Hamilton Boys' High School: How BoardPro saves hours each meeting cycle

As Director of School Administration for Hamilton Boys' High School, the role of Board of Trustees Secretary is only one of Kristin Rillstone's responsibilities. For this reason, reducing the admin and time involved with her board meeting preparation and management is a priority.

Finding an alternative to manual effort

Before the adoption of BoardPro, board meetings were a manual process that required significant time and effort to prepare, manage, and follow up. The headmaster also identified the inefficiency of Kristin spending her time on board administrative tasks rather than higher-value tasks. 

"I was handed the responsibility of managing the board meetings, despite never having been on a board or knowing what the meetings entailed,” recalls Kristin. “The whole process could take two weeks and around 20 hours overall to prepare the agenda, assemble the board pack, and draft the minutes."

Initially, Kristin didn’t realise there was software to help her manage board meetings. Her usual approach to software procurement is to compare different providers before making a decision. Yet, this time, there seemed to be little point in that exercise.

“I logged in to BoardPro’s free trial and thought—this is way too easy. I didn’t need to go out and find something else.”

To assess BoardPro's suitability, Kristin and the headmaster did a comparison by completing a board meeting cycle using the old, manual process and BoardPro in tandem, evaluating the results before making a decision. 

“The board were really happy with BoardPro. They appreciated the professionally presented agenda and board pack before the meeting, and the minutes after. They said ‘let’s go with it!”

BoardPro saves time—and budget

“BoardPro hits all the points and fits my needs perfectly," says Kristin. "It reduces the time I spend on board meeting management from 20 hours per meeting cycle to around 3-5 hours. That’s a massive time saver.”

She concedes it took a few meetings to learn a new and simplified way of working. “I went from typing up everything to realising I only need a summary because all the details are in the attached document.”

The time BoardPro saves and the attractive price point are a winning combination for effective board management. “The board is pleased with the value—what we pay for BoardPro is well worth the time it saves me. It means I can focus on the other higher-value parts of my role, which in turn saves the school money.”

Having all documents involved in board meetings—including the agenda, board pack, and minutes—professionally presented is also a feature of BoardPro. “Everyone involved appreciates how polished everything looks—it’s a nice package. What we used to do eight or nine years ago was torture to read! Now it’s so easy.”

Keeping in line with governance best practice

As a school, Kristin says they are fortunate to have a clear view of what needs to be covered throughout the year as a board. Using BoardPro makes the process even more streamlined and comprehensive. “I simply load the topics into BoardPro at the start of the year, and then make sure each board meeting addresses the right topics each term. It’s super, super easy—I feel like I don’t have to think about it anymore.”

One of Kristin’s favourite BoardPro features is the ability to easily upload large documents directly into the agenda. “Those documents automatically carry through to the minutes, which is fantastic. Previously, I had to summarise everything manually and attach it to the back of the minutes. Now, I can simply drop them in and add a quick note if needed.”

The board management software that's worth recommending

With many years of board management experience, others tasked with board management often ask Kristin how she manages her board meetings. “People know I’m a board secretary, and they’re always curious to know how I run my board meetings. I’ve probably recommended BoardPro a hundred times—with the main value being that it’s user-friendly.”

Kristin says she wouldn’t want others to go through the same challenges of managing board meetings that she did before BoardPro.

“If I find a solution that genuinely helps, I share it. I’m a big fan of utilising software to improve and streamline my work, and BoardPro is perfect for that.”

Learn how BoardPro can help your school or education organisation's board save time and effort every meeting cycle here