Survival Tips on Parliamentary Procedure

Running a meeting without parliamentary procedure practices can be chaos. 

Running a meeting with parliamentary procedure practices saves time, and causes less stress, both for the chairperson of the meeting and the members.  Here are some “survival tips” on Robert’s Rules of Order for running a “non-chaos” meeting. 

The six steps to every motion - -

1. The member stands up, is recognized, and makes the motion.  Common mistake: Members do not stand up, do not wait to be recognized, and typically start to discuss their motion before completing the next three steps.
2. Another member seconds the motion.
3. The presiding officer restates the motion to the assembly. Common mistake: Motion is restated differently from the wording of the maker.  Beware! The motion that is adopted is the one stated by the presiding officer, not the one stated by the maker of the original motion.
4. The members debate the motion. Common mistake: Debate can get out of control. Members are talking to each other across the room rather than through the presiding officer.
5. Presiding officer asks for the affirmative votes and then the negative votes.
6. The presiding officer announces the result of the voting.

That was easy, wasn’t it?  Now, here are some totally wrong things to do.  I am sure you have frequently heard these phrases applied: 

1.                   “So Moved.”  This is a common statement that means nothing. The member must state the actual motion so as to avoid confusion. The maker of the motion should state the motion as it is intended.

2.                  “I Move to Table.”  According to Robert’s Rules of Order, the terminology is “I Move to Lay on the Table.”  The motion is in order only as a temporary interruption of the agenda, so as to allow something special and out of turn.  It is not intended to kill a motion.  If you wish to kill a motion, the terminology is “I move to postpone indefinitely.”

3.                  “Unfinished business, yes; Old business, no.” Old business means that you are reconsidering matters already disposed of. Unfinished business means that you are continuing with matters that are currently not completed. The secretary should advise the chair of the matters which were not disposed of from the previous meeting.  The chair should never ask the members, “Is there any unfinished business.”  That question should only be answered by the secretary and the parliamentarian. 

Attending the BPW/USA conference is a great model for observing and participating in Robert’s Rules of Order in action.  I hope to see some of you there. 

Shirley Zeller

Parliamentarian