How to Increase Attendance & Reach Quorum in Your Board Meetings with Pilera

As you get ready for your annual board meeting, you know that improving resident attendance to reach quorum is critical.  But reaching a quorum can be challenging, and definitely doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes effort over time to interest and engage residents. Transparent communication and giving them more ways to be involved are essential.  In this blog post, you will learn how Pilera’s community management software can help you increase your HOA board meeting attendance to reach your required quorum.  

6 Ways to Increase HOA Board Meeting Attendance & Reach Quorum with Pilera

1. Communicate with residents

To build interest among your residents it’s vital to communicate with them. That means, keeping the conversation with them that goes beyond just board meetings and elections. Keep them informed about maintenance, social events, ways you’re making the community safer and better, and responding to resident queries so you can establish trust.  That way when you’re ready for the next board meeting, you have built interest in the residents.  Pilera’s automated communication enables you to connect with residents how they want: phone, email, text, and now postal mail too.

Sending a community newsletter by email or postal mail is a great way to highlight positive things happening in the community. And, when it comes time for the next board meeting or annual election, communicate the benefits of it to your residents. Pilera’s communication platform also enables you to create professional marketing messages and newsletters with our rich text editor.

2. Schedule your board meetings in advance

It’s vital to schedule meetings in advance and notify residents about it, so they can fit it into their busy schedules. In fact, many states even require giving residents advance notice. Pilera’s built-in event calendar feature allows you to create multiple calendars for different event types.  You can then create recurring or one-time events and easily modify them if your schedule changes.  You can also send event notifications on-demand by user type – manager, board member, resident, or other occupants. For example, if you are holding emergency or committee meetings that are board only, you can choose to notify just board members. The event notification also includes a description which is a great way to include more details or important links. For example, you can include a link to join the virtual board meeting.   

3. Value your resident’s feedback

Showing residents that you take their opinions and concerns seriously is vital to generating homeowner interest in board meetings.  One easy way to do that is to create a pre-meeting and post-meeting survey.  With Pilera’s integration with Formsite, you can customize your form questions and post them in the portal or email a link to residents. Furthermore, you can get results in real-time with tables, charts, PDFs, and Excel reports.

4. Share documents with residents

Many state laws and governing documents require that residents receive a copy of the agenda and/or meeting minutes.  Through Pilera’s online document feature, you can organize files into folders and subfolders, set permissions to improve security, and email documents to residents.

5. Promote self-service within the community

Promoting self-service within the community is a great way to increase homeowner involvement.  That means residents can look up community information at their own time and convenience, without having to call or email management.  The more information you as a board member or manager can add to the portal, the more informed and gradually engaged residents will be.  Through Pilera, you can increase resident engagement by:

• Posting documents and knowledge base articles on a regular basis.  
• Keeping your event calendar updated. 
• Encouraging residents to self-manage their own data such as contact information, addresses, alternate contacts, pets, insurance, and more.  
• Providing them with a convenient, secure way to pay their dues online and review financial balances and ledgers.
• Posting surveys and access to the election ballot when it’s time to vote.  
• Allowing residents to submit work orders, support requests, and architectural change requests and inform them of the status.  

6. Conduct elections online

If your state and governing documents allow it, then consider conducting your community elections online. Online elections give your residents a convenient way to participate from the comfort of their own homes.  You can reach quorum faster and more effectively with online voting because it’s secure, convenient, and fast.  With Pilera’s integration with Formsite, you can customize the ballot, easily send residents a link when it’s time to vote, allow only one vote per unit, and get results in real-time.  Real-time, automated counting of votes saves your community time and eliminates errors.      

Increase HOA Board Meeting Attendance with Pilera

Increasing your HOA board meeting attendance begins with transparent communications and involving residents in the community.  Keeping them updated about what’s happening in the community and giving them more ways to be connected can help you to reach your quorum goals faster.  As you get ready for your annual meetings, consider sending announcements, updating the resident portal, and conducting your elections through Pilera.  To learn more about how Pilera can work for you, contact us at [email protected], book a personalized demo, or drop an email to our support team at [email protected] (if you’re a current client of ours).