Despite the current pandemic nonprofit boards are required to meet regularly to make decisions. Virtual meetings can be a useful solution that improves the productivity and participation of board members. However, these virtual meetings have their own set of difficulties. Certain board members may not be comfortable with modern technology, and others may have limited technological proficiency.
Virtual meetings can also cause an inability to motivate and focus, particularly during long meetings. Attendees experience “zoom fatigue” and can easily get distracted by other things on their screen. It is important to keep meetings brief to avoid this. Make sure that the agenda is clearly communicated, and encourage attendees to speak up throughout the meeting. It can also be helpful to use polls and questioning to keep attention.
Another issue that can arise from virtual board meetings is the inability of observing body language or facial expressions. This can hinder board member engagement and impact the effectiveness of the meeting. To counter this board members should be encouraged to use video during the meeting in order to ensure that they effectively read the non-verbal signals of their peers.
The difficulty of recording and disseminating minutes of board meetings is a different issue. It is essential to capture the entire meeting in the event that board members are in a position to miss. It will also enable future boards to go over previous decisions and understand the reasoning behind a particular decision. The best way to avoid these problems is to https://boardroomtx.com/how-to-run-board-meetings-in-times-of-crisis/ utilize a board management tool which provides a central archive of all materials for meetings including historical and current.
