A2: Planning and Running Effective Board Meetings

Board meetings are often overlooked as a bothersome formality or an unnecessary hindrance to the everyday business of a startup, and they can be if they aren’t set up or run correctly. However, when they are well thought through and used to their full potential, they are one of the most valuable tools and efficient drivers for a startup’s success.

This workshop is designed to expand on the core curriculum of the Startup Board Academy and guide current board members on the practicalities of conducting effective, efficient and constructive meetings. It provides an extensive overview of the best practices on how to run a board meeting, and covers the following aspects.

Shareholder meetings

• • Main focus and aim, as well as how they differ from the board meetings.
  • The difference between annual general meetings (AGM) and extraordinary general meetings (EGM), the cases in which the latter should be called and the procedures that should be put in place to ensure any decisions made are legally valid and binding.
  • Preparation of the meeting’s agenda, relevant documents and scheduling requirements.
  • Support channels available to ensure all legal requirements are met.

Board meetings best practices

• • Planning
    • Live vs virtual meetings
    • Meetings frequency
    • Regular vs emergency meetings
    • Meeting date notice period
  • Preparing
    • Defining the agenda
    • Identifying recurring and one-time relevant topics
    • Balancing agenda flexibility and structure
    • Gathering relevant data (documents and management team inputs)
    • Limiting side discussions between board members
    • Setting up and liaising with relevant subcommittees on specific challenges
    • Ensuring proper background information is shared to allow for efficient discussion and educated decision-making
  • Leading
    • Keeping time
    • Distributing roles and tasks for the duration of the meeting
    • Ensuring all formalities are followed for votes to be valid
    • Identifying relevant data points to be taken into account before a decision is made
    • Managing expectations and emotional responses
  • Writing minutes
    • Templates and general guidance
    • Legal framework and implications
    • Accepting minutes from the previous meeting
    • Managing audio and/or video recordings of meetings

The workshop allows for an excellent opportunity for current board members to discuss specific challenges and benefit from each other’s experience and insights into how to be a good board member.

Workshop duration

1.5 hours (shareholder meetings: 20 minutes, board meetings: 1h, questions and discussion: 10 min).

Workshop format

Video conference.

Pricing

• External participant: CHF 150
• Board Academy Alumni: CHF 130

15% discount on booking three or more workshops.

Trainers: Virginie Verdon and Brigitte Baumann.