Everyone knows that focused board members and few distractions contribute substantially to an efficient and energized boardroom atmosphere. However, most of what makes for a productive board meeting happens before the meeting is even called to order.

The agendas you create for your board meetings will act as the roadmap for your meetings, letting everyone know what will be discussed and how they can best contribute to the conversation. Without an agenda or with one that’s poorly organized, your board will drift off-topic, fumble through different topics, and waste time on items that are best handled outside of meetings.

A detailed, well-ordered, and all-around exceptional agenda will empower your board members to maximize every moment together, make valuable decisions, and put the organization on the path to a sustainable future.

Whether you’re strategizing about how board members can help drive attendance at your next big event or focusing on refining your budget for the upcoming year, an agenda will help everyone stay focused on creating better outcomes for the organization. If you’re looking for ways to evaluate your current agendas and optimize them for efficiency, you’ve come to the right place! This guide will walk through several actionable tips that will transform your meeting agendas from subpar to extraordinary. Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. Assign preparation tasks ahead of time.
2. Adopt a consent agenda to condense routine items.
3. Note the end goal for each item.
4. Include time durations for each agenda item.
5. Hit on industry and organizational news.

Developing highly-focused agendas is the first step to running an effective board meeting, and it’s up to the board chair, administrator, and executive director to spend enough time crafting these crucial documents. Board members will recognize and appreciate the time you put in to get the most out of their time together in the boardroom. Now, let’s jump into one of our favorite tips: creating consent agendas.

1. Assign preparation tasks ahead of time.

Like we said earlier, a big part of what makes for an effective meeting happens before the meeting ever takes place. Beyond your preparation with the agenda, this reigns true for your board members, too. Attendees need to know who’s responsible for what, so they can all adequately prepare.

Boardable’s guide to board administrators dives into a handful of preparation requirements that are crucial to set up a meeting for success, two of which include:

• Documents that attendees are expected to review. This applies to everyone who’s attending. Attaching documents that will be up for discussion or voting allows everyone to review important information ahead of time. They can come with insights and comments, rather than having to go over each document as a group and wasting everyone’s time brainstorming on the spot.
• Who’s assigned to present. One of the easiest ways to tank board member satisfaction is to not tell people when they’re presenting. Not to mention, fumbling through an ill-prepared presentation also wastes attendees’ time. Assign a speaker to each agenda item and notify them, so they can gather the right resources and practice any presentations.

Actively preparing for your meetings goes a long way in maximizing every moment in the boardroom. From budget preparation to major departmental status updates, everyone needs advance warning to prepare data and review documents. Assigning tasks and sharing resources in advance means no more wasted time rifling through paper documents or computer files on the fly.

2. Adopt a consent agenda to condense routine items.

The very beginning of your meetings is when board members are most energized. Harness that power by limiting routine items and making room for the most important topics and discussions. This is where a consent agenda makes a huge difference.

A consent agenda condenses all routine, procedural, informational, and any other non-controversial items so that the board can handle them all at once. The consent agenda can be approved with one motion and vote, rather than filing motions on each individual agenda item.

It helps push routine items along quickly so that your board has time to focus on more important things. It can save your board anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour. Not to mention, it saves a lot of boredom and frustration when you don’t have to go through each item individually.

The types of items that appear in consent agendas typically include:

• Approval of committee and board meeting minutes
• Officer and committee reports
• Correspondence that doesn’t require any action
• Staff, volunteer, and committee appointments that require board confirmation
• Final approval of proposals that have been previously discussed, where the board is aligned with the implications

Rather than bogging your team down with these items, try condensing them so that everything can be handled in one fell swoop. It’s ultimately up to the board chair, administrator, and executive director to decide what information qualifies to be added to a consent agenda, so these individuals should work together to determine what’s non-controversial and won’t warrant any discussion.

3. Note the end goal for each item.

Knowing the goal for any given item makes it much easier to achieve it, which is why we recommend defining each agenda item’s overall objective. Communicating your objective allows your team to proactively work toward that goal, whether it’s discussing engagement strategies for the next big fundraiser or setting the executive director’s pay. Otherwise, they’ll unintentionally waste time looking for a solution that you don’t need.

In most cases, you can break agenda items down into three categories:

• Inform. This type of item is often the quickest to address. All you’re seeking to accomplish with these items is to convey information that doesn’t require discussion. For example, your goal could just be to inform board members about an upcoming fundraiser they’re expected to participate in. While you can invite questions, these items will typically be quick.
• Seek input. Use this category when you’re looking for board members’ advice on a subject. These items don’t require a formal vote. For instance, an agenda item that’s designed to seek input may include everyone tossing out theme ideas for an event down the line.
• Arrive at a decision. These are often the most time-intensive. Decision-making items often warrant discussion. Then, you have to walk through a formal board voting process to arrive at a decision. This could include anything from deciding on a t-shirt design to sell to attendees at your next event to approving next year’s budget.

Every agenda item should have a purpose. While you may know why something’s on the agenda, that doesn’t mean it’s apparent to everyone else. Be forthright about why you’ve included each item by categorizing them using the topics above. Everyone will be on the same page about what needs to be accomplished and can actively work toward whatever goal you’ve set.

4. Include time durations for each agenda item.

Maintaining a good pace and energy requires proactive facilitation by the board chair. One addition to your agenda that will help tremendously is adding anticipated time durations for each item. This is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to optimize your meeting agendas and keep everyone focused.

By including time durations for each item, your board members will know when it’s time to wrap up the discussion, whether that means coming to a conclusion right then or slating it for the next meeting.

When writing out your agenda items, consider how much time you anticipate spending on each topic. This is where indicating the end goal for each item comes in handy. You’ll know to keep the estimate on the shorter side if you simply need to share some news or if you don’t anticipate a ton of discussion, whereas decision-making items will naturally take longer.

If you’re at a loss for how long it will take to cover something, think back to similar topics you’ve discussed in the past and how long those conversations lasted. Use these previous topics as a frame of reference, and then you can adjust accordingly.

5. Hit on industry and organizational news.

As part of the onboarding process, you probably give your new board members a crash course on governance rules, fundraising best practices, any major industry happenings, and a rundown of your organization. This training shouldn’t stop once they’re comfortable in their roles.

Your board members lead busy lives outside of the boardroom. Most balance full-time jobs and home lives on top of their work for your organization, which means they likely don’t have time to research industry trends, governance best practices, or organizational updates. However, all are crucial in terms of board members’ effectiveness.

It’s a smart move to regularly send out the latest governance best practices, industry news, and major updates between meetings. However, you can just as easily attach documents and share links to informative articles within your board agendas. This fundraising software guide explains that the right board management platform will provide administrators with the tools necessary to house all your documents and distribute them with ease, which includes attaching them to your agendas.

As part of your agendas, include any crucial updates, whether they’re from your industry, like an upcoming tax preparation deadline, or specific to your organization, like the results of a recent fundraising campaign. These updates should be both interesting and relevant to their roles. Sharing the right information allows them to make more informed decisions for the benefit of your organization.

With industry and internal knowledge, your board members will be better equipped to interpret external factors that affect your organization, giving them an advantage when developing competitive strategies to address these factors.

When you’re happy with the agenda you’ve crafted, all that’s left to do is send it ahead of time, giving everyone plenty of time to review the materials. Ideally, shoot for a week before the meeting. This enables everyone to come fully prepared, elevate any gaps they notice, and think about what insightful information and thought-provoking questions they can bring to the table.

By taking the time to optimize your agendas, you’ll notice the flow of your meetings is much smoother. In turn, you’ll be able to eliminate distractions and cover much more in your meetings, giving your organization a major advantage over similar organizations with disorganized management.

About the Author

Jeb Banner

Jeb is the founder and CEO of Boardable, a board management software provider for mission-driven boards. He is also the founder of two nonprofits, The Speak Easy and Musical Family Tree, as well as a board member of United Way of Central Indiana and ProAct. Jeb is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.