A streamlined approach to planning meetings is essential to have productive board meetings. This will ensure that you benefit from every minute of your meeting. This means staying on course, avoiding rabbit trails and other unnecessary detours and repeating agenda goals if necessary. It is also important to have a timekeeper in place to keep the agenda in motion, and someone to take detailed notes so that everyone can read them later.

Distribute the agenda along with all relevant materials prior to the meeting so that participants can prepare. This will keep your meeting on schedule and allow you to start the discussion once everyone has a good understanding of the topic.

Limit the amount of time you spend on routine reports and other items, which tend to drag down conversations and make attendees feel disengaged and bored. Concentrate on the most important issues and strategic issues that assist the organization in its progress.

Find patterns in your routine reports, then turn them into action items that the board can address during their next meeting. This is a good method of energizing your board members and they will be charged with solving a specific problem rather than simply responding an issue.

Give your board members the opportunity to share their opinions and ideas during the meeting. This can make them feel valued and heard, and can also lead to the introduction of new ideas that may otherwise have been ignored.

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