A practical, interactive 90-minute virtual workshop for nonprofit board members and leaders.
Make Your Board Meetings Matter
Turn report-heavy meetings into focused conversations that strengthen decisions, clarify priorities, and move your mission forward.
Oct 20th, 2026 | 11:30am–1pm
Live Virtual Workshop | $79
In 90 minutes, you will:
Identify the conversation your board most needs to have
Redesign one real agenda item during the workshop
Leave with a practical change you can use at your next meeting
Bring a recent or upcoming board agenda.
No complicated system and no complete meeting overhaul required.
Your Board Is Full of Capable People. Are Your Meetings Making the Best Use of Them?
Your board members care about the mission. They bring valuable experience, perspective, and judgment.
But too often, board meetings are dominated by reports, updates, and routine business. By the time the important questions arise, time and energy are running out.
Does this sound familiar?
Reports consume most of the meeting
Strategic discussions are rushed or postponed
Board members listen more than they contribute
Conversations drift into operational details
Important topics end without a clear next step
Everyone leaves wondering whether the meeting made a difference
The problem may not be your people.
It may be the way the agenda is directing their attention.
The agenda is more than a schedule. It tells board members what deserves their attention, how they are expected to contribute, and which conversations matter most.
When you change the agenda, you can change the conversation.
And when the conversation changes, stronger leadership becomes possible.
What Could Become Possible in Your Boardroom?
Imagine a board meeting where:
Reports provide context without consuming the conversation
Board members understand exactly how they are being asked to contribute
Strategic questions receive the time they deserve
Discussion remains connected to mission, priorities, and impact
Conversations lead to clear direction or meaningful next steps
Board members leave knowing their time and perspective mattered
This workshop will show you how to begin creating that kind of meeting, one agenda item at a time.
What You Will Learn
During this interactive workshop, Mary Kay Delvo will help you:
Recognize what your current agenda is training your board to do
01
Separate information-sharing from topics that require collective leadership
02
Identify the topics that deserve the board’s attention and judgment
03
Clarify the contribution you need from board members
04
Frame questions that invite deeper discussion
05
Redesign an agenda item to create greater focus and forward movement
06
Select one realistic change to test at your next board meeting
07
This is not a workshop where you simply listen and take notes.
You’ll work directly with a real board agenda, apply what you’re learning, and leave with something you can put to use right away.
A Practical Framework for Better Board Conversations
You will learn to examine potential agenda topics through three essential leadership lenses.
Vision and Mission
Does this conversation help the board protect the organization’s purpose and consider its future?
Focus and Priorities
Does it help the board focus on what matters most and determine what receives priority?
Governance and Impact
Does this matter require the board’s judgment, oversight, accountability, or support to advance the organization’s mission and understand impact?
Through these lenses, leaders learn to distinguish between information the board needs to have and matters that require its attention, discussion, inquiry, and judgment.
You Will Redesign One Real Agenda Item
Bring a recent or upcoming board agenda or simply bring a topic your board needs to discuss.
You will leave with one redesigned agenda item and a clearer way to prepare future board conversations.
During the workshop, you will use four practical prompts:
PURPOSE:
Why does this topic belong on the board’s agenda?
CONTRIBUTION:
What do we need board members to contribute?
STRATEGIC QUESTION:
What question should guide the conversation?
MOVEMENT:
Where should the organization be at the end of the discussion?
What You Will Take Away
By the end of the workshop, you will have:
A practical method for deciding what belongs on a board agenda
A framework for creating more focused and strategic discussions
One redesigned agenda item ready to refine or use
Stronger questions to bring into your boardroom
A realistic change to test at your next meeting
Tools and prompts you can use when planning future agendas
One stronger agenda item can create a better conversation.
One better conversation can influence months of decisions, priorities, and work.
How the Workshop Works
Diagnose
Recognize the patterns that may be limiting your board’s participation and effectiveness.
Redesign
Apply a practical framework to one real agenda topic from your organization.
Commit
Choose one manageable change to test at your next board meeting.
You do not need to redesign your entire governance system to begin.
You need one meaningful place to start.
This workshop is designed for:
Nonprofit board chairs and officers
Current and emerging board members
Executive directors and CEOs
Governance and executive committee members
Staff who prepare or support board meetings
Foundation and nonprofit capacity-building partners
Who Should Attend?
Consider Attending Together
Board chairs and executive directors often find the workshop especially valuable when they participate together. It gives both leaders a shared framework and language they can use when planning the next meeting.
This Is More Than a Workshop About Meeting Efficiency
You can find plenty of advice about shorter reports, timed agendas, and better meeting facilitation.
Those techniques can help, but they do not address the deeper question:
What does your organization need from its board when its members are together?
Make Your Board Meetings Matter is grounded in the belief that board meetings should create space for the attention, judgment, and shared leadership that only the board can provide.
The goal is not merely to cover the agenda more efficiently.
The goal is to make room for the conversations that can shape the organization’s future.
About Mary Kay Delvo
Governance & Strategy Advisor
Increased member engagement:
Previously disengaged members have been reactivated.
Higher levels of participation and candor:
Meetings reflect deeper engagement, with members more willing to share perspectives, ask questions, and challenge thinking.
Because Mary Kay Delvo believes that where attention goes, strategy grows, she is committed to supporting nonprofit boards move from simply attending meetings to actively stewarding the future of their organizations.
Through INspiring SIGHT and ElevateBoards®, Mary Kay believes where attention goes, strategy grows. She supports boards to create the space to practice governance, build the habits and mindsets needed to ask better questions, exercise sound judgment, and make decisions that move their mission forward.
With more than 30 years of experience across the nonprofit, public, and association sectors, she is known for translating complex governance concepts into practical tools and meaningful conversations.
Stronger, more strategic agendas:
Agendas are more thoughtful and focused, with committee chairs actively contributing to shape discussions and elevate the level of conversation.
More intentional leadership from the Chair:
Proactive outreach and follow-up have strengthened relationships and accountability across the board.
What Nonprofit Leaders Say
Workshop Details
Make Your Board Meetings Matter
October 20th, 2026
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM CST
Live Virtual Workshop
Registration: $79
Your registration includes:
The 90-minute live workshop
Guided application exercises
Workshop resources and planning prompt
Registration closes October 19th, or earlier if the workshop reaches capacity.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
No. The workshop is valuable for board members, executive directors, CEOs, committee leaders, and staff who help prepare board meetings.
-
They do not have to, but attending together can be especially useful. Both leaders will leave with shared language and a practical framework for planning stronger meetings.
-
Not at all. Many capable and committed boards fall into meeting habits that emphasize reporting over meaningful discussion. This workshop is also for healthy boards that want to become more intentional.
-
Bring a recent or upcoming board agenda if possible. You may also bring one topic your board needs to discuss. You will use it during the application portion of the workshop.
-
No. The workshop is designed to help you start with one practical change and one important conversation.
-
[Insert confirmed recording and replay-access information here.]
-
[Insert group registration details here, if offered.]
Your Next Board Meeting Is Already Taking Shape
The reports are being prepared. The agenda is being drafted. The usual topics are beginning to find their familiar places.
This is your opportunity to make space for something more.
Change one agenda item.
Protect one consequential conversation.
Ask one better question.
Then notice what becomes possible when your board’s time and attention are focused on what matters most.