Full Assembly

[Guest Sue Flynn]

I need to understand/define the term "full assembly" from the below.

Is it "of those assembled"for the meeting?

The Board of Directors only?

The entire membership?

1. from http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#14

Question 14:

How can I get an item on the agenda for a meeting?

Answer:

For a proposed agenda to become the official agenda for a meeting, it must be adopted by the assembly at the outset of the meeting. At the time that an agenda is presented for adoption, it is in order for any member to move to amend the proposed agenda by adding any item which the member desires to add, or by proposing any other change.

It is wrong to assume, as many do, that the president "sets the agenda." It is common for the president to prepare a proposed agenda, but that becomes binding only if it is adopted by the full assembly, perhaps after amendments as just described. [RONR (10th ed.), p. 363, l. 8-20; see also p. 16 of RONR In Brief.]

Thank you,

sue

[Gary Novosielski]

I need to understand/define the term "full assembly" from the below.

Is it "of those assembled"for the meeting?

The Board of Directors only?

The entire membership?

1. from http://www.robertsru...com/faq.html#14

Question 14:

How can I get an item on the agenda for a meeting?

Answer:

For a proposed agenda to become the official agenda for a meeting, it must be adopted by the assembly at the outset of the meeting. At the time that an agenda is presented for adoption, it is in order for any member to move to amend the proposed agenda by adding any item which the member desires to add, or by proposing any other change.

It is wrong to assume, as many do, that the president "sets the agenda." It is common for the president to prepare a proposed agenda, but that becomes binding only if it is adopted by the full assembly, perhaps after amendments as just described. [RONR (10th ed.), p. 363, l. 8-20; see also p. 16 of RONR In Brief.]

Thank you,

sue

The assembly is the assembled members of the body which is holding the meeting. (Don't get hung up on the word "full". It's meant to emphasize that everybody gets to decide, not the chair alone.)

If the meeting is a meeting of the board, then the full assembly is the board members present, and anyone else in attendance is a "non-member".

If the meeting is a meeting of the membership, then the full assembly is the assembled membership. Whether board members are present is of no consequence, since the board is not in session (and therefore does not "exist" as such) during a membership meeting. Board members who are also members of the society have no more or less rights than any other member at membership meetings.

In either case, the vote required to adopt an agenda is a majority of those members (of the body in session) who are present and voting.

[hmtcastle]

The assembly is the body which is holding the meeting.

Well, in the FAQ cited, and perhaps elsewhere in the book (if not exclusively), "the assembly" is the assembled members (i.e. those present at the meeting). It does not refer to the entire membership, nor, I think, to "the body".

What is meant by a "full assembly" is another question. In one sense, the assembly is always "full" as all the members present are, well, present.

[Josh Martin]

Well, in the FAQ cited, and perhaps elsewhere in the book (if not exclusively), "the assembly" is the assembled members (i.e. those present at the meeting).

The term "assembly" is defined in that way in RONR, 10th ed., pg. 14, lines 21-24.

[Guest Sue Flynn]

Thank you all for your answers.

sue