Getting Started - Virtual Board Meetings with Simbli

Board Member Roles

What's My Role?

The superintendent is in charge of working with the board chair and board secretary to prepare the board agenda and supporting materials to ensure that all board members get the relevant information in order to adequately discuss, deliberate, and act on the work of the district.

Important responsibilities include:

Have video turned on so that other participants can see you.
Consider using the call-in number to phone in to meeting to ensure that the audio quality is good.
Serve as a co-host of the virtual board meeting.
Share screen to display the meeting agenda and materials through Simbli for the board and public.

The technology director works with the board, superintendent, and board secretary to make sure they have the right technology tools and that the settings are correct in order to have a secure and productive virtual board meeting.

Important responsibilities include:

Setup a corporate web conferencing, board management system, and social media accounts.
Configure the settings on web conferencing account.
Ensure the Governance Team members have the proper tools to connect and have quality audio and video.
Conduct a training with all co-hosts for the meeting to make sure they understand their roles and responsibilities.
Conduct a training with the governance team to make sure everyone is familiar with how the meeting will work with the different technology.
Setup a breakout room if the board is to go into executive session during the meeting
Serve as the host of the virtual board meeting.
When launching the meeting in the web conference tool, ensure that all settings are correct and manage participants throughout the meeting.
Initiate livestream to social media channel.

The board chair is responsible for running the virtual board meeting just as they would any other regular board meeting.

Important responsibilities include:

Have video turned on so that other participants can see you.
Consider using the call-in number to phone in to meeting to ensure that the audio quality is good.
Be familiar with the different web conferencing capabilities.
Understand how to handle public comments.
Determine how voting will take place. Since the meeting is being conducted virtually and some attendees will only be on via audio, consider doing a roll call vote for any item that is not unanimous.

Board members will participate in the virtual meeting just as they would any other regular board meeting.

Important responsibilities include:

Have your video turned on so that other participants can see you.
Consider using the call-in number to phone in to meeting to ensure that the audio quality is good.
Consider muting your line when you are not talking to avoid any unnecessary background noises that might distract from the meeting.

The board secretary works with the superintendent and other district staff to prepare the board meeting agenda materials and get it loaded and published into Simbli. The secretary also makes sure that proper notice was provided for the meeting and that the public has the information on how to access the virtual meeting. The secretary also takes the official meeting minutes during the meeting.

Important responsibilities include:

Load the web conferencing link and connection instructions into the meeting agenda header within Simbli.
Provide proper notice of the meeting.
Serve as a co-host of the virtual board meeting.
Take the meeting minutes.

Key Ingredients

To conduct board meetings virtually, we suggest employing the following three types of tools in conjunction with one another.

Meeting Management System

Board management systems, like Simbli, make it easy manage meetings virtually in a safe and secure environment.

Video Conferencing Platform

Video conferencing platforms allows boards to meet virtually, using both audio and video to connect with fellow board members.

Social Media Platform

Social media platforms allow the board to quickly and easily broadcast board meetings live to various stakeholders.

Meeting Management System

Packed with time-saving features, Simbli's paperless board meeting management software automates and simplifies routine tasks associated with meeting development and delivery, streamlining meeting preparation and providing easy and secure access to meeting materials.

Video Conferencing Platforms

A variety of video conferencing platforms are available including both free and fee-based services. The providers below are among the most used by educational institutions today.

Zoom

Zoom is a web-based video conferencing tool with a local, desktop client and a mobile app that allows users to meet online, with or without video. Zoom users can choose to record sessions, collaborate on projects, and share or annotate on one another's screens.

Webex

Webex Meetings is a cloud-based web and video conferencing service that enables virtual teams to collaborate on a variety of devices in real time. Webex Meetings includes features such as screen sharing, meeting recording, customizable layouts and meeting broadcasting.

Skype

Skype is an IP telephony service provider that offers free calling between subscribers and low-cost calling to people who don't use the service. In addition to standard telephone calls, Skype enables free file transfers, texting, video chat and videoconferencing for all users.

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is a communications service that allows members to initiate and participate in text, voice or video chats, either one-on-one or in a group. Hangouts are built into Google+ and Gmail, and mobile Hangouts apps are available for iOS and Android devices.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a web-hosted service created and marketed by LogMeIn. It is an online meeting, desktop sharing, and video conferencing software suite, enabling users to meet with other computer users, customers, or colleagues via the Internet in real time.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is cloud-based team collaboration software that is part of the Office 365 suite of applications. The core capabilities in Microsoft Teams include business messaging, calling, video meetings and file sharing. Businesses of all sizes can use Teams.

Streaming Board Meetings via Social Media

Social Media Platforms

Live streaming your board meeting to the public is possible via video conferencing platforms like Zoom. The Zoom platform allows for direct access to stream meetings through Facebook and Youtube while your meeting is in progress. General tips for live streaming video through social media platforms are listed below.

Facebook

View tips for streaming live video via Facebook.

YouTube

View tips for streaming live video via YouTube.

Twitter

View tips for streaming live video via Twitter.

Ready to Get Started?

Review the Resources section to read our FAQ's, best practice tips, and video tutorials to help
you plan and execute your virtual board meeting.

Review Resources