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Posts Tagged ‘secretary’

Examples of action, summary, and detailed minutes in Robert’s Rules

By Ann Macfarlane | June 21, 2022

Our faithful readers know that Jurassic Parliament advocates for action or summary minutes, not detailed minutes. This article, Meeting minutes record what is DONE, not what is SAID, explains our…

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Meeting minutes record what is DONE, not what is SAID

By Ann Macfarlane | September 23, 2020

The biggest problem we encounter in meeting minutes is too much verbiage. Striving to do justice to their job, secretaries sometimes include the arguments that are made, what people say…

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When should the clerk speak up?

By Ann Macfarlane | September 10, 2020 | 2

The clerk of a local government meeting or the secretary on a nonprofit board has a high calling. Under Robert’s Rules, two persons must be present for a valid meeting:…

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3 lists every nonprofit secretary should keep

By Ann Macfarlane | May 8, 2020

  There are 3 lists that every secretary of a nonprofit board should maintain in the organization’s official record book: A running list of the dates of board meetings. A…

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Use Minutes Approval Committee instead of waiting months

By Ann Macfarlane | January 28, 2020

  Have you ever attended an annual meeting of an organization and been asked to vote to approve the minutes from the previous year’s annual meeting? How well did you…

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Sample minutes from Robert’s Rules of Order

By Ann Macfarlane | January 21, 2020 | 4

Here are the sample minutes provided in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition, in section 48:8.   The regular monthly meeting of the L.M. Society was held on Thursday,…

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Don’t put these 6 items in the minutes!

By Ann Macfarlane | August 21, 2019

There are half a dozen things that DO NOT BELONG in your minutes. Here they are. 1.  Things that didn’t happen don’t belong in the minutes This may sound unlikely,…

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Action Items List will improve board followup

By Ann Macfarlane | October 18, 2018
word followup with marker

At our nonprofit workshop last Saturday, someone asked, “How can you get board members to do what is agreed upon by the group at large?”

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Guidelines for Meeting Minutes in Local Government

By Ann Macfarlane | May 2, 2018

Meeting minutes recording the actions taken by your council or board are a fundamental part of the meeting process. These are our guidelines for meeting minutes in local government. They…

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Don’t try to count a voice vote

By Ann Macfarlane | April 3, 2018

Sometimes after a voice vote that is not unanimous, we see an odd scenario. The chair or the clerk starts trying to figure out who voted for and who voted against.…

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