Ask your members to present to themselves ahead of time with timer so they know how much time they are taking. Put a limit on that time. When we do big committee meetings, we only have 2-5 minutes to present. If you haven't already, you may want to consider seperating board and general meetings to try to split up what needs to be discussed.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
HI!! The agenda is a big thing because it does help. My meetings have ususally lasted an hour. When you feel it's getting out of hand use Robert's rules and have someone say "president, call to order". In my soccer board meetings we have even used an egg timer & a bell to help get back on track. You tell people, please keep it short, say about 5-10 min., don't be afraid to say time's up. If more discussion is needed table it until next meeting or if someone doesn't understand maybe you can do it over the phone. Good luck!!!
Our meetings are running 2 hours and even that is a push to get through everything. My biggest problem is that I have many new first timers to the board so they are still learning the whole process. Prior to our meeting last night, I sent out an agenda with time slots for people to make their presentations. We still ended up 30 minutes over our projected hour and half.
Any advice? I have two people that sit and make faces as people (the newbies) give their reports as they tend to give too much detail. I felt like I was pushing to get people through their presentations and some people didn't get a fair shake.
