Board meetings bring together the members of a board of directors which usually includes at least: a President or Chairman of the Board, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.

In a corporation, the board of directors is one of the two controlling bodies, the other being shareholders in general meeting. The amount of power exercised by the board varies with the type of company. In small private companies, the directors and the shareholders are normally the same people, and thus there is no real division of power. In large public companies, the board tends to exercise more of a supervisory role, and individual responsibility and management tends to be delegated downward to individual professional executives (such as a finance director or a marketing director) who deal with particular areas of the company’s affairs.[source Wikipedia].

The purpose of the Board meeting is to vote on decisions regarding the company. Bylaws usually plan for there to be a quorum for the Board meeting to be able to make decisions.

During Board meetings, the secretary of the board writes minutes: records of all discussion and actions taken by the board. Minutes must be filed and kept for future reference.

During a Board meeting, the first topic adressed is reading of the minutes of the previous Board meeting, which ends with request for comments and then a vote to approve the minutes.

Topics often dealt with at Board meetings include:

• resolution of business of previous meetings that was not dealt with then
• review of financial reports
• discuss new business
• vote for the President and other functions of the Board
• vote for managers, officers of the Board

Board meetings conclude with someone suggesting the meeting be closed, and another person seconding this suggestion. Unless other people have material to present, the meeting is usually considered finished at this point and the secretary can cease recording.