Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

Membership Meetings


Guest Andrea

Recommended Posts

Hi there,

Do Membership meetings need to be formal; ie with an agenda? We are expecting quorum at our upcoming general membership meeting, and I'll like to get the November 2011 meeting minutes approved, but do we need a formal agenda? There won't be set reports; more so a general discussion with 4 main topics. Perhaps the topics could be formulated as an agenda? I just want to be ensure we are following any meeting requirements under Roberts Rules. Thanks for any advice.

Andrea

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you don't want to do any business -- i.e., make actual decisions on what the organization is going to do (about any or all of your four main topics, and anything else that the meeting wants to consider doing) and vote on anything, you don't need much formality. Why bother calling the meeting to order at all? (See p. 3 -4 in your RONR - In Brief.)

Either way, most meetings don't need to have an agenda [deliberate solecism] at all, especially ones where the members think they do. They just have to follow the ordinary routine standard order of business for the meeting, which allows for consideration of whatever the assembly chooses to consider. (More references to RONR - IB on request. I'm concentrating on -IB this week because its cover reminds me of a "YIeld" sign and I'm studying for my driver's license written exam.)

And yes, if you really want an agenda, you can have somebody write your topics out, and at the meeting the assembly can vote to adopt it (with variations if the members want), and there, you'll have your agenda. (Pardon my tone, but I'm tired, and usually this agenda thing is a lot of to-do about nothing.)

Oh, and you should never leave approval of minutes to languish for more than three or four months. If there won't be another Membership meeting within that quarterly time period, then the board or a committee should be assigned to approve the minutes on behalf of the membership.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you. Our Bylaws require 2 Membership meetings a year, and we've had difficulty achieving quorum, so we're trying to make it more engaging. I think a simplified agenda will allow us to make sure we are crossing our T's and dotting our I's. Thanks for the response!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...