Best Practices for Virtual Board Meetings

Directors are making plans to hold their next board meeting remotely to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus amid the ongoing pandemic. However, sources recommend that directors brush up on virtual meeting etiquette and ask corporate secretaries to ensure they are following applicable state laws on meetings even if they are meeting remotely.

“A good chairman of the board or a good CEO will make sure everyone will be heard,” says Krish Ramakrishnan, executive chair and co-founder of BlueJeans Network, an enterprise-focused, cloud-based videoconferencing provider.

For example, Ramakrishnan says, during a videoconferenced board meeting, the chair or lead director should advise attendees to raise their hand if they want to speak — rather than simply raising their voice as one might do on a phone call to be heard — and be sure to call on directors as they indicate they have something to say. He also recommends scheduling time for short breaks in between agenda items or longer discussions just as directors would do if they were meeting in person.