What We are Hearing: How Fund Directors are Improving Virtual Meetings

In a recent virtual MFDF Director Discussion Series, fund directors discussed how they are adapting to virtual meetings. Here are a few takeaways that may be helpful for other boards as they navigate the virtual meeting environment.

1. Clarify rules in advance. Consider sending a pre-meeting email with proper virtual meeting etiquette, including whether participants should use laptops or tablets instead of a phone, whether and how the hand-raising and chat functions will be deployed.
2. Take frequent breaks to reduce monotony and screen fatigue.
3. Break meetings into smaller, more manageable bites over a longer period. E.g., a two-day meeting can be lengthened to three days in 2-3-hour segments.
4. Consider pre-recording presentations from management staff or service providers and emailing the video presentation before the meeting to allow enough time to digest the information and improve quality of feedback.
5. Consider an informal virtual meeting for directors only before the meeting, much like the board dinner,to foster camaraderie and to discuss agenda items informally.