The 2020 pandemic has been a major challenge for businesses, as companies have had to test their flexibility and adopt new solutions. However, this also contributed to the development of innovative technologies. For example, many companies have begun using board portals to organize meetings with employees and discuss various solutions. This approach showed the effectiveness of these tools and the possibility of their use in standard conditions because they provide users with many important advantages. This review will tell you about the main properties of board meeting apps and the basic principles of holding a board meeting.
Benefits of Using Board Meeting Apps
Using board management tools gives managers a large number of additional capabilities. Modern technologies allow us to solve various problems.
- Eliminate the distance problem. Managers, employees, or board members may be traveling or on vacation in another country. But you need to make an important decision for the company (for example, to conclude a merger or acquisition deal). In that case, it is important to hear the opinion of every specialist. Organizing an online meeting using board management software helps to quickly and effectively solve this problem.
- Effective communication. High-quality programs offer clients a wide range of functionality with a wide range of functions. Online accounts can support the dialogue of several dozen employees. Moreover, the programs allow you to schedule meetings and presentations of participants. All this contributes to a productive dialogue where employees can express their opinions and be heard.
- Fast exchange of information. Thanks to paperless board meeting software, you can quickly exchange documents. Each participant can download documents for review. Moreover, each file has additional protection options against downloading and unauthorized distribution.
Effective meeting management provides all participants with the information they need to participate in the meeting, helps them fully understand the meeting’s goals, and makes time spent staying in sync. All this allows you to increase the quality of communication between employees and take business efficiency to a new level.
Organizing Online Meetings Properly Using Board Meeting Apps
Using board meeting software, organizing meetings is a quick and effective way to establish quality communication. The meeting organizer must follow some simple rules.
- Determine the purpose of the meeting. It includes topics that should be discussed and decisions that should be made when you synchronize with your team.
- Composition of the meeting. A high-quality board management platform allows you to organize meetings with dozens of users, but this may not be effective. It is important to hear the opinion of each specialist responsible for his department. Determine the number of participants – all must be competent and have access to the necessary information.
- · Define roles and responsibilities. Before the meeting, it is important to define the role of each participant and clarify what needs to be prepared and who is responsible for it. For example, the board portal administrator organizes the meeting and suggests topics for discussion. Also, decision-making members of the board of directors must be present at the meeting. Each participant should have the opportunity to speak and demonstrate slides or presentations.
- Drawing up a schedule and topics. Preparing a meeting plan serves two purposes: controlling the timing of the meeting and providing information to participants about what they should prepare to achieve the meeting’s goals. The meeting plan must be provided to participants at least 24 hours before.
- Time frame. Setting a time frame is key to keeping everyone involved focused. A 2020 Microsoft study found that people stay focused for 30 minutes in online meetings, while in-person meetings allow employees to stay focused for 45 to 60 minutes.
Every meeting should end with each participant knowing what to do next. Assigning actions is the best way to define a specific action that needs to be performed. Based on your notes, it’s best to do this in real time during the meeting. Thanks to high-quality board software, you can assign all actions directly to the meeting plan in the task manager.
Best Software for Organizing Online Meetings
Today, many providers offer their products. Choosing the best board of directors software that offers optimal conditions: optimal price or monthly subscription cost, wide functionality, and reliable security measures is important. Sifting through dozens of options can be time-consuming, but this overview will help you be as efficient as possible. Here is a list of the highest quality and most convenient programs for organizing online meetings.
- OnBoard. A convenient tool that allows you to conduct quick and high-quality meetings. This board portal software has excellent functionality that allows you to create a convenient schedule and simultaneous performances by several participants. The cost of the product is also low, which is an additional advantage.
- BoardPro. This is secure board software that takes care of maximum customer protection. All data is uniquely encoded, and the system keeps records of actions. The administrator can see what changes were made to documents and by whom.
- Boardvantage. Excellent board management software designed to streamline collaboration and decision-making among boards and leadership teams.
- Parabol. It is a modern retrospective and meeting management tool that promotes team collaboration and alignment.
- BoardTrac. It is a board portal solution designed to improve governance processes in small and medium-sized companies.
Now all that remains is to study the best board meeting apps and choose the best option for your tasks. Remember that each program has a trial period, allowing you to test the functionality and understand the application’s usability.
Conclusion
It is always important to share notes with all participants to wrap up everything discussed in the meeting and inform everyone that important decisions have been made. Also, the administrator can share with employees who should know about the project’s progress but were not present at the meeting. All notes should be kept accessible to everyone for easy reference. In this case, those employees did not participate in the online meeting. Using high-quality and reliable online board apps makes these opportunities simple and convenient. Thanks to these programs, managers can organize high-quality communication and increase the efficiency of employee interaction.