Introduction
People, members, presenters and attendees are distinct but related concepts in boardcycle. Read on for a short explanation of the differences and relationships between them.
People
People are managed at the company level. You can think of a person in boardcycle as a profile of an individual who is involved in your board and committee meeting processes, whether regularly or irregularly. Once you've created them in a company, you can then 'use' them in other places.
The key places you would use a person you have created are:
to add them as a member of a forum
to add them as an attendee at a meeting
to add them as a presenter or attendee to a meeting item.
Worth knowing: people vs users
Adding a person to your boardcycle account does not add that person as a user or give them any access to boardcycle - it simply creates a profile for that person that users can then use in your boardcycle account.
Members
Members are managed at the forum level. People created at the company level are added to a forum as members.
Members are the core group of people that make up the forum and can be assigned 1 of 5 forum roles:
Chair | The chair is a voting member of the forum who leads the forum.
Usually, there is only 1 chair - but it is possible to have multiple chairs in a forum. | Example Most boards of directors have one of their members elected or designated as the chair / chairman / chairwoman / chairperson or similar. |
Deputy Chair | The deputy chair is a voting member of the forum who leads the forum in the absence of the chair.
Usually, there is only 1 deputy chair - but it is possible to have multiple deputy chairs in a forum. | Not all boards have a deputy chair. If your board does not have a deputy chair, this role can be used to designate the 2nd most senior person in the forum after the chair. |
Member | A member is a voting member of the forum who is not a chair or deputy chair. | Example On a board of directors, each director other than the chair(s) or deputy chair(s) is a member. |
Standing Attendee | A standing attendee is a person who is not a voting member of the forum, but who is usually invited by the forum members to attend meetings. | Example Often, Chief Financial Officers and General Counsels are standing attendees. |
Secretary | A person who is not a voting member of the forum but who performs the secretariat functions for the forum (e.g. minute taking). | Example Often, the Company Secretary will be the secretary of a forum. |
Presenters and Attendees
Presenters and Attendees are managed at the meeting level. The distinction between a Presenter and an Attendee is explained below:
Presenter | The person who is responsible for presenting the meeting item to the board or committee during the meeting. | Example Usually the Chief Financial Officer would be the presenter of an organisation's annual financial statements. |
Attendee | Other people who are attending the meeting item, but who are not expected to be presenting it. | Example One of the CFO's team members, such as a Financial Controller, may also attend a meeting for the presentation of the annual financial statements - but may not be involved in their presentation. |
Worth knowing: Members are Attendees by default
boardcycle will assume that all Members of a forum will attend all meetings of that forum by default - so will assign each Member as an Attendee of each meeting item when it is added to a meeting. Members can then be removed from individual meeting items where required.