Speeches

[Guest Pastor Karen]

First time here but need a quick answer.  Short version:  when and how is one allowed to give a speech?

 

Long version:  I was chairing a meeting and someone started to give a speech when this was not on the agenda.  After realizing this I called the meeting back to order.  What should he have done if he wanted to give a speech?

 

I need a short, concise answer.

 

[George Mervosh]

First time here but need a quick answer.  Short version:  when and how is one allowed to give a speech?

 

Long version:  I was chairing a meeting and someone started to give a speech when this was not on the agenda.  After realizing this I called the meeting back to order.  What should he have done if he wanted to give a speech?

 

I need a short, concise answer.

 

The rules regarding debate don't require that debate itself be included on any agenda, however:

 

"Under parliamentary procedure, strictly speaking, discussion of any subject is permitted only with reference to a pending motion."  RONR (11th ed.), p. 34

 

If he just got up and started speak without a motion pending, you were correct to rule the remarks out of order.  If he wants to make a speech, he needs to make a motion, wait for a second, and for the chair to place the motion before the assembly.

[Timothy]

A person can give a speech when authorized to do so by the assembly.

 

What he should have done was to ask permission of the assembly, which might be granted by unanimous consent or by putting the his request to the assembly for a vote. (see pg. 34 and pg. 299)

[Guest Nancy N.]

First time here but need a quick answer.  Short version:  when and how is one allowed to give a speech?

 

Long version:  I was chairing a meeting and someone started to give a speech when this was not on the agenda.  After realizing this I called the meeting back to order.  What should he have done if he wanted to give a speech?

 

I need a short, concise answer.

 

I think you did get one or two, and commendable they are.  But you should know that the real answer is longer and, more importantly, complex.  It depends on what specifically was going on at the time, and the answer is complex because lots of things can have been going on at the time.  And another wrinkle, which intrinsically contributes to the complexity, is the nature of the speech in question.

 

And, meaning no disrespect, Guest Pastor Karen:  since the event, the meeting that you chaired, has already occurred, it seems to me that what you need now  is not a quick, short answer; but to know, comprehensively, if you at all might be likely to chair another meeting, how to handle it then.  Unless you're getting flack now, O that's another story....

 

P. K. ... is it?