This is the third instalment of our Community Meetings article series. Our first article, Tapping the full potential of Community Meetings, covered the many challenges (and enormous workload) Community Managers face when planning, facilitating and concluding meetings. Our second article, How (and why) to create the ultimate community meeting experience, unpacked the importance of community meetings as critical touchpoints for Community Managers to drive community participation and progress.

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Today, we’ll be taking a more practical angle, examining real-world actions Community Managers can take to unlock the full spectrum of Community Meeting efficiencies and benefits.

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Let’s dive in.

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The two halves of the Community Meeting efficiency equation

To unlock the true potential of Community Meetings, especially Annual General Meetings, Community Managers need two things. The first is a strategic approach that empowers them to perform their role to perfection. The second is the right technology to support, streamline and simplify these efforts.

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1. Strategy

In order to guide AGM’s in a positive and productive direction, Community Managers need to position themselves as confident leaders and subject matter experts on the day. To achieve this, we recommend taking the following steps:

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Get ahead of the game

Community management’s heavy workload, non-stop emails and constant phone calls make it difficult to break out of reactive mode. That said, proactive planning – particularly around meeting compliance – is critical for a smooth and efficient experience.

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Using a Compliance Planner (or scheduling tool) is a great way to overcome this challenge, enabling managers to easily align their community’s compliance requirements with the timeous execution of critical pre- and post-meeting milestones.

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This kind of proactive approach delivers two key benefits: firstly, it avoids playing compliance catch-up, putting Community Managers on the “front foot” for every meeting. Secondly, it delivers an immediate sense of control – something impossible to achieve using reactive methods.

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Prepare to be the authority

Leading an Annual General Meeting with authority means knowing your stuff better than anyone in the room. To set yourself up for success, we suggest Community Managers brush up on the following:

• ‍Community Insights – What are your community’s KPIs and what do they reveal about current risks and opportunities? (Investigate actual vs budget financial indicators, financial trends, Reserve Fund projects and expenditures, completed/delayed projects, regular rule-breakers etc.)
• ‍General Industry Trends – How does your community’s performance compare to market trends and averages? Find some great industry reports, here.
• ‍Legal Compliance Trends – What are the basics of the STSMA, and what are the latest best practices? This is a great read on the subject.
• ‍Regulatory Trends – What are the latest regulatory trends and expert advice on the topic? Following the blogposts of the PPRA, CSOS, NAMA and other industry experts is a great way for Community Managers to stay informed and empowered to confidently facilitate discussions, guide decisions, and consult on solutions.

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Rally the troops

A successful AGM requires collaboration between the Community Manager, finance team, trustees, unit owners, and other subject matter experts at times (e.g. attorneys, auditors etc.).

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By intentionally enhancing and facilitating collaboration to improve transparency, the Community Manager can dramatically simplify key discussion points and expedite critical decision making.

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Sharpen your soft skills

Community Meetings are notorious for giving rise to behavioural curveballs, which means Community Managers need to prepare to handle whatever comes their way. Brushing up on communication skills, emotional intelligence, personality profiling and conflict resolution can be invaluable when diffusing difficult situations and getting a meeting back on track.

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Lead from the front

For smooth and efficient meetings, Community Managers need to be able to influence the meeting flow. That is best achieved by stepping into a leadership role as early as possible.

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We recommend setting the tone for Annual General Meertings by creating a Company Meeting Manifesto (general best practice guidelines) and distributing this with the meeting invites. A summary of these “ground rules” can then be reiterated at the start of the meeting before the Community Manager kicks off proceedings.

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Other effective techniques to retain control during the meeting include:

• Actively keeping discussion points on track with the agenda and moving off-topic discussions to the end of the meeting.
• Setting time-limits for each agenda item to drive meeting progress.
• Taking a zero-tolerance approach to disrespect to avoid being railroaded by disruptive personalities.

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2. Technology

The second half of the Community Meeting efficiency equation is technology. Ideally, you’re looking for tools that can simplify, streamline and save time for everyone involved.

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Features to look out for include:

• ‍Template-based agendas to achieve time-saving consistency and uniformity.
• ‍Quorum calculators to easily track and measure quorum requirements, enabling an early call on whether or not a meeting can proceed.
• ‍More convenient access to information – anytime, online access to critical elements like meeting agendas, relevant documents, voting polls etc, rather than the typical PDF AGM packs.
• ‍Full value extraction from Teams or Zoom (when used) to make the most of available capabilities while working around known shortcomings.
• ‍Automated online voting with instant results to put an end to lengthy and error-prone manual calculations and speed up critical decision-making.
• ‍Quick setup and approval of minutes to tie up loose ends.
• ‍The ability to transform action items into active jobs or projects and assign these to designated parties for delegation and/or further investigation.

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Your chosen technology will need to be user-friendly, and accommodate all stakeholders, including those unfamiliar and/or uncomfortable with technology. That may mean taking some time to deliver basic training in order to unlock the full efficacy and efficiency of your chosen solution.

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Conclusion

Community Meetings, especially Annual General Meetings are an invaluable opportunity for Community Managers to showcase their skill, professional value, and management results. However, traditional meeting management tools and techniques leave little room to tap into this potential.

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To overcome this challenge, competitive Community Managers are taking the lead by bringing cutting-edge technology like WeconnectU’s MeetingSpace to their communities.

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Empowered by these tools, they are delivering community meetings with next-level convenience, professionalism and efficiency, unlocking significant time-savings and reputation-enhancements – not to mention a serious competitive edge!

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Join the wave of change. Join WeconnectU.