Video conferencing programs have become particularly relevant in 2020-2021 and allow companies to communicate internally and externally. These remote meeting tools help you communicate and make important decisions regardless of the circumstances, and this is particularly true for the board of directors. Using the right technology solutions, your online board meetings can be just as effective as your live meetings. But before you start that video conference, there are a few things you should consider to better prepare yourself.
What should I do before the meeting?
First of all, to make your online conference possible you need to:
- Select a suitable software vendor
The tool that you choose must, first of all, be secure, usable, and able to provide you with collaborative features. This is important because it will empower your board even remotely.
Beyond that, you should look at the features you think your board needs to improve. You don’t want to chase innovations and buy products with options that are too complicated to understand and apply, as this can not only confuse but also lead to an irreparable mistake.
Board portals that provide both storage and collaboration space, proper security, and video conferencing services are very popular now.
- Prepare the agenda.
Here the meeting process is almost no different than the actual meeting; you need to prepare minutes from past meetings, reports, and a list of items to be discussed. Only now it’s much easier to create an agenda, and the other participants will be able to study it before the meeting even begins.
- Distribute the agenda along with instructions for a remote meeting
At least a week before the meeting, you should send out the required login information and meeting instructions to all participants, which should clearly spell out the meeting rules and a summary of how to use the program.
- Test the program ahead of time
Allow participants to try the software beforehand so they know everything will go well at the meeting. If you haven’t done this yet, it’s a great way to do it, too. Make sure the help desk will be on call if you have any problems.
- Prepare Wednesday
Double-check before the meeting that there is nothing stopping your program from working: internet speed, bandwidth, other applications, everything must be fine. The room in which you will be holding the meeting should also be free of distractions for you and your colleagues.
What to do during the meeting?
When you start a remote meeting, but your scenario is very similar. You start the meeting by introducing yourself and allowing others to introduce themselves. Then you move on to discussing the items on the agenda.
The program administrator can set a time limit for the council to be guided by. Allow a certain amount of time for each participant to speak and discuss issues, prioritize them, and thus keep them engaged and productive. However, it is worth remembering that due to the nature of conference calls, it will be difficult for more than one person to speak at a time, so some questions will need to be postponed.
What to do after the meeting?
When the videoconference has come to an end, the program administrator can publish a survey to evaluate the quality of the meeting and improve some points. If some participants have been given some tasks you need to make sure they are available in the minutes of the meeting. You can also distribute the meeting minutes to other board members after the meeting is over.