Meetings

Meetings are where your board's work comes together. Each meeting belongs to a space and holds its agenda, papers, attendees, votes and minutes on one page. A meeting moves through a set order: draft, notice issued, papers published, in session, completed and minuted. The buttons at the top of the meeting page change to show the next step.

Create a meeting

1. Open the space and select Meetings in the sidebar.
2. Select New meeting.
3. Enter a Title, then select Create meeting.
4. On the meeting page, select Schedule meeting… under the title. Pick the start time under When, then choose a duration or select Edit end time.
5. Check the Attendees. New meetings invite every member of the space, and you can add or remove people here.
6. Select Save draft schedule.

To say where the meeting happens, select Add location or link. Enter an Address, a Meeting link from Zoom, Teams, Google Meet or another video tool, or both. Attendees see it in the meetings list, on the meeting page and in their invitation.

To start from an earlier meeting, open it, select More meeting actions (the three dots) and choose Duplicate meeting. The agenda, attendees, tags and description carry over into a new draft.

Find a time that suits everyone

1. On the Meetings page, select Find a time.
2. Add a Title, optional Notes and a Duration in minutes.
3. Under Candidate times, select Add time for each option, then select Send poll.

Members answer Yes, No or If need be for each time. When you are ready, select Close poll, pick the Chosen time, and choose to create a draft meeting from it. That meeting invites everyone the poll went to.

Issue notice

1. Build your agenda. See Board papers.
2. Select Issue Notice, then Issue notice to confirm.

Attendees receive an invitation that adds the meeting to Outlook, Google or Apple Calendar in their own time zone. Issuing notice locks the meeting details, but the agenda and papers stay editable. You need a date in the future and at least one invitee besides yourself.

If your organisation uses governance rules, Future Boards warns you when notice is shorter than your notice period and asks you to confirm The board has agreed to short notice.

To undo, select Withdraw Notice. Attendees are told and the calendar entry is removed.

Reschedule, cancel or delete

Open More meeting actions on the meeting page:

• Reschedule meeting lets you pick a new time, then Reschedule and notify sends attendees an updated notice.
• Cancel meeting emails everyone invited, with your Reason (optional). The meeting stays on record as Cancelled.
• Delete draft removes a meeting that hasn't had notice issued, along with its agenda.

Run the meeting

When papers are published, the person running the meeting selects Open Meeting. This calls the meeting to order and opens voting and attendance.

• Video: select Start video to join the in-app video call, and Leave video to leave. Your microphone and camera start off. If your board meets on Zoom, Teams or in person, turn off Use in-app video under More meeting actions. For an external link, attendees get a Join button instead.
• Follow the chair: the host uses Previous and Next, or Set as current on an agenda item, to move everyone to the item being discussed. You can browse ahead and come back at any time.
• Attendance: select the attendee strip to open Attendees, then the Attendance tab. Mark each person In the room, Remote, Apologies or Absent, and record late arrivals or early departures. The minutes and the vote count use this list.
• Votes: see Resolutions & voting.

When business is done, select End Meeting. This closes the meeting and the video room. If you need to, Reopen Meeting puts it back in session. Then select Review minutes to write and finalise the minutes. See Minutes.

Invite guests

You can invite people outside your organisation to a single meeting. See Guests & external signers.