Avoid These Mistakes When Designing Your Board Meeting Agenda

An organized agenda is vital for effective meetings. But an agenda on its own is not a guarantee of productive discussions or even decisions. To achieve the desired results board members should be aware of common mistakes that hinder the effectiveness of meetings and take steps to avoid them.

Including too many issues on the agenda can lead to rushed discussion and lack of time allocated to each item. Prioritize your agenda according to urgency and importance. You may also think about postponing certain topics to future meetings of the board or committee to allow for more detailed discussion.

Allocate specific time limits for each agenda item. This will ensure that your board stays on track and all issues are considered. Be realistic when you make your time estimates. Look at past meetings that ran on time and consider what you could accomplish in one meeting.

It is recommended to share the agenda for board meetings within a few days or at least 24 hours, before the meeting. This gives the board members a chance to review relevant documents prior to an upcoming meeting. Some organizations provide a sign-in form to confirm attendance.

Define clearly boardchatroom.com/how-to-build-a-strong-board-of-directors how decisions will be taken for each item on the agenda, for example through consensus or vote. This will eliminate confusion during discussions. For instance, if a issue is controversial, be sure to clarify that the board will take an unanimity decision instead of a split vote.