Anytime you gather with the HOA board, there’s a risk the meeting will go off target and run too long. The problem with this is that it not only wastes everyone’s time, but it also isn’t productive. When we go off on tangents, it takes us away from the core reasons for getting together in the first place. If these core reasons aren’t addressed, you might have to schedule a second meeting later on. As you can see, it’s important to establish a structure for your HOA meetings.
The first step to keeping things productive in an HOA meeting is to prepare an agenda in advance. Write down all of the topics you’d like to discuss and send the list to each board member beforehand. Providing your board members with the agenda in advance gives them time to prepare and formulate questions of their own. What’s more, being prepared is one of the key steps to ensuring the meeting runs smoother.
When creating the agenda for the meeting, make sure to consider how much time to allow for each topic. Set aside plenty of time for pressing matters, like community maintenance and security. Other topics, like upcoming events or resident feedback, can be saved for the end. If you know how much time to spend on each topic, you can stay on task without wasting everyone’s time.
Assign one member of the board to keep track of time. This person needs to be able to step up and move the conversation along to the next talking point or next person if someone goes off-topic or speaks for too long.
When you have an open meeting you need to allow some time for homeowner questions. However, this is one place where things can really drag out. It’s important to lay out the rules ahead of time and let homeowners know how much time is allotted during or at the end of the meeting for them to address concerns and questions. Then, do your best to stick to that schedule. One of the ways to speed this process up is to have homeowners submit their questions before the meeting. This allows the board to answer them quickly, concisely, and carefully.
These are just a few simple tips that can help your HOA meetings run a little smoother. We’d love to help you manage your HOA community. To learn more about our community management services, please visit our website. PMI Prince William. We look forward to hearing from you!
