Top Tips for Running an Effective HOA Meeting

Participating in HOA meetings is a key role of HOA board members. If the meeting is well-run, participating can be a fulfilling opportunity to take a leadership role in the running of your community and actively improve the quality of life for your family and other homeowners. If the meeting is poorly run, participating becomes a frustrating chore and a dreaded, time-consuming occurrence. As one of South Florida’s premier property management companies, our team has attended numerous HOA meetings and has experienced both ends of this spectrum. Following are our top tips for running an effective HOA meeting:

• Prepare an agenda and stick to it. Be thoughtful with the items that you are including in the agenda – some items may be better managed at a committee meeting than taking up the whole board’s time to discuss them. List the agenda items in the order of importance in case time runs short. In addition to the most pressing items that the board needs to address, make sure to include time for treasurer reports, committee reports, and public comment. Allocate each item on the agenda a specific amount of time. If the time runs over, then continue the conversation at the next meeting unless the item is time-sensitive. If an important item runs over time, then cut non-essential committee reports to keep the meeting on time.

• Florida law requires that all HOA meetings allow time for public comment. Consider limiting the amount of time that each speaker is allowed to 3-4 minutes to help keep the meeting from running late. Additionally, there is no need to address the homeowner comments at the meeting. Instead, thank them for their input and let them know that you will look into it.

• Don’t blindside other board members by introducing a potentially contentious agenda item at a board meeting. Well in advance of the meeting, brief board members on the item and allow them the opportunity to think about it and provide feedback. This gives you the chance to adjust the project to respond to their objections before the board meeting and allows the board meeting run more efficiently.

• Create a to-do list for all action items. At the end of the meeting, the Secretary can read off all the action items from the meeting and who is responsible for completing them. This information should also be included in the meeting minutes. This prevents confusion over who is responsible for keeping the projects moving forward.

• Plan for each meeting to last 60-90 minutes. After 90 minutes, board members may have mentally checked out of the meeting, so it will become less productive. If you find that your meetings are regularly running longer than this, consider evaluating if the agenda could be pared down further or if the board should meet more frequently.

Consolidated Community Management (CCM) is a full-service property management company specializing in condominium and homeowner association management in Broward and southern Palm Beach Counties.  We are committed to working together with community Boards of Directors to develop management plans tailored to the unique requirements of each community and their residents.

CCM provides a quality of service that is unique to our industry and consistently delivers a distinct competitive advantage.  Our concentrated, extensive local presence and knowledge of community associations results in lasting partnerships and superior service.  We have built our industry reputation on employing the best in the business and assigning only a limited number of properties to each Property Manager Team.

Our team at Consolidated Community Management provides expert property management services at competitive prices.  Contact us today by calling (954) 718-9903 or clicking on ccmfla.com.