How can I motivate our Board to meet in person/

Michael

I've given this subject a good deal of thought as, like you, I dislike meetings not held in person. Actually I detest them as I have led and participated in hundreds of voice only conference calls since the dial-in conference bridges were deployed in our (corporate career) company sometime in the late 80s/early 90s to reduce travel expenses.

I have come to the conclusion the horse is out of the barn and only a cultural shift will bring people back to in person meetings. I have no idea as to what that shift would be.

Reasons people do not wish to look at the shining faces of others:

1. Covid levels are increasing in some (many?) areas, many people simply do not wish to expose themselves, especially certain age groups.

2. Little to no overhead involved to attend. The library could be next door or you could send a bus to pick up those who wish to attend. Many simply do not wish to be bothered but they will use Zoom if the 49rs or whomever are not playing.

3. As with working from home, one may attend in their 'jammies with unruly hair and no make-up.

4. Similar to #3, attending via Zoom does not preclude imbibing one's adult beverage of choice during the meeting.

5. One may speak up more or less anonymously.

6. One may multi-task while attending.

7. Less risk of being asked to volunteer for the Board or a committee.

8. No need to arrange for child care.

9. One may attend from any location which has internet access.

10. Ugly weather is not a concern/

There are other reasons I'm sure, these are my Top 10. My recommendation is you find some other association windmill to tilt at; I think this one will not be worth the effort.

Stop trying to control stuff you can not control. You can't make it your vision because it's NOT your vision that makes an HOA. Everyone seems to hate it when I post that I used to have meetings IN the swimming pool. Why? It's Alabama and everyone is more likely at the pool in this heat. Why make the meeting miserable looking out the clubhouse windows at the pool? Plus many of the items we had to discuss were involving pool or clubhouse projects. People could see for themselves what needed to be done.

You can't define a meeting as you want it or envision it. Just not going to happen. Instead you adapt to what the people want or need. Maybe it could be a walk around the block. Meeting at a Starbucks. A church with a meeting room. If you stop defining your vision maybe a new working vision will emerge.

Can't disagree with what others have said here. This is timely in part because I recently read a column by one of the former assistant pastors at my church (he has his own church now) and he was talking about how statistics say many churches have lost 30-50% of their attendance for the some of the reasons Bill and LetA mentioned.

I like live meetings also, but we are in a new era, whether you like it or not. Our former pastor noted churches should continue to have a live and virtual option for attendance, and I think you'll have to do the same. At the very least, make the annual meeting live - depending on what's happening with COVID, the weather or other stuff in your area, I think people would be more willing to attend that. It shouldn't be a long meeting anyway - you have a board election, recap the last year, toss in a resident forum and discuss projects for the upcoming year, and then everyone goes home.

Strongly disagree.

You have no idea of what sorts of health issues or co-morbidities the board members or their families are dealing with, and it's none of your business. They do not need to justify their decisions to keep their distance.

The pandemic is not done. We're still recording around 2000 deaths per week from covid. People don't get a do-over if they find out they've made the wrong choice. The virus doesn't care if we're being inconvenienced.

(Disclosure: a couple months ago my community had a vacancy on the board. I told them I was willing to serve but only if meetings remained virtual, take it or leave it.)

Our Property Management company has put in their contracts that all Board meetings will be by zoom. This saves a lot of drive time for the reps and for us it has proved to be beneficial to the owners who now want to attend can do so through zoom. We now have more owners listening to the meetings.

Zoom for me is not a secure platform I want to get on. It's filled with security issues online.

I have had Covid. Took me 6 months to get over. It came with blood clots, weight gain, and a bunch of weird issues doctors can't explain. I still wear a mask in public places. Been vaccinated 4 times as well. They are returning people back to work that I have to interact with. Makes me very nervous. I am going to be the biggest germophobe on the planet the next few weeks.

Masks work...

Isn't it only the female director who won't attend in person for "safety" reasons? I think that's what you wrote previously, MichaelT. And now she's resigned as secretary?

This is another topic where you refuse to hear any side of the argument except for the one you're on and the way that you want.

Regardless of your personal preference or style, it's likely that you will never be able to mandate ONLY in-person meetings; therefore, you need to find a way to simultaneously allow both in-person and virtual attendance.

Since you're Pres and CEO, and you decide when and where meetings occur and what topics will be on agenda, why don't you take initiative to set the next meeting to occur both at your house (for whoever wants to attend in-person) and virtually. See what happens and who shows up. This should also give you an idea as to the preferences of the rest of your Board.

Ya know, it’s funny - okay, not really ‘funny’, and also I’m not insinuating that anyone on this forum would do such l thing - but I admit I’ve wondered, in the midst of all of the controversy over WFH and electronic meetings, if there are people who miss working at the office and in-person meetings because they don’t provide the same opportunities for physical intimidation, bullying, or menace that were so easily accommodated in years past. I mean, this is a stupid example, but I swear I’ve worked with people who used bad breath as a weapon. And there all kinds of other means of physical intimidation that range from subtle to overt.

BillD