The lifeline of the MSA board's productivity are its weekly meetings. This document outlines how those meetings are conducted and how participants are expected to behave.
¶ Prerequisites
The board meeting guidelines build upon MSA's general meeting bylaws. Make sure to read and understand the following first:
Meeting Bylaws How to properly conduct & behave during meetings¶ Purpose
Board meetings are a time to do the following:
- Review past action items
- Assign action items
- Share important updates
- Make final decisions
- Collect feedback on event ideas and initiatives
Board meetings are NOT a time to do the following:
- Brainstorm or come up with ideas
- Discuss low-level event logistics (food, location, etc.)
Brainstorming and low-level event logistics discussions are not time-effective conversations and do not require all board members to be present. Such conversations can easily take place on Slack.
¶ Facilitator
The President is the facilitator of board meetings. S/he is responsible for adhering to MSA's meeting bylaws. Most notably, the President is responsible for...
- Booking a location for board meetings every week
- Updating board meeting location on the MSA public calendar
- Sending out an agenda at least 24 hours in advance to the board
- Assigning a khaterah (short Islamic reminder) to a different board member every week
- Taking meeting attendance every week on a spreadsheet that is always available to all board members
- Taking discussion notes during meetings (with the help of other board members)
- Following up with individual board members regarding their assigned action items
In the case that the President is not available, the Internal Vice President will become the board meeting facilitator.
¶ Time & Location
Board meetings are predefined to take place on Mondays 8-9pm every week during the academic school year. Board meetings during the summer and winter breaks may occur on a different day of the week. On days that class is not in session, it is up to the discretion of the President to decide whether to hold a virtual meeting. Meetings are usually held in 2nd and 3rd floor Eshleman hall conference rooms.
¶ Open Board Meetings
All board meetings are open by default. This means that community members are free to attend and the meeting's time and location must be posted on the public MSA calendar. The first 10 minutes are allocated for public comment, where community members may bring up concerns or feedback to the board. If not community members attend, the public comment period will be skipped. After public comment, community members are welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting time but may not participate in any meeting discussions. If the board anticipates a private conversation to take place at the next board meeting, that meeting may be closed to the public with a notice of at least 3 days. If an unanticipated private discussion were to arise during an open board meeting, the board may ask any attending community members to step out of the room for the duration of the private topic. They must be given a time estimate.
¶ Attendance
Attendance is mandatory for all board members. Every board member is allotted three absences maximum (with or without a valid excuse) per semester before they are approached to review expectations and level of commitment. Absences from one-off meetings scheduled at a time other than the regular time do not count towards this limit. Calling into a meeting does not count as being present unless it is agreed upon beforehand that the meeting will be virtual. Arriving late to a meeting, or at least 15 minutes after the scheduled meeting time (5 minutes after Berkeley Time), counts as half an absence. The President will keep track of attendance in a spreadsheet that board members can view at anytime.
¶ Meeting Discussions
During board meetings, the board focuses in on short term logistical details while keeping an eye out for long term developments. The President follows up with members each week regarding their assigned tasks, keeping the MSA operational. Members are also asked to reflect on key accomplishments and identify room for future improvements. From time to time, the board will also revisit MSA's vision and overarching goals to assess progress and modify trajectory. The board will engage in various focused discussions and will make decisions on a number of issues during these meetings.
¶ Flow
- Begin each meeting with 30 seconds of silence, asking all participants to renew their intentions and remember the correct meeting etiquette.
- Before each meeting, assign a different participant to share a short 2 minute Islamic reminder by reciting some Quranic verses or hadith of his or her choosing and explaining their significance.
- After the Islamic reminder, grant each board member 30 seconds to update the board on their wellbeing in the past week and any commitments expected in the coming week. For the sake of time, other members should not comment or ask questions during these 30 seconds.
- After checkins, review all action items from the previous meeting. Hold members accountable to their assignments.
- Review all past events since the last meeting, reflecting on what went well and what could be improved.
- Continue to address any decisions that need to be finalized for upcoming events and discuss any other topics on the agenda. Make sure to make note of all action items throughout the meeting.
- Before ending, review all accumulated action items and ensure that each has been assigned to a member.
- End every meeting with a short duaa or by reciting Surat al Asr.
- Follow up with individuals throughout the week regarding their assigned action items.
¶ Participation
Besides physical presence, all board members are expected to actively participate in board meetings and contribute their ideas. It is the responsibility of the meeting facilitator (President) to pay attention to this and ensure that all board members are engaged in the discussion throughout.
Board members should also contribute to the agenda by adding topics they would like to be discussed under the “Requested Additions to the Agenda” section before the hour that the meeting is scheduled (excluding Berkeley Time). New agenda requests will not be considered after the deadline (8pm in this case).
¶ Comprehension Quiz
If you were instructed to read this page as part of an online training curriculum, you must submit this quiz and answer all questions correctly. In the case that you do not answer a question correctly, you may view which questions were incorrect and take the quiz again.
