Managing Meetings

A meeting in Boardwise has two separate kinds of status:

What attendees can see. You release the meeting in steps: first the date, then the materials.
Whether the meeting has been held. You start the meeting when it begins and close it when it ends.

The two move independently. A meeting can have its materials ready weeks before it starts, and a closed meeting keeps its materials available for reference.

What Attendees Can See

Draft

When you first create a meeting, it is a Draft. Only administrators can see it, and no one is notified. Use this time to:

Set the date, time, and location
Build your agenda
Upload supporting documents

Date Hold

Click Announce Meeting and choose Send date hold to tell attendees to save the date. They receive a notice and can see the meeting's name, date, time, and location. The documents come later.

Click Publish materials when the documents are final, typically a few days before the meeting. Attendees receive a "materials ready" notice and can open the agenda and documents, according to their access level.

From a draft, Announce Meeting > Send everything does both at once: it sends the invitation and releases the materials together.

Cancelled

Choose Cancel this meeting from the More actions (⋮) menu if the meeting will not go ahead. Attendees are told, and the meeting stays in your records.

Moving back a step

Until the meeting starts, you can move it back one step from the More actions (⋮) menu: Revert to date hold hides the materials again, and Revert to draft hides the whole meeting from attendees. Once a meeting has started, it can no longer be moved back or cancelled.

Holding the Meeting

Before it starts

Until you start it, the meeting is planned. You can keep changing it and sending updates.

In progress

From about an hour before the start time, click Start Meeting (on the meeting page, or in the More actions (⋮) menu). The meeting must have had at least its date hold sent. While the meeting is in progress you can take attendance, record decisions, and take notes on each agenda item. See Recording Meeting Minutes.

Closed

When the meeting ends, click Close Meeting on the Run Meeting screen. The meeting is then marked Meeting Closed, and:

Boardwise records which version of each document was part of the meeting
The meeting's details and agenda can no longer be changed, and no further meeting notices can be sent
The minutes you download are no longer stamped DRAFT
Attendees can still open the meeting and its materials for reference

Closing a meeting cannot be undone, so close it only once the meeting is over.

Administrators can start and close any meeting. A board or committee's Chair, Senior Vice Chair, Vice Chair, Executive Chair, and Secretary can start and close that group's meetings. See Assigning Board and Committee Roles.