Three Ways to Liven Up Board Meetings

Board of directors meetings are notoriously long—sometimes lasting upwards of 4 or 5 hours for boards that meet less frequently. Meanwhile, in the age of tech, we’re also being told we have attention spans shorter than a goldfish.
liven up board meetings

So how do we liven up board meetings to help the collaborative and innovative nature of the boardroom thrive?

Incorporate movement

This is a strategy that elementary school teachers have been employing for decades. When they see their students growing antsy or bored, they encourage kids to get up and dance around or do some group exercises.

Then, they refocus the students to the task at hand, or they incorporate the movement into the actual task.

OK, so maybe we’re not going to see board members dancing around the boardroom, but the principle behind this tactic is a good one: the happier and looser our bodies are, the easier it is for our minds to focus. So how do we translate it?

It can be as simple as employing a series of really regular bathroom breaks or as involved as incorporating some stretching elements into the actual meetings. Either way, board members need time to decompress physically and mentally. Marathon-ing through a 4-hour meeting probably won’t lead to top-notch attention and involvement.

Lighten the mood

Let the boardroom become a place where people feel that they can make an occasional joke. We’re not advocating for launching any stand-up comedy careers, but the benefits of laughter are well documented and plentiful.

Inviting emotion to the boardroom is also a great way to encourage higher levels of engagement. In her work as principal investigator of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Barbara Fredrickson has found that emotionally engaged participants show heightened levels of creativity, inventiveness, and “big picture” perceptual focus.

Yet most boardroom environments are purposely designed to be serious and impressive—to promote formal styles of communication and engagement that actually squeeze out emotional engagement.”

Utilize board management software

We may be partial to this tip, but that’s because we’ve spent years discovering the best ways to help board members enhance their boardroom experiences with the help of board software. Directorpoint provides users with a digital board experience—one that they can engage with before, during, and after meetings.

Board software also helps keep board meetings running smoothly and efficiently, so that meetings can become shorter and more effective at the same time. Plus, it encourages collaboration between members while negating the need for the board packet shuffle.

And the best part is that it’s simple to use. Schedule a demo with us today, so you can learn about how Directorpoint will liven up your next board meeting!

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