A great board meeting is a crucial element that will determine the success of your business. Many companies fall into the trap of „if it’s not broken don’t fix it“ thinking when it comes to their board meetings. This can lead to unproductive meetings that are boring and don’t yield results for the company. This article will offer some suggestions to conduct a productive engaging, fun, and efficient board meeting that will aid your business to grow.

Set the tone for your board meeting at the beginning as well as the close of the meeting. A strong start and a powerful close can set the tone for the remainder of the meeting, thereby creating cohesion among the board members. A different location (a restaurant or a program site, for instance) can also help energize the conversation.

Limit the number of important subjects that can be discussed at a time. This will help keep the meeting focused around the most important topics for business.

Use a polling app or survey to assess the productivity of a meeting. This will allow you to next identify who is taking up too much space, and those that aren’t speaking enough. Knowing who is talking too much enables you to effectively redirect the conversation at the right time.

Give time for a discussion of off-agenda items, however, be sure to follow up on the items. This will enable your board members to be involved and also ensure that the primary objectives of the meeting do not get distracted by irrelevant tangents.