If you are the organizer of a board meeting but have no idea where or how to begin, look no further:
On this page, you’ll find board meeting templates and best practices for every board of directors meeting.
The structure of a board meeting is not that different from any other formal meeting: you officially open the meeting, you follow the pre-created agenda and you officially close the meeting.
Important is that the agenda items are structured in order of importance. That means approval of the agenda before approval of the minutes of the previous board meeting (the first agenda item), followed by the matters for decision in case someone has to leave early.
The matters for decision are usually followed by matters for discussion. Which result in Task and Decision lists.
All the scheduled agenda items are given a specific time slot in order to finish the meeting in time.
At the end of the board meeting, the chairman asks if the board members have any other questions or concerns that they would like to bring to the table. If yes, those topics will be discussed. If not, or after these extra discussion points, the meeting will be adjourned.
A board of directors meet to discuss and evaluate the progress and performance of the organization. A well-functioning board of directors has both a monitoring and an advisory role. In practice, frequent topics of discussion are performance reports and future strategies, corporate actions approvals, reviewing previous board meetings, organizational problems and business opportunities.
The chairmen officially starts a board meeting by saying “I officially open this board meeting on Monday, March 22, 2021 at 3.30 pm.” This exact timestamp will be noted in the board meeting minutes. The chairmen officially ends a board meeting by saying “This meeting is adjourned on Monday, March 22, 2021 at 5.30 pm.” This timestamp will also be noted in the board meeting minutes.
It is not possible for other board members to officially start or end a board meeting.
A board meeting agenda is the extensive list of topics that need to be discussed during a board meeting. The board meeting agenda serves as a guideline and ensures that the board meeting will run smoothly and finishes in time.
Thus, the board meeting agenda ensures an efficient board meeting. With the help of a board meeting agenda template, you can easily prepare a professional and efficient board meeting yourself. Download your own board meeting agenda template here for free.
Board meeting minutes are the records in which the Tasks, Decisions, and other important takeaways from the board meeting are logged. Board meeting minutes contain the topics that were addressed in the meeting, but it is not a transcription of everything that was said during the board meeting. Board meeting minutes are objectively written. After approval, they serve as legal records.
Oftentimes, the board meeting agenda serves as a starting point for board meeting minutes. It is a suitable starting point because you have all board meeting topics directly listed in the right order. You can also download this board meeting minutes template for free to take clear and concise minutes during your board meeting.
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