How To Reduce Chaos During Board Meetings

Board meetings are intended to serve the membership of the association.  These meetings normally occur monthly or on some other recurring basis. During these meetings, association members may attempt to redirect the discussion to items that are not on the meeting's agenda.

 

Prior to each meeting, an agenda needs to be developed which will serve as a guide for the topics the meeting will cover.  So that all members have an understanding of the topics that will be covered at the meeting, it is important to share the agenda with all members prior to the meeting.  Membership Space's Association Management Software provides an efficient means to post the agenda on the association's website.  Members can also be sent a mass email or text message through the website to let them know the agenda has been posted. 

 

 

There are many reasons why a meeting will stray off the agenda and onto different topics.  Most often, something said will result in somebody else remembering a point they wanted to share.  When this happens, it is the responsibility of the person running the meeting to stop the conversation and let the person know their topic will be added as a new topic for discussion later in the meeting. 

 

When a meeting remains on topic, the meeting will be more productive and move along quicker. It is also easier for the secretary to document the decisions in the minutes when the discussion remains on the topics listed on the agenda. Sometimes it is the secretary who can best get everybody back on topic by asking the group what they should write into the minutes regarding the agenda's topic.  

 

 

By referring to the agenda, the matters important to the association can be covered and documented in the minutes. The secretary can then post the minutes to the association's website using association management software. The software makes it easy and non-technical for administrators to add information for association members to read.