A virtual board meeting is a remote solution that allows directors to organize and attend remote board meetings. Unlike other virtual meetings, these meetings are specifically created and designed for business settings, and to carry out every important conversation about the future of the organization.
Board members all around the world utilising kimbocorp's virtual board meeting solution are already benefitting from the results that this type of meeting provides. It is filled with lists and tasks that help with the governance of the meetings, alongside ways to steer the discussions and prepare for the upcoming challenges.
kimbocorp uses a simple dashboard to centralise textual communication, document storage, and basic project management. With the use of simple dashboards, this remote environment allows for greater control and productivity as topics are recorded and followed-up at regular intervals.
Here’s what you can do in the board meeting virtual workspace at different stages to make the lives of attendees easier, and the board management more optimized.
Before the meeting
Effective board meetings begin way before all of the members of the board group gather. The preparation of such a gathering can be troublesome, but with the aid of a board portal solution, this is made much easier. Here are a couple of characteristics that kimbocorp's virtual board meetings have.
1. View board dashboards for board meetings
Board dashboards contain content to get ready for their meeting. This not only removes any confusion when it comes to the topics touched upon during the meeting but also equips each board member with additional data like the meeting topics that might spark discussions about the company.
The information included in those board dashboards aids the conversation that will be taking place during the gathering of the group and the whole leadership — meaning all the board members can be notified via email when information is uploaded.
2. Add annotations on any device
Users may add notes or other things to the board dashboards, they can voice their concerns — even offline — and any changes will synchronize when the internet becomes available. Notifications connected to the material touched upon during meetings will be sent to people with appropriate permission settings, to keep them updated about the changes in any of the documentation. Productivity in the organization increases when everyone knows exactly what is happening.
3. Schedule meetings
Scheduling of the meeting is much easier with the use of a calendar functionality, that allows for the board members to pick time slots for the virtual board meetings. Unlike a physical meeting, this one isn’t burdened by travel. This is effective in avoiding possible scenarios, or challenges where attendees are double booked for a meeting, either in the digital realm or for an in-person meeting.
During the meeting
The help of a board dashboard during virtual board meetings can manifest in a variety of ways. Here is a handful of them that will surely surprise even the board chair.
1. Communicate in real-time
Built-in video conferencing, presentation tools, conversation in form of chats, and notes sharing facilitate remote meetings while adhering to the rules of corporate engagement. Even though the virtual board meetings are taking place in the digital realm, they are easy to join.
And thanks to tools like communication through video conferencing, you can experience collaboration, discussions, and effective presentations just as you and other, various boards would in an in-person meeting.
2. Use all the data you need
In the course of negotiations, directors may need access to various bits of data. Consequently, the board dashboard provides them easy access with only a few clicks with search or page thumbnails. All of the documentation is stored in the board dashboards, which makes it accessible to the people with appropriate permission settings.
Data held there is not only secure but also accessible when it needs to be. You can share it freely, without having to think twice about the safety problems you might encounter before, during, or after board meetings
3. Make decisions instantly
During negotiations, attendees can voice on a solution immediately. This way, everybody is engaged in things like the ongoing procedures of the meeting or current strategies, allowing for greater board management through consequent leadership, and can focus on the key points thanks to the software solution. They get to share the stage in making important decisions for the company.
After the meeting
The board dashboard also supports post-meeting activities. Board dashboards ensure additional help even after the virtual meetings are done, and help prepare all of the necessary data before the next meetings come around. They deal with any challenges you might encounter following a meeting.
1. Review a meeting’s summary
Besides studying meeting summaries, board members can add recommendations and annotations to them. This ensures that information is not forgotten after the meeting is done. Therefore, each board member can later come back and give additional comments on the points that were touched upon, raise any concerns about the current plan, and provide an outlook on the future of the company.
2. Follow up on assignments
Boards can see their assigned action items and deadlines. They can also update the status as they complete tasks. Feedback is necessary for proper collaboration to take place. Enriching this data with additional information will make it easier to later recall, and find people responsible for the execution of given tasks. While everything can be done in the interface itself, an email notification can also be sent out for other board members to add to the already created task list.
3. Review any documents, including CRMs
Users can find data in seconds with organised lists according to important topics, such as recommended contacts, which would also contain CRMs curated specially for the company.
Benefits of virtual meetings
Some users consider convenience to be one of the main benefits of remote board meetings, but there are other equally important advantages.
- Directors are more active through remote meetings. Participants are more willing to hold, explore and participate in remote meetings. Not having to travel is certainly an advantage for directors residing out of the area. Among the benefits of virtual meetings, users especially appreciate working with colleagues from anywhere and having all the data at hand. The environmet of the meeting is designed in a certain way that encourages interaction between attendees of the meeting and keeps their focus on the tasks at hand.
- Board pack management has never been easier. As you know, the size of the board pack depends on the meeting’s agenda. That is, it may be several pages long or may be inserted into a cumbersome binder. Online meeting software benefits every user with digital board packs. They are available on any device, and therefore always with you. Consequently, meeting prep time is significantly reduced, and resources are saved, making the whole process both paperless and much safer than a in-person one.
- Real-time updates keep everyone in the loop. Board dashboards keep users updated. As soon as someone makes changes or adds comments or notes, the revisions are viewable immediately by other participants. As a result, everyone can adapt quickly to the circumstances. Keeping all participants in the loop in real-time is one of the most convenient benefits of virtual board meetings. Combined with a notification functionality, any additional piece of information is almost impossible to be missed by the directors.
- Going online is a green business decision. U.S. companies alone spend over $120 billion on printed documents annually. Online meeting management software benefits save money — and trees. To sum up, meetings free from paperbound documents do not negatively impact the environment.
With the change from the physical realm into the digital world, efficient virtual board meetings are becoming the new norm. When board members can speak, feel, or even experience the meeting the same way they would in a physical setting, that’s when we know our gathering has been successful.