News

College students brought chaotic meetings under control and you can too! Join our free live webinar with Wayne Anthony, Director for Student Programs, Edmonds Community College.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 11 am Pacific time.

Register today!

Robert's Rules can help you wrangle a disruptive councilmember just as it did for the City of Kenmore. Join us for a free live webinar with Mayor David Baker, Ph.D., to learn more.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 11 am Pacific Time.

Register today!

Jurassic Parliament training offered on Saturday.

Register today!

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 11 am Pacific Time Al will discuss how WSTIP used Robert’s Rules of Order to address and resolve its challenging issues.

Register today!

Ann Macfarlane will present  "Running Great Meetings Using Robert's Rules of Order" to attendees at the annual governance conference of the Association of Governmental Risk Pools on October 25, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ann Macfarlane will present "Rules of Engagement for Meetings: Effective Process Leads to Quality Results" to hospital board trustees and public hospital district commissioners on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. The Washington State Hospital Association and the Association of Washington Public Hospital Districts present a "Skills-building Intensive" at the Edgewater Inn, Seattle.

The new edition of Robert's Rules of Order has just been published. Watch our site for news about this book and how to use it in your meetings.

Ann Macfarlane presents a workshop on “Robert’s Rules of Order for Council Discussion and Public Comment” to the City Council of Kenmore, Washington on Monday, October 3, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the Council Chambers.

One of the basic rules for writing motions – proposals for action – is to write them in positive form. In other words, don’t use the word “not” in setting out what you plan to do.

If your city council doesn’t like the mayor’s proposed appointee to the planning commission, write a motion that says “that Ms. X be appointed to the planning commission,” and then vote it down. Do not phrase your motion this way:  “that the council does not approve the appointment of Ms. X.”

If your student senate wants to protest proposed cuts to the university budget, write a motion that says “we deplore these cuts” or “we condemn these cuts.” Do not phrase your motion to say “we do not approve of these cuts.”

And, if you’re a sports body that doesn’t choose to expand, your motion might say “that our conference expand to 14 teams” – and the board would then defeat the motion. This is clearer than saying “that our conference not expand” and then voting in favor, or, even more ambiguous, voting against. If we vote against not expanding, what action have we taken?

Phrasing motions in the positive helps keep everyone clear about what is intended. You can learn more about this in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised 10^th edition, page 100.