Signs for meetings?

[Crookshanksmum]

Hi!  I am a very new parliamentarian for a group at work.  We have a challenging group because we have three languages, so we often have to wait for interpretation to complete before moving on.  We also have a couple of members that like to talk and get off-topic.  So, I heard that some organizations will use pre-made signs that you can flash up that says "out of order" or something to that effect.  Has anyone done this?  How does it work?  What signs would you suggest be made?

[Richard Brown]

Are you referring to cards which you, as parliamentarian can discreetly show to the presiding officer, or are you talking about large signs to hold up for the speaker to see?   The former is quite common, but I don't think that the latter is.   I have never seen it used in practice.

Cards that the parliamentarian can show to the presiding officer are available from the National Association of Parliamentarians or you can make your own.  And just this second I realized that someone at the recent NAP convention has a template that she offered to email to me, but now I've forgotten who it was!

[Gary c Tesser]

17 hours ago, Richard Brown said:

now I've forgotten who it was!

Read Heinlein's "Columbus Was a Dope".

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

Regardless of what language they speak and understand, the members should have the decorum to stop when the chair stands to inform them that they have strayed too far. That is the proper and dignified way to handle the situation. Flashing an "OUT OF ORDER!" card seems quite rude to me.

[Shmuel Gerber]

On 11/8/2017 at 9:19 PM, Crookshanksmum said:

Hi!  I am a very new parliamentarian for a group at work.  We have a challenging group because we have three languages, so we often have to wait for interpretation to complete before moving on.  We also have a couple of members that like to talk and get off-topic.  So, I heard that some organizations will use pre-made signs that you can flash up that says "out of order" or something to that effect.  Has anyone done this?  How does it work?  What signs would you suggest be made?

 

9 hours ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

Regardless of what language they speak and understand, the members should have the decorum to stop when the chair stands to inform them that they have strayed too far. That is the proper and dignified way to handle the situation. Flashing an "OUT OF ORDER!" card seems quite rude to me.

I don't understand how the chair will always know when a member is going off-topic until the interpretation is done, unless the chair knows all the languages, and even in that case, the other members need to know what was said in case they want to appeal the chair's decision.

It is not uncommon, however, for a timekeeper to hold up a sign when a member's time (or all the members' time) for debate has expired.

[Crookshanksmum]

One of the issues that complicates this is that the person who tends to go off-topic is our boss, and the chair is a new hire.  Understandably, we are nervous about interrupting our boss, so we are looking for solutions to make this easier and respectful for all.  We have not been establishing any time limits for anything other than public comments, so perhaps we can look into setting time limits for each item on the agenda.  Thanks for your help!