Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Right Way To Run A Board Meeting

I have sat in Board meetings before and I have many times been bored in a Board meeting, but last night we had the first Board meeting for my company, Catalyst:SF. Our Board consists of a number of extremely smart, extremely well spoken individuals and there insights into our business are invaluable. I can honestly say, without being biased, that this is the right way to run a Board meeting.

My tips on how to do it right:
  • Don't take advantage of your Board. These people have lives and you are asking them to cut out a part of their day for you, so do not abuse that request. Limit the amount of time you ask of them, be very clear on your requests and try to be respectful of their time.
  • Feed them. It's a simple matter to organize a dinner and feed them, and when people are being fed they are happy to talk. Once again, this proves that you value their time and are not taking advantage of them.
  • Be concise. We provided them with limited documentation and were not asking them to do anything more than react to what we were talking about. No prep work. No home work. once again, being respectful of their time.

All in all, I was really happy. I know that I can't share with all of you what they said, but you should know it was certainly valuable!

No comments: