Volunteering for nonprofits is fulfilling and fun. I love helping and seeing the impact that I make. I have helped many nonprofits with their benefit events and over the years (many, many years) have created a way to streamline one of the most tedious parts of the events – the planning meetings.
I have been in many meetings that devolve into gossip, this is how we have always done things, and getting nothing done. Bad meetings waste time and demoralize your volunteers. Here are my tips to run an effective meeting.
Have an agenda.
I know this sounds rudimentary but so many people do not take the time to put together an agenda for their meetings. I also add check boxes next to the topics so people can check off what we have talked about. You are also able to keep people on topic by pointing out that you will cover that idea later in the meeting. If you are on a time crunch, put times next to each topic and move on when you hit your time.
This requires a leader that is willing to keep people in line and volunteers who are willing to subvert themselves for the greater cause. If you have a lot of leaders, rotate who leads the meeting and continuously point out that you have not gathered for you but for the cause. This can help curb hurt feelings and power mongering.
Set a Time Limit
A good meeting time frame is 1.5 hours. First 5 minutes is introducing new members to the group and the last 10-15 minutes is going over the tasks that everyone has been given and ensuring all are on the same page. How you carve up the rest will determine at what stage you are in your event planning.
A trick that an organization used in college was 3 pros and 3 cons. When discussing a motion or vote, the group as a whole was only able to voice 3 pros and 3 cons. People become more thoughtful and recognize that they cannot speak just to have their voice heard. It helped us cut meetings almost in half.
Host meetings at a neutral location
There are plenty of co-work spaces, libraries, and office buildings with open conference rooms that you can book and use for free or a nominal fee. Having your meetings at a neutral location keeps people from stressing over cleaning their homes, allows all parties to leave when needed, and keeps the subtle power plays to a minimum. You can often bring in water and snacks to hold people over as you chat.
If you know of a semi-quite restaurant that is willing to host you, this allows people to order food and drinks as they want. Stay away from the major holidays and most restaurants are very happy to have a low-key group of people come in.
Have a scribe for the meetings
A lot is said and a lot of ideas are thrown around, having someone take notes is a huge help. You can vote on positions or you can rotate them around. The scribe owns the last 10-15 minutes of the meeting to do a quick refresh of what tasks were handed out and when they need to get done. These notes are put into a master calendar that tracks the task, the owner, the due date, and the progress. This helps keep everyone accountable and allows the event to move forward at a good pace.
I know that with these tips you can keep volunteer frustration down, engagement up, and money rolling into your nonprofit event.