I'd say it's more common for the board to meet on a different day than the meeting, say the week before. For one thing, the board should be setting the agenda for the meeting, and that should be done in advance. However, you can do that by email and we certainly have heard from plenty of groups that meet just before the general meeting. If you're going to keep this schedule, you should think about making the board meeting 90 minutes and the general meeting an hour. Best practice is to keep general meetings to one hour maximum. Have committees do the detail work and report back at the meetings rather than engaging in long debates. If meetings run crisply and appear organized, you'll get more people to attend. Regarding dinner, I think it's a nice touch that you have dinner together. Can you do business, at least informally, while you're eating? Either way, if people are going to be tied up from 6-8:30, I don't see how you can cut that out. Maybe the key is to cut the dinner portion short at some point, even if some are still eating, so you can get down to business.
- Craig
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