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Composing the Agenda

Now that you have set up your meeting details, it is time to start adding Agenda Sections to your Meeting.  We begin this process by navigating to the Agenda tab or by selecting the Edit Agenda button. 

Both options will take you to the Agenda page where you can begin editing. 

The style for your agenda is determined by your Organization Feature Settings. Follow this link learn how to manage your Agenda Style in Feature Settings.

Adding Sections

To create a new meeting section, Click the + Section button or Add New Section

Begin typing the name of this section into the textbox.

You can then simply hit the Enter key to automatically create another new section for your meeting, or you can click the "+ Section" button again.

Adding Subsections

You can easily add subsections to your meeting by clicking the second icon (Add Subsection) and following the same steps as adding a Main section.

Indenting an Agenda Section

You can indent an agenda section in order to create subsections.  Click the section and then click the Indent section icon.

Unindenting an Agenda Section

If you would like to remove an indentation, click on your indented agenda section and then click the Unindent Section icon.

Moving Agenda Sections

With the Up/Down buttons, you can move a section (and all of its sub-sections) up or down in the Meeting Agenda. Simply select the section you wish to move first, then select either Up or Down to move. 

Deleting an Agenda Section

You are able to delete an agenda section by selecting the particular section, then click the red Delete icon at the top of the Compose Agenda page.

You'll be prompted if you're sure you want to delete the selected Agenda Section to avoid accidentally deleting a section.

IMPORTANT: When creating your agenda manually, or when using the Agenda Import feature described below, it is important to know two details: First, you can only indent sections 4 levels deep. OnBoard will not allow you to indent anything past the 4th nested level. Second, Agenda Section Titles are limited to 258 characters in length. Anything past that character limit will be truncated.  

Save Changes

When done editing, save changes to the agenda by selecting the Save Changes button.

This will hide the section management buttons. Select Edit Agenda again to resume editing. 

IMPORTANT: Attempting to navigate away from the Agenda tab without saving changes will present a warning that there are unsaved changes. Select Continue Editing to continue editing or Don't Save to leave without saving. 

Unnumbered Agenda Sections

It may be necessary to include unnumbered sections in the agenda. To remove the numbering from an agenda section, click on the number and select Remove Section Numbering. 

To add the section numbering back, select the + button and select Enable Section Numbering .

Importing an Agenda

OnBoard’s Agenda Import feature can be used to automatically create the agenda outline for you. If you’ve already got a Microsoft Word Document with your meeting’s agenda outline configured, this file can be imported into the meeting, and OnBoard will automatically generate the agenda outline based on the formatting of the document you’ve chosen to upload.

IMPORTANT: You can only import the outline of your agenda. The outline should include the agenda section names in a bulleted or outline format. Including any additional information (descriptions, presenters, guests, times, etc.) can cause the upload to fail or to be mis-formatted. 

Using the Import Agenda Feature

To import your agenda outline, start by clicking the Edit Agenda button located in the Compose Agenda area of the meeting. Next, click Import Agenda in the upper right corner of the screen.

It is recommended to download the Agenda Document Template by clicking "agenda document template" on the Import Agenda Document prompt. 

Use this template to format your agenda outline, or as a reference to correctly format the existing outline of your agenda. 

Once you have your agenda outline prepared, click to upload the Agenda Word Document from your computer, or drag the file into the "Drop file here" area. 

The document you choose will need to be formatted in a very specific way, which is described below. Alternatively, you can download the provided template from the link shown in this screenshot. 

Formatting the File for Import

There are two very important aspects about the file that must be configured correctly for the agenda outline to import correctly:

• The file that is chosen for import must be a Microsoft Word document ending in either .DOC or .DOCX.
• This Word document must be in a bulleted, numbered, or outline format. 

In this example the Numbering feature in the toolbar is enabled, meaning the Agenda has been created with the correct format. This example will import into OnBoard and each separate line will be its own section.

In this next example notice that neither the Numbering or Bulleted Lists are enabled. When this feature is turned off, Word does not automatically format the list for OnBoard to recognize, resulting in no sections being imported.

A simple solution to Example 2 is to use your cursor and highlight everything that needs to be created as a section, then turn on the Numbering feature.

There might be a little cleanup to do afterward, but this Agenda can now be imported without any hiccups!

Importing your Agenda file

Once your file is ready, you can click "Add Document" to browse your computer for a file to upload, or you can drag a file into the "Drop file here" space.

If your Agenda file uploads and has no issues with the formatting you should see a screen similar to this which will allow you to go ahead and Add the Agenda information from your imported file.

Once successfully imported you should be returned to the Compose Agenda screen and should see a quick message at the bottom of the screen that the Agenda Imported.

Editing an Agenda Section’s Details

After you’ve created the meeting's Agenda, it's time to start filling out the Section's Details. From either the Compose Agenda screen or the Meeting Details page you can simply click Edit Details next to the section you wish to alter. 

Editing the Details of an Agenda item will bring up a fly-out menu where you can begin changing some of the details about the section, such as uploading documents, listing presenters, linking action items like Approvals, and limiting access to the agenda section if needed.

Section Duration

The Duration will allow you to keep track of the time for the meeting. It will calculate the Start time of the section based on the Meeting's Start time and the Duration times of any Agenda Section before it.

This will allow the Agenda Pacer Line to help keep track of time while your meeting is going on. To learn more about the Agenda Pacer Line check out this article: Agenda Time Management: The Agenda Pacer Line.

Section Description

You can add additional details to an Agenda Section, as well as links by adding a Section Description.

The Section Description now supports Rich Text Editing, allowing you the option to make text Bold, Italicized, and/or Underline for emphasis or organization.

You can also add Hyperlinks with the Link button.

A Link creation prompt will come up and will require a Link Name which will function as the display name for the Link that your users will see. You'll also need to have a Link Destination which you can manually enter or paste a URL into the box, or click the folder button to the right side to select an existing OnBoard Resource Folder.

Adding Links to an Agenda Section allows your users to click the URL from the Agenda, giving easy access to any relevant sites outside of OnBoard or OnBoard items such as Action items, Resource files, other Meetings, etc.

The Section Description can have Bulleted or Numbered lists added as well. Clicking either Bulleted List or Numbered List button will begin a new list.

You can also select text and click one of the List buttons to convert your Description text section into a list.

Attaching Documents to Meeting Sections

Uploading documents to each individual section in the Agenda is what will build your Board Book or Meeting Packet. To begin, first click the Add Document button in the agenda section’s detail screen, or drag and drop files directly into the "Drop files here" box.

If you clicked "Add Document" to choose a file manually, you'll be able to upload a document directly from your computer or bring in a file from your Organization's Resource Library in OnBoard.

Choosing OnBoard Resources will allow you to access any documents in the Organization you have permission to view and add the files to your Meeting's Board Book. Once you select a file and click "Select Resources" the document will be added.

If browsing your computer to upload documents, you'll just select the file(s) from your operating system's file explorer and add the documents.

You can repeat this multiple times to add additional documents to this section.

NOTE: The recommended file size for uploads is 500MB or less. Click here for more information on Compressing and Reducing the File Sizes for PowerPoint presentations. 

Once uploaded, the document can easily be renamed, downloaded (if settings have been enabled), moved into the Supplementary Document category, or removed by clicking the three-dot icon to the right.

With multiple documents attached to this section, they can be reordered by clicking and dragging the handle to the left of the document's name. This drag handle can also be used to move the document between categories (Book Document or Supplementary Document).

Book Document vs Supplementary Document

Any document listed above the section marked Supplementary Document will be compiled together with the Agenda sections' documents to build the contents of the Board Book. These documents are visible in one continuous scrolling list when you’ve opened to Book for viewing.

To add a Supplementary Document you just upload documents to the section, then use the 3-lined drag handle to the right of the document name and drag the file into the Supplementary Document area.

You can also use the 3-dotted button to the right side of the document to select "Make Supplementary Document" to change the document to a Supplementary Document.

Any document that has been placed below the Supplementary Documents section will not be compiled into the full board book. This is further indicated by an icon with a book with a line crossing it out to the right of the document in question.

Though these documents will not be included in the official Book documentation, they may still be opened individually and separate from the board book. This can be accomplished by either clicking the document from the Meeting Details screen, or from the Agenda while inside the board book. A separate window will appear, showing this single document only.

Permission Section Members

Permissions per Agenda Section (and any sub-sections of the section) can be edited by clicking "Permission Section Members." 

Users can be excluded here so they have no access to the section or sub-sections. They can also be granted upgraded permissions on the section. For example a user may only need to be a Reader on most of the Meeting, but may need to be an Admin or Contributor to a specific Agenda Section to add their information and documents for an upcoming meeting. 

Important Note: Meeting Administrators will not be able to have their permissions on individual Agenda Sections changed since they control all aspects of the meeting. 

Linking Action Items to Agenda Sections

OnBoard allows you to link an Action, such as an Approval, Survey, or eSignature, to any Agenda Section in your meeting. This is useful when such an action needs to be executed during the meeting as a part of the agenda. 

Users who have permission to the Action item will see this option in the Agenda to have easy access to complete the action.

For more information, see our full article on Linking an Action to a Meeting.

Presenters and Guests

Agenda Sections can have Presenters and Guests added to be sure users are aware of special guests or who may be presenting a section.

Clicking into the Presenter or Guest Name box and typing a name will bring up any existing users in your Organization in OnBoard as an option to select.

If the Guest or Presenter is not part of your Organization and you'd like to list their name anyway, you can type the name and hit Enter or the Add button to add them as a Guest or Presenter.

Downloading the Meeting Agenda

After you have created your meeting agenda, Administrators can download a single sheet agenda to be distributed at your meeting.  Click on the Downloads button on the Meeting Details page.

This will open a menu with the available downloads (if allowed by your Organization). Select Agenda to download your copy, which will be available to open, print, or save for later.

OnBoard Group Trainings:

If you are interested, we do offer further education. You can find the calendar and register for OnBoard Admin group training sessions by clicking here.