Books and Articles by PRP

To save you time and unnecessary work, Robert’s Rules spells out exactly what needs to go into your minutes. Minutes are important because they’re the only surviving record of what was said and done at a meeting. They can be dry and boring. In fact, it’s probably a good sign if they are! Most importantly, they need to be informative and easy to navigate for whatever the reader needs to know six months from now.

According to Robert's Rules, minutes drafted ahead of time aren’t the official minutes until the members approve them. Today's technology has made its mark on meeting minutes. The secretary can now draft the minutes and easily send copies to the members for them to read before the meeting; then members can come to the meeting prepared with any corrections.

Your bylaws belong to your group, and only your group can decide what they mean. Sure, a parliamentarian can help you understand the technical meaning of a phrase or a section here and there. But when you come across something ambiguous (meaning that there's more than one way to reasonably interpret something), then the question remains to be answered by your organization by a majority vote at a meeting.

Robert's Rules are designed to facilitate the transaction of business by your group, not to hinder it. If you're going to be effective in meetings, you need to know the right — and wrong — ways to use parliamentary motions. The following list clues you in to the more frequent and obvious places where some members reveal their tenuous grasp on Robert's Rules of Order: Speaking without recognition: It's a mistake to make just about any motion without first being recognized by the chair.

The motion to Reconsider is a distinct parliamentary motion! When you use the word reconsider in a parliamentary situation, it refers only to this specific motion. All the motions in the class of motions that bring a question again before the assembly assist your group in revisiting previously considered motions.

The motion to amend is perhaps the single most-used of the subsidiary motions allowed by Robert's Rules. You use this motion when you want to change the wording of the motion under consideration. You can use it to make a good idea better or a bad idea more palatable. Amendments are really at the heart of the process of perfecting motions before a final vote, and the importance of understanding the basics of amending can't be overstated.

As a member of an organization, you have a right to vote on motions under consideration according to Robert's Rules and basic good practice. Voting is a right that comes with some responsibilities, as well. It's your duty to vote when you have an opinion about a matter being decided. By failing to vote, you allow others to make the decision, which is the same as having voted for the prevailing side.

Robert's Rules places the reports of officers, boards, and special committees in a standard order of business. Reports from the leadership team, for example, tend to include items of high importance, so Robert’s Rules places them second from the top in the standard order of business. The prepared presiding officer knows in advance which officers and committees have reports, and she doesn’t waste any time calling for reports unless she knows someone has a report to give.

The motion to Suspend the Rules is often used in conjunction with the motion to do whatever you’re trying to do that’s against your rules. Suppose you want to have a professional parliamentarian preside at one of your meetings at which a divisive issue, like whether to fire your executive director, is on the agenda.