Every HOA community has a board of fellow homeowners. This board is instrumental in building (and maintaining) strong communities.
This point brings up an important question: what goes into building a thriving community?
An HOA board ensures that neighborhood common areas are neat and landscaped. They're also responsible for setting budgets for maintaining these areas. These types of communities also need budgets for planning neighborhood events, something that makes living in an HOA unique.
The above duties are just a few responsibilities of a board. With so many items on the agenda, managing productive HOA meetings is imperative to community success.
Learn more about holding effective meetings and how a property management company can help.
Support Efficient Meetings With Technology
Is your HOA board stuck in the 90s?
No more playing telephone!
Using communication and collaboration tools effectively cuts out the back-and-forth of meeting planning.
The first tool every board needs in their toolbox is Gmail. Gmail comes with a suite of features: for example, you can "star" your most important emails, create contact lists, and categorize HOA emails.
Google tools all integrate with one another. When you schedule a meeting in Google Calendar, all attendees are notified via Gmail. This feature works like an RSVP for meeting organizers, allowing board members to respond with "yes," "no," or "maybe."
Google also has a "meet" tool integrated right into Gmail. This tool is similar to Zoom and lets users hold video meetings on their computers (or phones.)
Any type of video conferencing tool is a must.
Tools like Google Meet, Zoom, and Skype are entirely free to use. These features make it easier to hold meetings at home, ensuring all meetings start on time.
You can also incorporate collaboration apps like Slack, another free tool. This app allows organizers to create separate channels for different tasks. Its text-based chat is easier and more organized than group texting.
Communicate Agenda Items Beforehand
Another benefit of meeting technology is communicating agenda topics in advance.
You can include agenda items in Google Calendar invite and Slack channel pins. These advance reminders help board members prepare with questions, ideas, resources, and more helpful material.
When holding meetings online, incorporate PowerPoint (or Google Slides) so that everyone in the meeting can see agenda topics and action items. Attendees can also share their screens to share more detailed notes.
Encourage Homeowners to Attend HOA Meetings
This next point is vital for maintaining great relationships between the board and homeowners.
Remember, as a board member, you're also a homeowner. Your job is to represent the best interests of the community and implement them. Thus, homeowners who don't sit on the board should also be present at meetings.
Homeowners need to feel heard. Pass them the mic in your video conferencing app whenever they raise their hand. You should also encourage them to bring topics and presentations to meetings.
You can also encourage more meeting attendance with incentives.
Start Holding More Productive Meetings
Start implementing the above actions in your board management strategy. These tools (and tips) are free to use and allow for even greater homeowner participation at HOA meetings. Think about implementing incentives for homeowner attendance.
Arrico Realty and Property Management wants to help your HOA grow through our association management services. We pride ourselves on effective communication.
Start now by booking a consultation today!
