Does anyone have experience conducing Guild meetings according to Robert's? We need more organiztion and structure in our meetings and I'm trying to come up with a process because sometimes the meetings become a free-for-all and nothing gets accomplished.
Yvette: You might go to your county library and borrow a few editions of Robert's Rules. Some are more user friendly than others. There may be other guides for running club meetings. Perhaps the Dummies or the Idiots series of how to books will have something for you. The group should select ONE book as the 'official guide' to meeting plans. Then, do include in your by laws: 'meetings will be guided by ___________ edition ______,' and provide the President with copy. HTH. PAT in VA/USA
Yvette, I just picked up 'Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief' by Henry M. Robert III, William J. Evans, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch from my local library. I just took a quick look through this version and it is far more user friendly than another version I had previously. I am past president and currently on the by-law committee for our local fire auxiliary. Trust me I understand about 'free-for- all's'! I'll be happy to forward a copy of our constitution and by- laws off list if you'd like. They are pretty simple and not overly organization-specific and it may help you to get started with your process if you currently have nothing. You can reach me at blackwell _ kim @ hotmail . com (remove spaces) if you're interested.
Good Luck! Kim in NJ
Robert's works well if everybody agrees to use it and more or less knows the process. So your 1st step is to gain a consensus that something is wrong with the current chaos, then an agreement to work at a solution. then comes Education_they all need to learn the rules, or at least the basics. Google for "simplified parliamentary procedure" and try to find a one-page summary. Try to find someone who could run a workshop on parliamentary procedure, maybe with a more exciting title, e.g. "How to be an effective volunteer".
You don't want all this to feel like the Rule Police. Robert's Rules is meant to be something positive: it gives every participant a chance to speak without allowing any one person to take over.
The most important part of holding a trouble-free meeting is to make an agenda in advance, giving everyone enough time to ask for the topics they want to talk about. Then *stick to the agenda*, which should be detailed, making it clear who is responsible for what. You can divide the meeting into time slots, and when the time is up, that's it. Take a vote, or whatever is needed, and move on. If the topic is controversial, do a more formal discussion (Motion, second, a short presentation of the topic by the person sponsoring the motion,
1 or 2 minutes allowed to each person who wants to speak, all remarks addressed to the chair, no person to speak more than once, except the motion sponsor, who is allowed ONE rebuttal at the end. Then somebody should call the question, and you can all vote.)But I repeat, it >Does anyone have experience conducing Guild meetings according to
Roberta, I agree with everyone needing to agree that your organization needs some sort of structure. But equally, if not more important in my opinion, is the President or Chair needs to be the type of person willing to keep order and not let people go off on tangents or get ugly and unruly. Needs to be done with the old 'velvet fist' mindset. During my presidency of our auxiliary I always made it a point to try to make everyone feel that they had a voice and their opinion was valid, but that did not mean you could shout over everyone and run over people with a freight train! The Chair really needs to keep everyone on point during discussions and not let people get repetitive.
Kim in NJ
I have tried the Roberts Rules and found them to be helpful but we had modified some of it to suit our organization. I have found that an agenda and sticking to it is the best way to keep it under control.
I never thought I would be in the Chair position and have to run meetings, and with me being extremely shy, it was a nightmare to keep unruly participants on track and under control. I have learned along the way that when chairing a meeting, I just have to be firm and fair and make it known that when it starts to veer off course, I have to put my foot down and bring the meeting back to the agenda. Without a written agenda for all to have a copy of, it didn't work very well.
~KK in BC~
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