Well over a million Americans who serve on the board of directors of a condominium, cooperative or homeowner association may be wasting untold hours because of unproductive meetings, according to the Community Associations Institute. If your board meetings last more than two hours, if discussions routinely stray from the agenda into irrelevancies, if you adjourn without making important decisions, it's time to seek help. CAI's new book, Conducting Meetings, can show you how to get back on track.

Unproductive meetings create unproductive boards. They increase frustration, destroy morale and make it harder to recruit volunteers. They also waste everyone's time.

Conducting Meetings reveals the keys to keeping board meetings productive, including tips on diffusing gadflies, avoiding gridlock, using parliamentary procedure to maintain order and keeping discussion focused on association business. You'll also find advice on finding a suitable location for meetings, preparing board information packets, proper minutes recording, taping board meetings and when to use executive sessions.

To order Conducting Meetings: A Guide to Running Productive Community Association Board Meetings (CAI members, $9.95; non-member price, $14.95), call CAI Central at 703/548-8600 or visit the Institute's web site.

The Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit association created in 1973 to educate and represent the nation's 205,000 community associations—condominium associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. CAI members include homeowners, associations and related professionals and service providers.