Despite the common belief that a board meeting shouldn’t just be a boring PowerPoint presentation, the vast majority end up being exactly that. You can’t blame founders; few have experienced a truly successful board meeting, so there’s a lack of great models to follow. As someone who sits in far too many board meetings to count, I can help you do better. Here’s how to improve your board meetings and more importantly, their outcomes.
Set the Stage
Just like with any presentation, the groundwork you lay before a board meeting is crucial. This includes assembling a comprehensive deck and detailed financials. The goal is to circulate these materials well in advance, ideally at least a week before the meeting. This allows everyone to familiarize themselves with the content, making the actual meeting more productive.
When you socialize the materials, be sure to also clearly outline how you intend the board meetings to run. This should be a repeatable process so everyone knows what to expect, when they will receive the materials and their responsibilities before, during and after the meeting. You can always adjust this later if needed, but doing this upfront helps to create a structured and efficient environment.
Cover the Fundamentals
A well-prepared deck is essential, even though it should be far from the centerpiece of the board meeting. We’ll get to the other ‘non-presentation’ components shortly, but it starts by putting together your materials. Each department should break down its information into three key areas: what we did, what we are going to do and what our main headwinds/tailwinds are. This follows the “start, stop, continue” framework, which helps to identify what’s working, what’s not and what new initiatives should be undertaken.
The finance department, in particular, needs to present its data comprehensively and consistently. This includes showing growth figures, churn figures, retention figures, forecasts, and the underlying reasons supporting these numbers. Here are some of the table stakes metrics that should be included in your board deck:
- Annual Contract Value (ACV)
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
- Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- Lifetime Value (LTV)
- Churn Rate
- Retention Rate
- Gross Margin
- Runway
- Sales Pipeline
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Product Usage Metrics
- Other Organization-specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
This will help provide a comprehensive view of your startup’s performance. By including these fundamentals in your board deck and circulating it in advance, everyone involved can be more prepared and your meetings will be more valuable.
Become a Storyteller
Here’s the thing about your deck, though: if you’re assembling the same information for every board meeting, the board will see the same things over and over again. There’s no narrative in that; those are just diagnostics, like the dashboard of your car. When you’re telling the story of a family vacation, you don’t focus on the miles per gallon or the average speed. You focus on the story behind where you went and the experiences had – this is where many people fall short.
Just as you wouldn’t open a presentation with a dull introduction about your resume, you shouldn’t let the meeting devolve into reviewing the PowerPoint- after all, that’s why you distributed it ahead of time. Instead, come to the meeting with a story that summarizes the past quarter’s performance in an engaging way. This should unlock the essence of the business’s performance, engaging your board members. Otherwise, everyone will retreat to the black-and-white figures, which serves no one.
Augment Your Skillset
Once you’ve drawn your audience in, remember that your board was assembled not just for their financial contributions but also for the diverse skillsets they bring. After you’ve covered the meeting’s fundamental components, shift the focus to what you need from them.
The earlier parts of the meeting serve as a prelude to this collaborative segment. Now, the question becomes: what are we trying to solve together? The story you told should have highlighted a significant learning or challenge, setting the stage for a collaborative problem-solving session.
In other words, your board meetings should be more like workshops. Ask for board members’ insights and experiences. What have they seen before? What are other companies doing? What’s their opinion on the issue at hand? Ideally, a board meeting should be no longer than two hours, with about 90 minutes dedicated to workshopping ideas and gathering insights.
This collaborative approach not only helps solve immediate problems but also leverages the board’s valuable networks and connections. End the meeting by clearly stating what you need from your board—whether it’s opening doors, accessing exclusive reports, or providing specific expertise. This transforms the meeting from being just about reporting to actively moving toward the company’s goals with the board’s help.
Ensure Accountability
There are two key pieces of follow-up after the meeting:
- Immediately send out a recap detailing what was discussed, your asks of the board, their asks of you, and the timeline for addressing those items.
- Set expectations for future meetings. Schedule your year’s board meetings during the previous Q4 meeting to avoid last-minute scheduling conflicts. Decide well in advance whether these meetings will be virtual or in-person. Ideally, at least half of the meetings should be in-person—specifically Q2 and Q4—since they result in better engagement and collaboration.
The takeaway? Yes, you need a deck and the baseline information to inform your board meetings, but you don’t have to–and shouldn’t–leave it at that. Be prepared, cover the fundamentals, tell your business’ story, seek out your board members’ expertise so you can grow your own skills and prioritize accountability. These are the best ways to take lifeless, boring, unproductive meetings and turn them into exciting, high-impact gatherings that substantially propel your business forward.
