Run the Meeting

Fourth of seven walkthroughs. This one has two halves: a preparation step you do the day before, and the live Run Meeting screen you keep open during the meeting itself. Done this way, the minutes are mostly written before the meeting ends.

The day before: prepare the minutes

1. On the meeting page, click Prepare Minutes.
2. The Minutes outline lists every agenda item. For each one, write the minutes text you already know: who is presenting, what is being tabled, the standing language for approval of prior minutes. You are drafting the official record, so write in the past tense as it will appear in the minutes.
3. For any item where a vote is expected, click Stage Motion and enter the motion text as it will be moved. During the meeting you will only need to record the outcome.
4. The Readiness panel shows how many agenda sections have minutes text and how many motions are staged. It also lists the attendance roster, so you can confirm the right people are on it.

Nothing here is visible to attendees. Staged motions are drafts until an outcome is recorded.

Start the meeting

1. When the meeting is about to begin, open the meeting page and click Start Meeting, then confirm.
2. Boardwise opens the Run Meeting screen. Attendees' meeting pages show a live banner, and the agenda items update as you move through them.

Take attendance

The attendance strip under the title shows the attendees and Present now as a count, with Quorum met or Quorum not met beside it, based on the required attendees you set when planning. Expand the strip (the arrow at its right) to mark each person present as they join. Attendance can only be marked while the meeting is in progress, so do it now rather than afterwards.

Move through the agenda

1. The Agenda Timeline on the left lists every item. Select the first one and click Start Item. The item shows as In Progress on attendees' screens, with a running timer on yours.
2. Use Present (top right) to open a separate presentation window for screen sharing, and Present document on any attached document to put it on that screen.
3. Add or edit Minutes text for the item as discussion happens. It saves as you type.
4. When the item is done, click Close on the item, then Next Item in the Up Next panel. Items you skip are marked Skipped and can be returned to.

Record a motion and its outcome

When a vote happens:

1. If the motion was staged, it appears under Staged Motions on the item. Click Record Outcome.
2. Otherwise click Record Motion and enter the Title and Motion Text.
3. Choose the Outcome: Passed, Failed, Tabled, or Withdrawn.
4. Click Add details to record the Vote Method (Voice Vote, Roll Call, Unanimous Consent, Written, or Other), the counts For, Against, and Abstained where they matter, and an Effective Date if it differs from today.
5. Click Record Decision.

Every recorded decision goes into the organization's Decisions register, linked to this meeting and agenda item, with who recorded it and when. This is the record that gets asked for later, so record decisions as they happen rather than reconstructing them afterwards.

Assign action items

Click Add Action Item on the current agenda item to assign a follow-up to a person with a due date. The assignee sees it under My Action Items and in the Preparation brief on their next meeting page, and you can track it from the organization's action items list.

Close the meeting

When the last item is closed, the screen reads Agenda Complete and The meeting is ready to be adjourned. Click Close Meeting and confirm.

The meeting becomes read-only for attendees and administrators alike. Attendance, decisions, minutes text, and action items are frozen as the record of the meeting.

Next

5. Close It Out: produce the minutes, distribute them, and see who read what.

Related reference: Recording Meeting Minutes, Working with Action Items.