How to Get the Most Out of Your HOA Board Meetings

The members of your community—including those who may happen to serve on the HOA Board—live busy lives. They have family and work responsibilities to juggle, to say nothing of potential hobbies, church functions, or whatever else. The last thing they want to do is come sit through a meeting, in their “free time,” that drags on and on with no end in sight. So if you want to maximize HOA Board Meetings,  attendance and keep participants active and involved in the proceedings, you’ll need to plan the meetings accordingly.

Here are a few quick tips for effective HOA board meetings:

  • First, set realistic expectations for each meeting. Do you have fifty issues that you wish to discuss? Well, the simple reality is that you’re just not going to be able to get to them all in one meeting, and you’ll be better off limiting yourself and being realistic in your projections for the meeting. Keep your agenda short and concise.
  • Set a definite time limit for every meeting—and stick to it. How long should your HOA board meetings be? Honestly, barring special circumstances, there’s no reason you should go much past an hour.
  • Be familiar with your HOA’s bylaws, and, in particular, the guidelines for procedure and conduct at meetings. These rules were put in place to keep things moving efficiently, and sticking to them will not only help you save time, but also keep you out of trouble down the road!
  • Come to each meeting prepared; if you have any questions about issues on the agenda, pose them to your professional management company before the meeting so that you’re equipped to deal with the issue promptly and completely.
  • Make your meetings action-oriented. Some discussion is fine, but make sure that discussion moves toward a vote on every issue—or else, you’ll just keep talking about the same things, over and over, meeting after meeting!
  • Finally, be respectful of the other board members, and of your board manager, and show yourself to be a team player. This will help everyone involved feel like board service is not a burden, but an honor!
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Bryan Kuester

Bryan Kuester

Bryan is the CEO of Kuester Management Group. He has over 15 years of managing community associations throughout North and South Carolina.

His specialties include Community Association Management - maintenance, budgeting for operational and reserve funding, long-range planning, covenant enforcement, amenity management, onsite management, large scale management.