Advice for Building a Strong Board

This one-hour consult will help organize thinking for my Taproot Project Support request. Our organization had a NY-based office near Ground Zero and moved to Northern California that year after the city of NY bought our lease for use of the facility. When the pandemic lockdown began, our office closed, and staff were laid off, as international travel was discouraged. We've spent the last five years building a true working board, writing policies and recruiting volunteer teams. Each board member serves as a liaison for a branch of work within the org, in addition to the executive committee's main functions. The board chair serves as country secretary representing US Servas at Servas International (HQ in Switzerland). We host national, regional (the Americas), and international conferences in three-year cycles.
At the August 8 national conference in Minneapolis, we hope to launch a board development program to bridge the current practice and the informed, seasoned leadership capacity we need.

During this Session, I’d like to discuss strategies for providing a clear overview of expectations during candidate recruitment. We have a six-hour planning retreat in January; how can I structure the experience to support effective team building, realistic goal setting, and the expectation that they will welcome our Development Candidates who'll 'ride along' for part of their tenure?