How Can Consent Agendas Reduce Board Meeting Times?

Consent agendas provide board chairmen and meeting conveners a tool to avoid routine or non-controversial matters from chewing into meeting times.

A consent agenda groups routine agenda items into a single section in a meeting's agenda, with the intent to save time in the meeting.

This makes it quick for board members to review and approve a batch of items in a single action.

Consent Agenda Considerations 

Below are some possible 'routine' candidate items to consider grouping into a consent agenda sections. There is no doubt that you will be able to find a few more that are relevant to your organization.

• CEO and chairman reports
• Committee or working group reports
• General appointment announcements
• Previous meeting minutes

 How Consent Agendas Work

1. Preparation: Before the meeting, the board secretary or relevant personnel compile a list of routine items that don't require extensive discussion. These items are typically things like approval of previous meeting minutes, routine financial reports, committee reports, or minor policy updates.
2. Distribution: The consent agenda is then distributed to all board members along with the meeting agenda. This gives members the opportunity to review the items ahead of time.
3. Discussion (if necessary): During the meeting, the chair of the board will ask if any board member wants to pull any item from the consent agenda for discussion. If there are no objections, the entire consent agenda is passed without discussion.
4. Vote: If an item is pulled for discussion, it is typically discussed briefly, and then a vote is taken. If no items are pulled, the chair will call for a motion to approve the consent agenda as a whole. Once a motion is made and seconded, the board votes to approve the consent agenda.
5. Approval: Assuming there are no objections, the consent agenda is approved, and the meeting can move on to more substantive matters.