The Law of Order Blog

If you’ve been tasked with taking minutes, the parliamentarian says to take heart. Here’s a four-step guide (with a bonus tip) to streamline your job. Step 1: Start with the...

So, your meeting is rolling along fine. The chairperson begins on time and the preliminaries are dealt with in short order. The first topic on the order of business arrives,...

A motion is a proposal that an organization, board, or committee take a specific action (according to Robert’s Rules of Order and other parliamentary procedure authorities). And of course, with any good term,...

Almost anyone can define the basic parliamentary procedure concept of “quorum” – the number of members needed at a meeting to take valid action. Dig a little deeper in Robert’s Rules,...

No one likes sitting in a meeting any longer than necessary. So here’s the best kept parliamentary procedure secret for shortening a meeting: bypass debate on non-controversial motions. Not all motions or topics...