FAQ: How much TIME does it take to create a Customer Advisory Board program?

In order to properly prepare for a first Customer Advisory Board, you should allow no less than 3-4 months. The following activities will need to be executed prior to launching your Board:

Kickoff: This is where items such as CAB strategy, CAB charter, meeting schedules, success measures, roles and responsibilities and expectations of internal team and CAB members are decided.

Recruitment: Recruiting the right members to your board is critical to the success of your initiative. We begin by identifying the desired balance of the board, identifying prospective members, recruitment activities/confirmation/orientation, and then the communication and engagement plans.

Meeting Planning and Execution: This is the time to develop the meeting agenda, engage in session planning, train internal team members, prep for the meeting, execute the meeting, document input and action items and survey board members to get their feedback on the meeting.

Equally important to the successful execution of your board meeting is the activity immediately following. Ensuring that your board members feel that their time was well spent and that they provided valued is critical and must be done in a timely manner.

Post-Meeting: Team debrief, summary of the meeting, evaluation of board member survey results, identification of areas for improvement, communications with board members, between meeting updates/subcommittee activity.