understand body language, which can be difficult to do via the phone or a computer. This will allow the chairperson to identify who is speaking and give them the floor.
Finally, it’s essential to ensure that your documents are stored in a secure manner since boards are responsible for an abundance of sensitive data. A dedicated system is able to centralize all documents in a single location, with administrators in a position to restrict access and set permissions. It can also boost productivity and improve collaboration between meetings by assigning and managing tasks.
