9 Tips That Can Make Advisory Committee Meetings Successful

When running a business, making well-informed decisions is crucial for success. Advisory meetings offer insight into the direction that the business is taking.

Company advisory board meetings are essential because they bring together industry experts and senior personnel to evaluate operations.

However, just like any other meeting, you need to prepare in advance to get the most out of advisory board meetings.

9 Tips for Making Your Advisory Board Meetings Successful

Here are nine tips that will help make your next advisory board meeting a success:

i) Determine the Frequency of Meetings

The frequency at which board meetings should be held will depend on your organization’s demands as well as the availability of industry experts who will be participating.
 
Steady and well-established businesses can have occasional board meetings, perhaps every quarter.

The occasional meetings should be relevant and not interfere with the company’s operations.

Start-ups that demand frequent evaluations can convene board frequently, for example, once a month.

ii) Run a Test Meeting

If you have just set up an advisory board, a preliminary meeting is essential regardless of whether you have competent experts.

An already known test meeting can be held to clarify terms of operations and structure a roadmap for future gatherings.

The test meeting can also be an orientation session for members to help them understand how things work and what to expect.

iii) Invitations

Always send invitations to committee members, letting them know in advance when they are expected to meet.

Also, ask for a confirmation about attendance so that you know who is available.

iv) Be Transparent with the Business

While your business certainly has sensitive data, being transparent to the committee about your operations is critical.

Equipped with real-time figures and information, the committee experts can re-evaluate your objectives and suggest adjustments that will help the business achieve its objectives.

v) Take Notes

Take minutes and notes during the meeting. Having a record of the meeting is crucial as you want everyone to be on the same page with regard to the decisions made.

Transcription services come in handy when you want to have records of your advisory board meetings. More information on transcription services can be found below.

vi) Share the Outcome of Suggestions

The committee members need to know that their suggestions are taken seriously. It is important to share feedback with the board members during the meetings.

In particular, you should touch on what you have done so far with their insight and what the outcome was. This will keep the members focused on making valuable contributions.

vii) Set Expectations

For a meeting to be successful, its objectives should be met. Set expectations for the meeting and structure a plan toward achieving them.

Expectations will help increase engagement in participants.

viii) Talk about the future

While focusing on what is happening at the moment is essential, you should also think long-term.

Discuss with the committee about your long-term goals and ask for insight on future expectations.

ix) Treat the meetings as more than a requirement

Advisory board meetings should not just be held to discuss the performance of the business. Rather, you should extract value from them in all facets.

This will show the board members you are committed to implementing their advice.

Using Transcription for Board Meetings

Since board meetings generally take a long time, most businesses quickly realize they need a better way of having records of the discussions.

Companies usually hold their board meetings for minutes. Minutes are concrete accounts of what was said during the conference.

They serve as a source of information for the participants and the attendees. 

Secretaries of the organization present at the board meeting take notes to create a record representing the key points or nature of the meeting.

Usually, minutes provide descriptions of the decisions made during the meeting, the expected next steps, and the identification and tracking of action items.

This is where business transcription services come in. Expert transcriptionists can convert recorded audio or videos of the meeting to text.

You can hire a business transcription agency to capture the proceedings of the session for distribution to your staff members.