Chapter Chats: Robert’s Rules of Order
Hello Chapters!
My name is Stephanie Wong and I am the Chapter and Membership Associate. Starting this month, OCA will be including tips and useful information for chapters with our monthly newsletters which will be titled Chapter Chats!
In our first topic for our first Chapter Chats we will be focused on Robert’s Rules of Order.
Robert’s Rules of Order is the most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure in the United States. It is a tool for governing meetings for a range of organizations. It is a process that is used for running meetings effectively and efficiently and is often used when making decisions.
It is adopted for the conduct of OCA meetings and business, except as otherwise specified in the OCA Constitution and Bylaws. This process is not something that each chapter has to use when conducting their board meetings, however, it is useful to know how it works and what to expect when coming to National Board Meetings.
There are several rules and aspects to Robert’s Rules of Order but one of the most important things to know is how to make amendments, something that OCA often uses when we are voting on Resolutions.
Let’s Amend this Sample Motion: “I move that we buy a new sign.”
- You can Move to Amend by Inserting words or paragraphs.
I move to Amend by Inserting the phrase “not to exceed $50 dollars” at the end of the motion. - You can Move to Amend by Striking out words or paragraphs.
I move to Amend by striking out the word “new”. - You can Move to Amend by Striking out and Inserting words or paragraphs. One can even Amend by Substituting (Striking out and Inserting) entire paragraphs or the complete motion.
I move to Amend by Striking out the word “sign” and Inserting the word “billboard”.
For more information on Robert’s Rules of Order check out this link! http://www.roberts-rules.com/index.html.
If you have any requests for a topic that you would like to be included in our next newsletter, email me at swong@ocanational.org.
Originally published at https://www.ocanational.org in January 2019.
