Despite the COVID-19 scourge People continue to attend governance meetings via the internet. While this could be an inconvenience for those who prefer to attend in person, it’s an excellent opportunity for administrations to demonstrate their ability to respond and their civic engagement.

The most important thing is to ensure that the right technology is in place to enable participation in meetings, with video, voice and screen sharing all being crucial elements. Many organizations depend on emailing information packs Governance Online Meetings with attachments or file-sharing software with folders that can be downloaded. However, these solutions don’t support the organized process and distribution of agenda items.

Other challenges are that it’s harder to engage in informal conversations that are usually associated with meetings in person. However, it’s a key way that people can connect and feel comfortable with each other, therefore opening the meeting early, and adding intentional time for informal connections or using chat within your virtual meeting platform for smaller groups will help in establishing relationships that can lead to an effective and efficient governance.

Governance meetings can also be an effective way to refine the roles and responsibilities once new members join the team and their roles change or new work demands attention. This will help to prevent such discussions from hijacking other meetings, and will allow the team to be productive and efficient.