Addressing those with titles

[Tomm]

Question from a board member that consist of 9 members: 

Is there anything in Robert's Rules that says our Board meetings have to be run using our titles; President "last name", Vice President "last Name", Director "last name"???  Or can we be more informal using our first names?  

I suppose this is more of a custom than a parliamentary requirement?

[Gary Novosielski]

RONR recommends against using names at all where they can be avoided.  Simply saying "the vice president"  or "the chair" or "the Treasurer" or " the mover" or "the member who just spoke".

[Josh Martin]

On 3/5/2023 at 12:13 PM, Tomm said:

Question from a board member that consist of 9 members: 

Is there anything in Robert's Rules that says our Board meetings have to be run using our titles; President "last name", Vice President "last Name", Director "last name"???  Or can we be more informal using our first names?  

I suppose this is more of a custom than a parliamentary requirement?

There is indeed such a rule in RONR, and the rule actually goes further than what you suggest. RONR provides that the use of members' names should be avoided entirely if at all possible, and members are instead described by their official titles or in some other manner. To the extent it is necessary to refer to a member by name, their last name and title (if any) is used. The rule is relaxed in some instances, such as when recognizing a member to speak or when appointing members to a committee. See RONR (12th ed.) 43:23, 3:13, 3:31.

The text does not provide any exception to this rule for committees and small boards. Notwithstanding this, my personal experience is that this rule is frequently relaxed in committees and small boards, and sometimes in other small assemblies. I don't see any particular problem with this so long as the assembly's members are agreeable to it. I would note that the reason for customs like this is to help keep debate more impartial and less personal.

Edited March 5, 2023 at 07:18 PM by Josh Martin