Showing up to an HOA board meeting without a strategy can be like jumping into rolling rapids without a lifejacket. It’s important to have a plan and keep your meeting in order. In this article, we go through 4 key steps to master the art of a proper board meeting strategy.
1 – Communicate Before the HOA Board Meeting
Send out a meeting notice with an agenda focusing on 2-3 strategic points at least 14 days in advance of the meeting. Make sure key people have confirmed their attendance, so that you can reach quorum at a minimum). Decide if your meeting will be in person, online or hybrid. If it’s a hybrid or online meeting, test the platform and send the link out to everyone by email. If it’s in person or hybrid, include where the meeting will be held.
Send out the HOA board meeting notice and agenda by email, put it in your HOA’s calendar, post it on your HOA’s website and physical notice board. When sending out the notice, check your state’s requirements so that you send it the correct number of days before. Make sure you communicate with residents frequently to increase participation, so send out regular reminders in different channels so that they don’t forget.
2 – Follow Robert’s Rules of Order
Robert’s Rules of Order help maintain professional conduct and neutrality. Some states like Nevada require HOA meetings to follow them. If you use them as a guide in HOA board meetings it helps to create smooth transitions between topics. The Rules also encourage respectful debate and equal time allotted among attendees.
At the start of each meeting layout how the meeting will go and what the Rules state. This ensures everyone knows what’s going on. Then, the board chair needs to make sure that everyone follows the meeting agenda, and that everyone respects the Rules of Order.
3 – Encourage Participation
The board should encourage all members to participate in the debate and to stay engaged throughout the meeting. This means both board members and members of the community association. An HOA meeting without any participation is difficult to keep going and dull for everyone involved. This is a space for everyone to get involved and voice their opinions.
You could limit how long everyone has to talk so that the meeting ends at the correct time, and it doesn’t get derailed with people going off on tangents. But it is important that HOA members can participate in the meeting and express their views.
4 – End With a Review
Review action items, accountability, and deadlines at the end of every HOA board meeting. Even with 2-3 topics on the agenda, more action items can come out of discussions. Often members will forget who needs to do what as the meeting goes on. Create a list and ensure that it’s in the minutes, so everyone can be held accountable. Also, set the date for the next meeting at the end of each meeting so that everyone can add it to their diaries.
Assigning people tasks is an important step to ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities and deadlines. Using online management software for HOAs ensures that minutes and tasks are available to all stakeholders in documents, and the meeting chair or secretary could send them a follow-up email so no one forgets.
Conclusion
HOA board meetings can be tough, however, if the board organizes them correctly it can go smoothly. Make sure you let everyone know when and where the meeting will be more than once. During the meeting, lay out the rules, and follow Robert’s Rules of Order as well as the meeting agenda. You should always encourage participation from other board members, and HOA residents. Finally, end every meeting with a review of what needs to be done, and when the next meeting will be.
If you’d like to improve your next meeting’s organization, you can try Neigbrs by Vinteum’s meeting feature. You can schedule a meeting on or offline, and add the meeting agenda and polls all in one place.
