As you know I'm a fan and long time user of LinkedIn and recently I received an invitation to join the Next Director group on LinkedIn. Through my 1200+ LinkedIn contacts not a day goes by that I don't receive invitations to connect to individuals and groups of various sorts (if you haven't already connected with me on LinkedIn - send me an invitation!) The Next Director is one group I'm happy to have been invited to, and I have to say I've become a huge fan. 

Next Director is focused on preparation for and the practice of Directorship. Its main objective is to build a platform where company directors from around the world and with a diverse range of experience and aspirations can engage with each other, seek and contribute advice and share ideas and information to meet the objective of bettering performance – theirs and that of the companies of whose boards they are members.  

The group has over 1000 members and a very lively discussion board covering all aspects of boards and governance... as I write this there are discussion posts running on Board charter examples, Top Three Tips for Aspiring Company Directors, How to close down an NFP, structuring shareholders agreements, whether an NFP board should offer 'sitting fees' to attract high calibre directors, and much, much more.

Best of all it's all free to access!  In fact I've got more value out of the Next Director group than I did in years of membership to the AICD!

I have no affiliation with Next Director other than being a happy user - and I thought you might benefit getting on board too - It's free to join, well received and used by its members and I personally have been spending FAR too much time pondering the Q&A on the discussion board.  So if you're interested in building a board portfolio, you might like to join this group - click here to access it or send me a LinkedIn message and I'll send you an invitation to join.