Online board meetings can be an effective instrument for making informed decisions. When they are not well run, they may result in boredom and low levels of participation. To keep your virtual meetings lively, follow these simple tips to improve the quality of your meetings and boost your productivity.

The agenda should be shared with the participants prior to the meeting, so that everyone is aware of the topics to be discussed. Also, you might want to ask your board members to attend from a quiet space without distractions. Make sure that they use the “raise hand function” of your virtual meeting software whenever they wish to speak, so that they don’t risk speaking too much or not getting the point.

Keep the meeting focused on the most important subjects by establishing an agreed-upon maximum amount of time to speak for each item. This allows everyone to participate and prevents the discussion from drifting off-topic or distracting others. Encourage your board members to turn off their microphones when they’re not speaking to block background noises such as pets, children and coworkers.

And lastly, end the meeting promptly. This shows respect for the time of your fellow board members. It is also a good practice to send out the minutes at the time the meeting ends. It is also helpful to streamline the process of recording and distribution of minutes by using the built-in features of your software for what virtual data room information do you need managing boards, such as inline task delegate.

This will ensure that all board members are on the same page as to what transpired at the meeting and what should be done between meetings.