Best practices for preparing a board meeting agenda

Preparing a board meeting agenda can be a daunting task. You need to ensure that you cover all the key issues yet leave time for discussion so members can voice their opinions on topics that are brought up. Preparation is key to a successful board meeting; ensuring your agenda is clear and informative beforehand promises the best chance of a productive gathering.

From writing a great plan to implementing board portal software, we’ve created a guide on the best practices for creating a board meeting agenda so that you can easily follow these tips and ensure you’re well-prepared for all future meetings.

Board meeting agenda best practices

There are several things you can do to improve your board meeting agendas. Below are the best practices we recommend following when devising your next meeting plan.

Use an agenda template or builder

It’s always worth taking advantage of useful tools like meeting templates and agenda builders. With a template, you’ll find a suggested meeting plan which allows you to customize sections to suit the topics you need to cover and provides a recommended flow of events.

You can use an agenda builder to ensure you create a more personalized meeting plan that covers everything necessary for your board. A board portal will allow you to upload documents for your meeting into the platform before creating a full agenda for you, including headers, breaks, sub-items, and even assigning presenters to each section.

Utilize board software to share information

You’ll likely need to share information with directors before, during, and after a board meeting. With board portal software, you can securely upload and share the agenda as well as any related supporting documents in the reference section. Directors can then easily find the information they are looking for whenever required.

Send out minutes from the previous meeting 

While it is important to share the upcoming agenda with board members, it is also helpful to send out minutes from the most recent board meeting. Directors can refresh their minds regarding previous discussions or voting outcomes and come to the next meeting completely up to date.

Share the meeting agenda and board book in advance

Your board members are busy people with lots of responsibilities. Therefore, to give them sufficient time to review the agenda and meeting details, you must share this information at least a week in advance. This allows directors to look through the agenda and annotate it with any comments they may have. It also allows them to familiarise themselves with board book documents and look over previous meeting minutes.

Recommendations on how to write an agenda for a board meeting

A well-written board meeting agenda lays the groundwork for the meeting and helps directors prepare effectively. Therefore, the agenda is extremely important since it guides the meeting flow and dictates whether it is a productive gathering or not. Here are our best practices for writing an effective agenda.

Plan essential details ahead of time

Firstly, before you even begin to create the agenda, you need to plan the necessary details, such as the meeting time and place. If the board meeting is virtual, then it is essential to set up a calendar appointment and create an online meeting link.

Once you have all the details finalized, you can begin to create the agenda and start by including the meeting time, date, and location.

What is the purpose of the meeting?

An aimless meeting will fail to engage your directors and is less likely to result in constructive resolutions. Before creating your agenda, think about the purpose of the gathering: why are your board members coming together? Is it to discuss new policies, a CEO update, or a quarterly financial review? Having a clear purpose will ensure your agenda topics are suitable.

Decide what matters you are going to discuss and in what order

If your board is meeting for a financial review, you need to ensure the topics you discuss are appropriate for the subject at hand. It may be irrelevant to dive into employee satisfaction survey results or customer delivery in the same meeting. Decide if the topics are relevant for the board of directors or could be more pertinent to another committee.

Moreover, the order in which you discuss topics is crucial. Board meetings tend to go over the allocated time. Therefore, you should review the most important subjects first, so if board members leave the meeting early, they don’t miss anything significant.

Leave time for discussion and questions

When planning an agenda for a board meeting, people sometimes fail to leave sufficient time for discussion causing meetings to run over, or topics to go undiscussed. Include discussion time for each subject and set aside additional minutes at the end of the meeting for open conversation and questions.

Include all relevant information and documents in the board book

A crucial aspect of a meeting agenda is the board book. This book is a repository of all relevant documents for the meeting. You should carefully compile this to ensure that board members can easily access background information they may require for certain parts of the meeting.

Spending time creating the board book is just as important as making the agenda. Once you’ve decided on the topics to cover, you need to find relevant company documents and statistics and look for timely reports that may be relevant to the subject matter.

How BoardWorks can help you prepare for an online board meeting

Given that the agenda is such an integral part of a board meeting, it is vital that you employ the right tools to help you prepare. Computershare’s BoardWorks™ is board management software designed to help you create board agendas, manage documents, and communicate with members in a secure setting.

With BoardWorks, you can upload all relevant documents for a board meeting and create an agenda within minutes, that you can then share with directors. You’ll also be able to collaborate with board members on the agenda via the portal, meaning you can create a more meaningful and appropriate meeting plan.

To see how BoardWorks can help you plan a meeting agenda, contact us for a demo or click here to learn more.