Advice for your first ZOOM annual meeting
Dear Tony, Thank you for checking in as you prepare for the first annual meeting of your homeowners’ association on Zoom. Here are a few thoughts to help it go well. Can you meet remotely? The first thing is to make sure that you CAN meet remotely. Our article, When COVID-19 cancels your meeting, describes…
Read MoreWhen First Amendment Rights and Public Meetings Clash
MRSC has graciously given permission for us to republish this helpful article. MRSC is a private nonprofit organization, formerly known as “Municipal Resources and Service Center,” serving local governments in Washington State. Read more of their articles here. Jurassic Parliament articles on this topic are listed below. Most governing bodies of cities, towns, counties, and…
Read More“America will be”
The current turmoil in our country over social justice issues isn’t the first time, of course, that people have grappled with inequality. August 4, 1789 was a landmark in the struggle to recognize all human beings as equally worthy. Representatives of all 3 “estates” were meeting in Versailles outside Paris—the clergy, the nobility, and the…
Read More“That’s a bold-faced lie”
It beats me how people can say that parliamentary procedure is boring. An article about a recent meeting of Branson Missouri aldermen is full of interest (read it here). The most gripping moment, from my perspective, is when the City Administrator says the following: “He’s not going to stand up there and lie about me.…
Read MoreView Better Meetings Advance Social Justice free webinar now
Laura Morgan, a Black Parliamentarian from Chicago’s South Shore, kicks off this webinar by sharing her story of how she became a Professional Registered Parliamentarian. Then we go on to present 4 guidelines that allow every voice to be heard and all opinions to be considered. Social justice meetings deal with important issues that generate…
Read MoreFailure
Guest post by Craig Freshley. We are big fans of Craig’s wisdom and are delighted to share this post with our readers. Visit Craig’s website for more superb tips on meetings and leadership. In principle, failure is an option. In fact, it is only through failure – the timeless evolutionary principle of trial and error…
Read MoreA common misunderstanding about defeated motions
The History City News in Missouri published an account of a commission meeting that got Robert’s Rules of Order wrong: Under Roberts Rules of Order, Commissioner Henry Dean could not offer a motion during the County Commission meeting yesterday to mandate the wearing of face masks in the county since it failed last week. So,…
Read MoreNo debate at all—legitimate, but unwise
A citizen rang me up in some concern about the way his city council had processed a big motion the night before. The land-use proposal was introduced and seconded, a member was recognized to debate, and that member immediately said, “I call the question.” Five of the seven members on the council voted in favor…
Read MoreMessage from a Black Parliamentarian
Guest post by Laura Rabb Morgan, a Black Professional Registered Parliamentarian. Thank you Laura for sharing this important message with us. Laura tells her story on video in our free webinar, “Better Meetings Advance Social Justice.” Dear Fellow Parliamentarians: As people around the world continue to come together to protest and demand an end to…
Read MoreWhat can a president do without the board? Thoughts on leadership
Several readers have written to me recently with questions about their authority as president of a nonprofit organization. It seems that Jurassic Parliament has been almost too successful at expounding the principle that during the meeting, the chair is the servant of the group, and the group is the final authority. These readers drew interesting…
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