The agenda of your board meeting is the roadmap that drives productive meetings and assists your company to achieve its goals. It establishes the tone for the meeting, outlines the issues to be discussed, and ensures that everyone is given the chance to take part.
In sending out the agenda in advance will allow attendees to be prepared and ready for participation. This lets attendees ask questions or provide feedback before the meeting. It is recommended that someone with a deep knowledge of your organization’s goals as well as compliance requirements and the current business environment direction in drafting a well-structured agenda for your board meeting. This could be the founder of the company or the chairperson of the board.
Start the meeting with the call to order and an overview of the last meeting minutes. Include a section with reports from key department or committee leaders (e.g., Governance Committee report and Finance Committee report). Include an area for older items (follow-ups ongoing projects, proposals) and new items (strategic initiatives or proposals).
Don’t overdo it. A lot of information could make it difficult for participants to participate in a the discussion from being meaningful. It is preferential to include more detail in separate documents and hand the information to attendees who are interested after the meeting rather than clogging up the agenda with excessively long or lengthy click for info reports. Once all open issues and new business have been addressed, the board chairperson or meeting facilitator will formally end the board’s meeting and adjourn it.