Despite the current outbreak non-profit boards are required to meet regularly and make decisions. Virtual meetings are a practical solution that improves the productivity and participation of board members. However, these online meetings have their own set of difficulties. Some board members may not be comfortable with modern technology, while others have limited technological proficiency.
Virtual meetings can also lead to an absence of motivation and focus, particularly during long meetings. Attendees suffer from “zoom fatigue” and can easily get distracted by other activities on their screens. It is important to keep meetings short in order to avoid this. Make sure you clearly communicate the agenda and encourage participants to take part in the meeting. It is also beneficial to utilize polls and questions to keep the attention of attendees.
The inability to see facial expressions or body language is another challenge of virtual board meetings. This can impact the level of engagement among board members as well as the effectiveness of the meeting. To counter this, board members should be encouraged to view video during the meeting so they can detect non-verbal signals that their peers are sending to them.
The difficulty of recording and distributing minutes from board meetings is a different issue. It is important to capture the entire meeting to ensure that no board members are in a position to miss. It will also allow future boards to review their past decisions and learn the reasoning behind a particular decision. The best method to stay clear of these issues is to use a tool for managing board meetings that provides a centralized archive of all materials for meetings including historical and current.