With the long topics, unsettled homeowners, and storytellers, it might seem impossible to have your HOA Board Meeting end in under one hour, but it’s absolutely doable and we’ve drafted a few tips to help you get there!
1. Timing is Everything.
Consider changing the time of your Board Meeting from the typical weekday evening to the morning daylight hours or even a Saturday. Studies show that evening hours are less conducive to effective decision making and Owners might prefer to stay in after a long day at work. Having your Board Meeting on a weekend day might allow for greater attendance and more effective discussions/decision making.
2. Create an Agenda and Stick To It
A detailed agenda will clearly organize your meeting and set expectations of what is to be discussed. Going in blind without an agenda might set you up for lengthy storytelling or straying off topic in other ways. It’s important to reminder Board Members that these meetings are meant to make decisions on various important topics and that getting off topic will hinder this accomplishment.
3. Beware of Too Many Large Topics
When large topics are to be discussed, this might often draw larger crowds. Try to disperse these large topics to be discussed at various meetings, as opposed to tackling all of them in one meeting as this might add some lengthy extension to your meeting time.
4. The President’s In Charge
Remind the Board President of their very important role in guiding the meeting, keeping on track, and tackling each agenda item and it comes along. This will help maintain smooth operation of the meeting and a successful outcome of decisions made.
5. Keep Meeting Minutes
Assign one individual to keep detailed meeting minutes so when questions arise they can easily be referenced at a later time or quickly answered near the end of the meeting without launching into another discussion about the topic. Taking prior meeting minutes to preceding Board Meetings is also helpful as these can be provided to other Board Members or Owners as a reference as opposed to having a second discussion at a second meeting about the same topic. This is often a requirement of HOA Meetings, regardless, so it is helpful to have clear roles established and not spend time during the meeting deciding on this task.
