Despite the current pandemic, nonprofit boards still need to meet regularly and take decisions. Virtual meetings are a simple solution to increase board member productivity and engagement. The online meetings aren’t without difficulties. Some board members might not be comfortable with the latest technology, and others may be unable to use technology effectively.

Virtual meetings can also result in an inability to motivate and focus, particularly when meetings are long. Attendees suffer from «zoom fatigue» and can easily become distracted by other things on their screen. It is important to keep meetings short to avoid this. Make sure that the agenda is clearly communicated, and encourage participants to speak up during the meeting. You can also make use of polls and questions to keep the attention of your audience.

The inability to see facial expressions or body language is another challenge of virtual board meetings. This could affect board member engagement and impact the effectiveness of the meeting. To prevent this board members must be encouraged to take a break and watch a video during the meeting, so they more info here are able to discern non-verbal signals of their peers.

Other issues include the difficulties of recording and disseminating minutes of board meetings. Recording the entire meeting is vital in the event that a member of the board is unable to attend. This also allows future boards to look back on previous decisions and understand the reasoning behind a specific decision. The best way to avoid these challenges is to use an application for managing boards which provides a central archive of all materials for meetings, both current and historical.