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.

No matter how good a job you've done creating your bylaws, sooner or later you'll need to change something. Robert's Rules encourages creating bylaws that can't be too easily amended, but amending them isn't so difficult that you can't consider and make changes within a reasonable time when necessary. Setting the conditions for amending your bylaws In amending a previously adopted bylaw, make sure that the rights of all members continue to be protected.

According to Robert's Rules, a quorum is the minimum number of voting members who must be present at a properly called meeting in order to conduct business in the name of the group. A quorum should consist of "as large as can be depended upon for being present at all meetings when the weather is not exceptionally bad.

Robert's Rules says that if you expect to do business in the name of a group, then every voting member has a right to previous notice of the meeting. It's easy to understand why: If you have a right to vote, then you have a fundamental right to attend. And you can't attend a meeting if you don't know about it, right?

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.

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.

According to Robert’s Rules, ordinary committees are regular committees that you establish either in your bylaws or as needed to consider various items of business and operational matters outside the organization’s regular meetings. The term ordinary distinguishes the two usual types of committees from the committee of the whole and the quasi-committee of the whole.