Holding HOA Board of Directors Meetings are key for board members. It’s how you get things done in your homeowners association. But what is it? Where should you hold it? What’s quorum and how do you get it? And finally, how do you run an efficient meeting? Let’s find out!
What’s an HOA Board of Directors Meeting?
Let’s go back to basics, an HOA board of directors meeting is a regular meeting where board members discuss routine maintenance. Members of your association must be invited and often your manager participates as well.
Where do you hold a Board Meeting?
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been an increase in virtual meetings, and now people are meeting in-person, hybrid meetings are a trend. Learn more about these three options.
In-Person Meeting
The classic in-person meeting is great to get people together and talk face to face. They’re normally held in the community, either in a clubhouse, meeting room or possibly outside in a parking lot or tennis court.
The downside to in-person meetings is that people may not be able to come in person. So if you have a lot of snowbirds, it can be hard for them to join. And since people are busy, they need to carve out time to go and participate in the meeting.
Virtual meetings
Since COVID-19, a lot of homeowners associations have had online board meetings because of physical distancing. It has been quite hard for board members and homeowners to adapt to this new reality. However, it also has its benefits. HOA virtual meetings allow anyone to attend from the comfort of their home, which is great for snowbirds. This helps increase meeting quorum.
It is important to note that not all HOA board meetings can happen virtually, you should check your governing documents.
Hybrid Meeting
A hybrid board of directors meeting, where the meeting is in person, but you can join online is also a growing trend. It provides the benefits of both types of meetings, however it can get messy. If the main meeting is in-person, the sound may not be good for those participating online. If it’s vice versa, then it can be difficult for people who are there in-person might have problems participating fully. You need to plan how you will manage your hybrid meeting carefully.
HOA Meetings 101
HOA Board of Directors Meeting Quorum
Quorum is difficult if you suffer from low engagement at HOA meetings. Let’s look at what it is and what you can do to reach it.
What’s Quorum?
Quorum is the minimum number of homeowners required to have a vote. It guarantees that a motion has a majority before that it becomes a rule. This is good, it means that a bad board can’t mess with the community, they need a certain percentage of members there to vote on a proposed resolution.
When is it necessary?
Any time you’re going to have a vote. It’s important for board meetings and especially for annual meetings.
How can my HOA reach quorum?
When engagement is low, you need to look at the reasons behind the number.
- Do residents know there is a meeting? You need to officially notify them of a meeting, and then send follow-up reminders by email, text, website, mail, and even phone calls. Try different communication tools to see what works well for your community association.
- Do members know where the meeting is? If it’s in the community, tell them where it is. If your meeting is online, provide them with clear instructions on how to log in.
- Do you stick to the agenda? If your community association meetings have a habit of veering off the agenda (or not having one) and take ages, then no one is going to come. You need to provide an agenda and stick to it.
- Have you told them what the meeting is about? You can provide an information pack before the meeting so residents are aware of what it’s about. This is a great idea for an annual meeting. So you can provide the community’s basic financial information, big projects, and any key information for them to study before the meeting. Then they can come prepared.
If you do all the four things stated above and still have trouble reaching quorum it’s time to get creative. You need to bust out the tried and tested classic of free food. This could be simple, like water, tea and coffee, and some biscuits, or more elaborate such as a potluck. If your community enjoys get-togethers, then make your board meeting into a community get-together. The other reward-based idea is a giveaway or raffle. If you can, then organize a raffle or small prizes for everyone who comes to the meeting so that they have an incentive.
How to run an efficient HOA board of directors meeting
We have five top tips to hold an effective HOA board of directors meeting. Having an agenda and sticking to it are essential. Then you should encourage participation and end the meeting well. Finally, you need to take notes the whole way through.
Include an agenda
It may seem like an obvious requirement but many meetings are set and carried without a clear purpose in mind. The agenda sets a guideline, a compass for everyone to follow. Create your meeting agenda, with times for each discussion item.
Having times for each agenda item helps to keep the meeting on track and not run over. Make sure to share the agenda when you notify HOA members of the meeting. When you send reminders, send the agenda again. Then refer to it again at the beginning of the meeting.
Stick to the point
Look at the agenda, and only talk about the topic you’re meant to be talking about. Try not to get sidetracked, which is hard in a large meeting. It’s important to cut people off if they are going off track by pointing them back to the meeting agenda.
Get Involved
Member participation is important, it’s hard to get people to go to meetings and if they can’t participate, members will switch off. However, constant questions make the meeting veer off track so you should try to control participation. A lot of HOAs limit the time people can speak for down to three minutes. This works but is limiting.
Another way to control and encourage participation is to ask people to submit questions before the meeting so the board can be prepared for the questions. Then, you could also have a specified time for members to ask questions as well. That way everyone can participate.
Take notes
If you don’t take notes, it’s as if the meeting never happened, which is terrible for transparency. At every meeting, one board member needs to be in charge of note-taking. This is normally the secretary but it could also be the vice president or member at large. Those notes then need to be typed up properly into minutes which need to be approved at the next meeting.
Next steps
An important part of an HOA board meeting is knowing who will do what before the next one. So a few minutes from the end of the board meeting take the time to make sure everyone has tasks. Having a clear result and next steps ensure that the meeting was productive and worthwhile.
These few minutes can have a big impact on how you run your board meetings, as it sets accountability on your Board.
A good way to do this is by finishing each meeting with the acronyms W.W.D.W.B.W. They stand for “Who Will Do What By When”. It’s an easy way to follow up on each meeting agenda and layout clearly who is responsible for what and in what timetable.
Conclusion
Holding an effective and efficient board of directors meeting is essential to get business done in your HOA. You have three options of how to hold it: in-person, online or hybrid. You need to choose what works best for your community. Reaching a quorum is essential so you can hold votes and make decisions, so you need to make an effort to reach it. If your HOA meetings don’t veer off topic and make decisions, then that will make a difference.
If you’d like to try out a platform that saves you time and effort communicating with residents and setting up online meetings, then try out Neigbrs by Vinteum.
