Board Meeting Management Buyer’s Guide

Built for school boards, cities, counties, colleges, libraries, and nonprofit governing bodies

Running an efficient board meeting starts well before the meeting. It takes planning, coordination, and time. This guide explains how meeting management systems can help boards streamline their meetings.  

BoardBook® Premier was created to help public boards move from time-consuming, paper-heavy workflows to a streamlined, digital meeting process — without sacrificing control, compliance, or flexibility.

What Is a Board Meeting Management Platform?

A board meeting management platform is a centralized, web-based tool designed to support every stage of the meeting lifecycle, including:

• Agenda creation and review
• Packet compilation and distribution
• Meeting execution and voting
• Minutes recording and approval
• Public posting and archiving

Rather than juggling documents, emails, and folders, everything lives in one secure, searchable place that is accessible to staff, board members, and the public (when you decide).

Refresh Meetings of All Types

Organizations have relied on manual methods like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, PDFs, email chains, and manual website updates to compile meeting packets.  

As expectations for transparency, accessibility, and efficiency continue to rise, these manual, disconnected processes quickly become overwhelming and unsustainable.

Online platforms have dramatically streamlined compiling meeting packets with ease of use, real-time updates, and unique features.

Software

• Real-time updates
• Saves time
• Reduces cost
• Improves transparency

Spreadsheets

• Manual updates
• Tenuous changes

Paper and PDFs

• Manual updates
• Multiple document versions
• Costly printing

The Hidden Costs of Manual Meeting Preparation

At first glance, manual meeting preparation may seem inexpensive. But the true cost often shows up in staff time, last-minute stress, and inefficiencies that compound over time.

Time-consuming tasks include:

• Reformatting agendas after changes
• Scanning, printing, collating, and assembling packets
• Managing multiple versions of documents
• Manually posting and updating materials on your website
• Storing and retrieving historical agendas and minutes

A board meeting management platform helps turn hours spent on repetitive tasks into time you can dedicate to more meaningful work.

Paper costs alone have increased significantly in recent years, and that doesn’t account for the labor involved. One school district reported saving up to $20,000 in labor costs alone after moving from paper-based meetings to a digital solution.

How a Digital Solution Should Support Your Organization

When evaluating board meeting management tools, consider how the system supports your real-world workflows.

A strong solution should:

• Reduce manual work and duplicate effort
• Adapt to your formatting and templates
• Support compliance with open meetings requirements
• Improve collaboration among staff and board members
• Enhance transparency for the public
• Make learning and navigating the platform easy

Key Questions to Ask When Evaluating Board Meeting Software and Why They Matter

1. How easy is it to create and update agendas?

Meeting agendas change, often at the last minute. A system should make updates simple, not stressful.

With BoardBook, agendas are built quickly and updates are instant. Customizable templates and drag-and-drop agenda items allow staff to add, remove, or reorder items quickly. Updates are instantly reflected without rebuilding packets.

2. Can the system handle minutes, attendance, and voting in one place?

Tracking motions, votes, and attendance manually increases the risk of errors and omissions.

BoardBook’s features include in-meeting actions captured in an automated minutes report. Details about attendance, motions, seconds, and votes that happen during the meeting are consolidated into an editable minutes report after the meeting. 

3. How does the platform support public transparency and compliance? 

Public entities must meet strict open meetings and posting requirements.

BoardBook agendas can be made public with one click. Organizations control what is visible to the public and can maintain an accessible archive of past meetings, agendas, and minutes.

4. Can board members easily follow along during meetings?

If participants are fumbling through papers or multiple attachments, meetings become inefficient.

BoardBook keeps attendees on the same page. The Follow the Leader feature automatically advances the meeting agenda so board members can follow along on their devices without missing a beat.

5. Is it possible to search and reuse past meeting information?

Agendas, minutes, and policies often repeat from year to year.

BoardBook offers advanced search across your data. From agenda items and attachments to minutes and personal notes, information uploaded to BoardBook is searchable by keyword, date range, or document type. 

6. Does the system still allow for printed packets if needed?

Some board members may still prefer paper for certain meetings or materials.

BoardBook agendas can be downloaded as a PDF. Fully numbered PDF agenda packets with all or selected attachments included can easily be printed for attendees who prefer an analog experience.

7. How flexible are permissions and user roles?

Not everyone involved in the meeting process needs the same level of access.

BoardBook’s user management tools give organizations power to assign customized permissions. Access to committees, agendas, documents can be granted based on individual roles.

8. What kind of training and customer support is included?

Even intuitive systems require guidance during setup and early use.

All BoardBook customers receive complimentary training and support, including:

• Live webinars and training sessions
• A support resource library with video walkthroughs and guides
• Hands-on assistance with setup and configuration
• Support when transitioning from paper or other meeting solutions

Make a Smooth Transition to Digital Meetings

Moving from manual meeting preparation to a digital platform doesn’t have to be disruptive. BoardBook provides guidance every step of the way, from importing historical documents to training staff and board members.

Many organizations find that once they make the transition, they can’t imagine returning to paper-based workflows.

Built for Public Governing Boards

BoardBook Premier was created by the Texas Association of School Boards specifically to support public governing bodies. It is not a corporate tool adapted for public use; it is designed with the realities of public meetings in mind.

Organizations choose BoardBook because it offers:

• One straightforward price with no feature tiers
• All training and support included
• A platform shaped by customer feedback
• A proven track record with a 98% customer renewal rate

Ready to Learn More?

BoardBook Premier helps public boards streamline meeting preparation, improve transparency, and reclaim valuable staff time.

To see how BoardBook works in practice:

• Sign up for a live, 45-minute webinar at boardbook.org
• Call 888-587-2665
• Email sales@boardbook.org 

We look forward to helping your organization move meetings forward with confidence.