Virtual board meetings

How many of you are still having virtual board meetings? Zoom seems to work but I prefer in person. We have been doing hybrid, which are extra workload. More importantly, I can't see people on camera because the projector shows my powerpoint rather than people's cameras, so I don't get the non-verbal reactions to discussions. I personally don't like hybrid meetings.

(I'm fine with hybrid format for homeowners to observe - I don't need to see homeowners non verbal reactions).

I'm thinking that it might be time to insist that we get together in person again, whether at a public location like the library or fire station or a handy location like my house. Before bringing it up to the Board, I was just curious what others are doing today.

(Yes, I know I"ve asked before....I'm trying to see if the trends of returning to in person are holding true with board meetings, and today is a different month than last time I asked.)

To clarify, the powerpoint is not (generally) full of words. It's primarily pictures of the issue at hand. Most of the things we discuss involve park maintenance of one type or another, and I go around and take pictures of the concerns and put them in a presentation. Then when we discuss whether the bench along Maple Street should be replaced, there is a picture of the bench in question and then we all can look at it and make an informed decision.

Otherwise, 2/3 of the board have never looked at the bench in question and don't know why we need to replace it, and we don't actually vote to maintain our assets. The only way I get to "yes" votes is to show the other board members the issue in pictures, and powerpoint is the tool I use to collect the pictures of the neighborhood.

We do only zoom meetings. We have more owners listening to the meetings than ever at in person meetings.

meet quarterly, sometimes on zoom and sometimes in person. i prefer zoom, no one shows up and it cand be recorded so people who did not come can watch latter, though I doubt that happens.

Mark brings up some great points. I think people make time for the things they really care about, and for some (many?), it doesn't take much effort to plop down in front of your computer or tablet and listen to a board meeting. You can make all the comments you want without anyone hearing (provided you're on mute), instead of showing up and disrupting the meeting with silliness (and then everyone can watch you get kicked out). And people are far bolder in talking smack online - if they had to face people, they might find saying the wrong thing to the wrong person won't end well.

I know lots of employers are pushing to a return to full-time office work for a variety of reasons, ranging from better customer service (because you can't hide from clients as easily) to supervisors who might not trust the employees to actually work. I was listening to the radio recently and heard a story about an employee (in the Netherlands, I think) who sued his former employer because he got ganned for refusing to turn on his camera during Zoom meetings. The employee said he "didn't feel comfortable being observed" (yes, he actually said this, although he was hired as a remote employee). Wound up with a $7500 judgement or something like that

Again, I say productivity is the key, but there should be room for some compromise. That should be as simple as saving Zoom meetings for bad weather (we are in fall, after all) and since Michael's community doesn't have a clubhouse to hold meetings anyway, this may actually be the best solution for them. As long as the community has the option to attend either way, that should work - especially if the president does his/her job and preside to keep the meeting moving. Even Zoom allows for phone participation only, which would be great for people who don't have internet access.

My board doesn't want virtual meetings. We had one at the beginning of the pandemic and they didn't like it, so we have met in person since then. With 820 units we are lucky to get 10 people attend board meetings. I would like to have virtual meetings, but the rest of the board isn't tech savvy and don't use zoom at all because they are all retired, so they don't see the value.

I feel we would get more participation if we used zoom because we have about 30% snowbirds.

Zoom. Snowbirds, people still at work, traveling for work, immune compromised can all attend.