The meeting is not legally held if there aren't enough board members in attendance. This article gives some suggestions for meeting the quorum of your board meetings to make decisions with the necessary legitimacy.

Quorum guarantees that, even when perfect attendance is not common at board meetings, the decisions taken accurately reflect the opinions and preferences of everyone who is involved. It prevents the adverse effects of minority rule, whereby only a few directors are able to exert a large amount of influence and take unilateral action that isn't in the best interest of the company or its customers.

Most companies establish their quorum regulations in their bylaws. The rules may differ but generally they include a certain percentage of directors that are required to be present for a quorum. Some bylaws also The Guidance on M&A Integration Process for Post Merger Effectiveness provide for exceptions that may apply to particular types of meetings or under certain conditions.

When deciding on a number of quorum members for your board, you should consider factors such as the size of your board and the difficulty of getting all members together simultaneously. It's crucial to strike a balance between both legitimacy and flexibility when setting your quorum rules, because it's unlikely that all members will be present at every meeting.

If the quorum cannot be reached at the start of a meeting, the chairperson should wait for an additional few minutes to see whether any additional members show up to make it the minimum number required. If it is evident that the quorum isn't reached, the chair must announce that a quorum is not present and that no official business can be conducted during this meeting.