How a board meeting happens, start to finish

A board meeting has a life before and after the hour everyone sits down. This page walks through it in order: who does what, what the app records, and what happens next. The second help page covers the meeting itself.

1. The chair schedules the meeting

The chair picks a title, a date and a time. The meeting then appears on the Meetings page for everyone on the board.

Its agenda (the list of things the board will deal with, in order) starts straight away with the items your board requires at every meeting. Each one says whose rule requires it: an act, your by-laws, or your board's own practice.

A meeting can be marked as a practice meeting, for training. It is never part of the board's record and sends nothing to anyone.

2. The agenda is built

The chair adds items, puts them in order, edits them, and removes the ones that should not be there, with a reason. An item your board requires can't be removed; it can only be deferred (moved to a later meeting, with a reason).

Any director can suggest an item. It goes to the chair, who keeps it or removes it with a reason, and the director sees which. If the board has a circulation deadline and it has passed, the director is told before submitting that the item will go to the next meeting instead.

3. The chair approves the agenda

Approve fixes the agenda as it stands. From then on directors can read and download that version, and the meeting will follow it. Approving emails nobody.

If the chair changes the agenda afterwards, directors keep seeing the approved version until the chair approves again.

4. The agenda is sent to the board

Send emails the approved agenda to every director, each in their own email, with a link to it and to any documents attached to the meeting (the board package). Sending again after a change is labelled as a revised agenda.

Approving and sending are separate on purpose: the chair can check the approved agenda before anyone receives it.

5. Directors declare conflicts of interest

A conflict of interest is when a director has a personal stake in an item, for example a contract with their own company. Before the meeting, each director ticks any item they are conflicted on.

At the meeting, that director is shown as recused (stepped aside) on those items and cannot vote on them. Everyone can see who is recused, but not why.

6. The meeting

The meeting is run on the live meeting page. The second help page, In the meeting, explains it step by step.

7. The minutes

The minutes are the official written record of the meeting. When the chair adjourns (ends) the meeting, Meeting Wizard drafts them from what was recorded: who was present, each motion, who moved and seconded it, and every vote by name.

The chair reads the draft and can add notes. Then the chair circulates it (sends it to the board to read). Minutes are never approved by a button. The board approves them by voting on the approve-the-previous-minutes item at its next meeting. Once approved, they go into the minute book and can never be changed; a correction is a new record.

8. What the board owes afterwards

Boards owe things on a timetable: annual meetings, filings, reports. The compliance calendar lists what your organization owes and when, each with the rule it comes from. The app proposes items from the rules your chair has adopted; nothing is owed until the chair confirms it.

When a motion that is carried (passed) says the board must report back by a date, the chair records that date and it goes on the calendar.

An item is done when two things are recorded: the board's act (the vote or minutes that did it) and an officer's tick that it was received or sent.

Who does what

The chair

Before: Schedules the meeting; builds, approves and sends the agenda; sets where it is held; keeps or removes directors' suggestions.
At the meeting: Runs it on the live page: calls it to order, takes attendance, puts motions to a vote, closes votes, and adjourns.
After: Reads the draft minutes, adds notes, and circulates them; confirms what the board owes on the compliance calendar.
Cannot, or waits for: Cannot approve minutes alone: the board approves them by vote. Cannot see how anyone voted until the vote is closed. Cannot delete a required agenda item, only defer it.

The secretary

Before: Can upload by-laws to the Library and upload agenda documents for a meeting. Reads the agenda and declares conflicts like any director.
At the meeting: Takes part as a director: checks in, moves and seconds motions, and votes.
After: Records the board's act and ticks items on the compliance calendar, with the chair.
Cannot, or waits for: Cannot build, approve or send the agenda, run the meeting, or edit the minutes: those are the chair's. In Meeting Wizard the minutes are drafted from the record, so the secretary checks them like everyone else.

The treasurer

Before: Can upload by-laws and agenda documents, such as financial statements for the board package. Reads the agenda and declares conflicts like any director.
At the meeting: Takes part as a director: checks in, moves and seconds motions, and votes.
After: Reads the circulated minutes and the compliance calendar.
Cannot, or waits for: Cannot build, approve or send the agenda, run the meeting, edit the minutes, or record items on the compliance calendar.

A director

Before: Reads and downloads the approved agenda, suggests items, and declares any conflicts of interest.
At the meeting: Checks in, moves and seconds motions, and votes Yes, No or Abstain.
After: Reads the circulated minutes, and votes to approve them at the next meeting.
Cannot, or waits for: Cannot change the agenda directly (suggest an item instead), run the meeting, or edit the minutes. Waits for the chair to approve and send the agenda before there is anything to read.