The annual meeting is the event when the board members and homeowners of a HOA gather to discuss the most important things that concern the community, as well as the highlights of the previous year. It represents a very important time for every homeowner, and boards need to plan ahead in order to be able to meet their goals.
Robert Dennistount, a former homeowners association president and author that focuses on this industry, wrote down the fundamentals of what board members must do in order to be able to hold a fruitful gathering.
First and foremost, you must invest time in preparations. You and your managed should start going through board materials from the past year as early as a couple of months before the event, and compile a list of the final few topics that will eventually be brought to the table and discussed in the annual meeting. You also need to send out notifications to attendees, and know how many you’ll be expecting.
Another aspect of planning, of course, is the whole process of accommodating the meeting. It should take place in the normal location that has been set for the last few years, and the task of organizing the facility for the event can be done by you or outsourced to a service provider for what is typically a minimal fee.
HOA Board Annual Meeting Approach
You must learn to treat the annual meeting as if it was an earnings call where you explain to your investors how you managed to deliver value– after all, in essence, that is what the meeting is about. That means that you must address the most relevant highlights in a formal and clear manner that will ensure the homeowners that have shown up understand exactly why they are attending. That includes the elections, and a clear explanation of how, what, and when.
A HOA can be very effective financially and management-wise, but it is also important to actually bring this to the homeowner’s attention, and leverage an opportunity to promote yourself. This requires an additional level beyond just the discussions – firm handshakes, and some mingling with the general crowd of attendees rather than isolating yourself with board members.
Once the board is through the meeting, the final set of administrative duties needs to be addressed. The manager should fill out Post Annual Checklist and send it to his association’s management firm, update records and mail the highlights of the event to all the members of the community within 10 days of the meeting.
Provide by: The Management Trust