How to Open a Board Meeting

There are laws http://electronicboardportal.net that require an open meeting for your board if it is comprised of elected members, or if you are a non profit organization or another public entity. These laws, also known as Sunshine Laws or Open Meetings Acts will require that board business be conducted in public. They also grant non-members access to the meeting and, in some cases to make comments.

When the board is set to begin and begin, the person who presided at the last meeting should „call the meeting to begin”. This typically involves saying, 'I call this meeting to order’ or something similar in a voice that commands. This is usually followed by two taps on the gavel which indicates that the meeting has officially started.

Make sure you have a solid agenda in place before the board meeting gets underway. The agenda should be concise and clear that outlines the main issues and the key decisions that the board will have to make. Avoid putting too many items on the agenda or repeating an agenda from the previous meeting.

In the process of focusing on new topics for discussion can eat up time and distract your board from the items on your agenda. You might want to consider adding a parking space at the end of your meeting agenda. This is where you can add topics that aren’t considered to be high priority. You can also promise to revisit these topics in the future or add them to the following meeting.

Request feedback from your board on how the meetings went, and what you can do to improve the quality of your meetings. This will ensure that your board members are more involved in the process and more engaged.