Online board meetings remove one of the biggest barriers to attendance and participation time. Meetings are shorter and board members are able to attend more often. This increases the number of attendees and reduces the risk of ignoring crucial decisions. It’s also important to be aware that running an online board meeting has its own difficulties.
In-person meetings allow participants to read body language and facial expressions boardmgmt.net which can be difficult to read in a conversation online. It’s also more difficult to keep board members that are not in the same room engaged. Board members may be hesitant to speak up because they fear their contributions will not be heard. Even when they do speak up however, their voice could be drowned out by other members or background noise.
Other issues with online board meeting include poor audio quality and inconsistency of video software for conferencing. It’s crucial to choose a video conferencing platform that’s secure, accessible, easy-to-use and packed with features to help your business. It’s a good idea invite your board members to test out the platform before the online board meeting to avoid technical issues.
Another challenge is keeping the meeting on time and limiting the length of discussion items. It is recommended that you set an objective for each item and limit its duration. You could, for instance, assign a member as the leader for each topic on the agenda or establish a time limit for each item. Before moving on to another item, the main goal should be to make an announcement or come up with ideas.
