Board Meeting Prep for the Real World

In today's digital age, senior leaders often have direct access to board portals. However, a board success platform takes it a step further by allowing third parties to securely upload files without the need for an account. With convenient one-time-use tools, even non-users can contribute to agendas, facilitating rapid book building. Gone are the days of stressful and time-consuming changes to non-digital board books. On a board success platform, updates to the board book are seamless, ensuring the latest version is immediately available to all members.

Understand What to Read

Last-minute additions to the agenda happen frequently but board members shouldn’t have to hunt through hundreds of pages to find reading material. Smart board portals generate reading lists of unread documents and allow readers to jump directly to them. Long documents should have a bookmarking feature to make it easy for board members to return to the page where they left off should their prep time be interrupted.

Use AI Solutions to Create Summaries

AI solutions are effective at taking a large amount of information and pulling out the main points. Using an in-app AI assistant made for board governance, to summarize long documents can help prioritize which sections require a deeper dive. It is important to remember that AI can't replace humans but can help eliminate tedious tasks. 

Keep Annotations and Discussions in the Platform

Membership should use in-app features to hold discussions about agenda items, including any personal notes they may take. Encourage your members to resist the temptation to start email chains and expose sensitive information to other less-secure sets of tools. Proper board management software should have easy and secure tools to communicate about important meeting items.

Monitor Membership for Missed Updates

Using member engagement tools ensures that your communications aren’t missed. Board members may occasionally need a gentle reminder that a document is available in the portal. Using tools that allow you to see exactly which members have read the documents—and who have not—helps you craft specific messages for each member.  It makes it easier and more efficient than sending “Don’t forget to read…” email blasts that include people who are already up-to-date.

The Platform is Your System of Record

Your board portal software is the source of truth for final decisions. Keep your system clean by purging extraneous information, such as comments and annotations, regularly after meetings to eliminate confusion in the future. Keeping your data and documents well-groomed helps protect the organization and the directors.