VIDEO: Question of Privilege

VIDEO: Call the Previous Question

VIDEO: Recess

VIDEO: Adjourn

VIDEO: Fix Time To Which To Adjourn To

VIDEO: Amendment

VIDEO: Limit or Extend the Limits of Debate

VIDEO: Call for the Orders of the Day

VIDEO: Postpone Definitely

VIDEO: Refer to Committee

Another Awesome Educational Event!

Lion Ambassadors and Friends Open Parliamentary Procedure Event

The whole group!

A group of students in the Parli Pro class hosted a workshop for the new Lion Ambassadors incoming executive board and some of their friends last week! They were able to reach eight college students for 45 minutes in order to explain parliamentary procedure to students who, like the UPUA representatives, also have to have a firm grasp on parliamentary procedure in order to succeed at their general body meetings.

The goal of the session was to teach the Lion Ambassadors and friends various facets of parliamentary procedure. The group started off with the history and background of parliamentary procedure in order for the participants to understand where it all came from. The facilitators then headed into the Lion Ambassadors’ governing documents and then focused on four learning objectives that would be most beneficial for the Lion Ambassadors: the main motion, amendments, debate, and limit or extending the limits of debate. 

In action!

Evan considers the event a great success because the facilitators received good feedback from the attendees, the group of students were diverse in their understanding of parliamentary procedure, and because the session was a good length of time. Similarly to the previous group, Evan thought it would be best to show a video of an FFA or similar parliamentary procedure competition. As he said, “As much as you explain it, it’s difficult to understand without understanding the concept because most groups don’t use parli pro to a high degree.” 

As advice to future AEE 297A students, Evan said, “If you have knowledge of the groups that are present and how their meetings are run, relate what you’re saying back to a particular example from their meetings.” He added that it was helpful to put things in the Lion Ambassador context once the team finished explaining a facet of parliamentary procedure.

Session 14 - Parliamentary Resources, Parliamentarians, and Events - April 23

Responses to your ticket outs from Session 14!

What are you curious about?

• How to write a Parliamentary Opinion with proper layout and presentation
• Final format?
• There will be two sections: 5 research questions (open book) and 45 multiple choice (closed book) questions.
• Question banks for the final?
• The question banks handed out before the midterm and today (which will be online soon!) are a great resource to study from BUT, unlike the midterm, the questions will NOT necessarily be verbatim from the question banks.
• Congressional Parliamentarians
• Congress uses a different parliamentary authority that was developed by Thomas Jefferson and is based off the historic procedure in use by the British Parliament.
• You can learn learn about the position of the Parliamentarian of the House here.
• More opportunities for Parliamentarians in college
• I'm sure there are organizations that would love a Parliamentarian - for instance the UPUA as discussed today. Taking a gander through clubs.psu.edu might yield some helpful results.
• Potentially getting Lorenzo to come to Penn State.
• Talking to Lorenzo more often throughout the semester

What did you learn?

• Competition opportunities
• How to apply Robert's in everyday life after this class
• Parliamentarians make more money than I thought in a short amount of time
• UPUA is looking for a Parliamentarian for this upcoming year
• FFA Parli Pro is intense!
• Employment opportunities as a Parliamentarian, up to making it a full-time profession
• Chairing can be difficult but is a lot of fun!
• About the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP), the Society for Agricultural Education Parliamentarians (SAEP), and the American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP) and how to register
• National parliamentary procedure from Lorenzo
• Lorenzo has a biology degree, proving that you can be a successful Parliamentarian no matter what your background is
• Working in our pods was more successful
• Final
• Parliamentary opinion

What do you want to learn more about?

• How to make organizations listen to Parli Pro so that business can be conducted more efficiently and effectively
• Teaching
• Job opportunities in other cities that I can do with accreditation 
• Check with your institution that grants you your accreditation
• Youth competitions
• Organizations like the FBLA, FFA, FCCLA, HOSA, BPA, TSA, and SkillsUSA (dark green handout) are a great place to start
• Paying dues, the accreditation, and the value of these
• Personally, I think it's worth it - there are so many opportunities for working with kids and teenagers, teaching, earning money both on the side and full time, etc. Most of the places I have applied to for jobs have mentioned that they were very interested in my accreditation. 
• Since the final next week, which doubles as the accreditation exam, is free thanks to Dr. Foster, definitely absolutely at least attempt the accreditation! You have nothing to lose and, of course, you have to take the final! ;)

Good luck on the final!

Check Out this Awesome Educational Event!

UPUA Representative Transition Weekend!

A group of the Parli Pro class presented an education workshop for members UPUA, Penn State's student government. The event reached approximately 40 members of the group for 45 minutes during the UPUA Representative Transition Weekend.

Action shot!

Since it was tailored to UPUA members who may or may not have had any background with parliamentary procedure, the workshop focused on teaching basic motions and practices. Demonstrations of motions were also used to help show the representatives how to use what they were learning. Finally, the group discussed situations that may arise and the best parliamentary practices to deal with those situations. 

Most of the participants were new representatives who may not have had much experience with parliamentary procedure. Kevin says that the group seemed engaged and excited to learn. Since they use parliamentary procedure every week, he also thinks they made a big impact on the group. One thing to change would be to ask for more time in order to do a mock meeting. Seeing everything live would help the representatives retain the information better. 

As advice for future classes, Kevin says, "Definitely ask the assembly for more time to present, and come prepared with common examples the assembly often finds itself in. The current UPUA representative in the class can help with this. For instance, it's rare that a UPUA representative would ever need to lay something on the table, but how to handle amendments and voting requirements is something used in virtually every meeting. Focus on the things the assembly can use right now; the rest can come later."

UPUA Representative and Presenters

Session 13 - Committees - April

Responses to your ticket outs from Session 13!

What are you curious about?

• Our guest speaker
• What we will hear through our Skype presentation
• Best method of committee selection
• It depends on the purpose of the committee. It might be better for the chair to appoint sometimes, and for the election to happen via ballot other times. Each method has benefits to it.
• If the Chair appoints the Chair of the committee, they can appoint the members, right?
• The chair of the assembly can appoint members with confirmation from the assembly.
• Difference between member, delegate, representative, or senator
• The formation/design of committee reports
• Section 51 (beginning on pg. 503) details what should go into a committee/board report and how it would be presented. 
• How to start a committee of the whole
• This is treated as a motion to commit/refer pp. 531-532
• Someone can move this by saying, "I move that we go into a committee of the whole."
• What happens when a committee comes to a meeting unprepared or they did not meet their goals before the meeting?
• The assembly can discipline them, even by discharging the committee if necessary. It would be up to the assembly to take what they accomplished, their time frame, etc. into account. 
• Is the Chair of a committee temporary only if listed as the first name, or are they temporary even if the president names them specifically as chair?
• If the Chair names someone as committee chair (ex. by stating his/her name first), the committee cannot change their chair. RONR p. 175 l. 25-28
• If the committee needs to elect its own chair because someone was not appointed as such, the first named member calls the meeting to order, then the committee can elect a chair. p. 176 l. 7-18

What did you learn?

• Committee meetings are very important and should have special meetings.
• You can't limit debate or call the previous question in committees.
• How committee reports not on the agenda are addressed
• Different types of committees
• Ordinary: Standing, Special; Committee of the Whole: Committee of the Whole, Quasi Committee of the Whole, Informal Consideration
• The Governor of Pennsylvania is an ex-officio member of the PSU Board of Trustees.
• Five methods of committee appointment
• Election by ballot, Nominations from the floor with viva voce election, Nominations by the chair, Appointment by the chair, Adoption of a motion naming members
• RONR pp. 492-497
• Committees and ex-officio members
• Standing and special committees are considered ordinary committees. 
• The capabilities of the executive board
• Amending by-laws and previous notice
• Forming committees
• The differences between committees, boards, and executive boards
• Duties of a committee chair

What do you want to learn more about?

• Parli pro!
• How to correct the procedures of an organization that is operating incorrectly according to Robert's if it is so well entrenched
• Talk to the members about what is going on. They may not realize that they are not operating correctly, or maybe understand why following correct parliamentary procedure can be beneficial. Explain why its helpful and a basic outline of what would need to change.
• How to organize your first meeting
• The assembly would first be operating as a mass meeting. Here's what Robert's says about that: pp. 543-561
• Ex-officio members
• RONR p. 497 l. 20-29 & pp. 483-484
• Parliamentary resources
• Next week! We'll see a lot of good resources!
• Why are ex-officio members not counted in the quorum?
• They are not obligated to attend meetings. So they may actively choose not to attend. If that happens, it would make it harder to reach a quorum. 
• Committee of the Whole 
• See pp. 529-542
• Transitioning an ad-hoc committee into a standing committee 
• You would need to create the standing committee by amending the by-laws to include that committee or creating resolution that would essentially be a special rule of order. Then the committee could take up the work that it should. 
• Common responsibilities of executive boards 
• An executive board would take care of any matters that occur between meetings. They may also have control over certain parts of the assembly's function in general. p. 481
• The purpose of ex-officio members, only beyond additional knowledge
• Certain people are ex-officio members because of an office (maybe there is a stake held by that other organization)
• How are ex-officio members selected?
• They can be named as members in the by-laws if the assembly thinks they would be a beneficial addition to the committee/board, 
• Parliamentarians!

Session 12 - Bylaws - April 9

Responses to your Ticket Outs from Session 12!

What are you curious about?

• Where in Robert's does it talk about the Chair's requirement to stand at meetings?
• There is no such requirement.
• Who starts writing Bylaws for a newly organized society?
• The society designates a Committee to draw up Bylaws 
• RONR, p. 566
• Holding meetings in the absence of Bylaws
• Many organizations function without any set rules they follow
• Making an organization work and committees
• See you next week!
• What happens if a Bylaw is missing an important Article?
• You will have to follow the other rules in the Bylaws in the meantime, but hurry and make a Bylaws revision to include the necessary Articles!
• Can you "tweak" Bylaws already in place without Amending them?
• No. If the Bylaws say something, you want to follow that exactly. The only way you could "tweak" them is by actually amending them.
• RONR, p. 588-591: Principles of Interpretation
• What would you include in a Constitution that isn't in the Bylaws?
• Things that you want to amend less often and/or have them be more difficult to amend
• Can Bylaws be written in a way that they invalidate themselves?
• Of course, that is why when writing or revising Bylaws you want to take the utmost care that this does not happen. 
• If you have multiple sections that contradict each other, follow the following basic principles of interpretation so that you interpret your Bylaws as best as possible: RONR, p. 588-591

 What did you learn?

• General format of the Bylaws with the 9 basic Articles
• Proper time to use Point of Order
• The Membership Article and what it includes
• NOMOMECPA (mnemonic to remember the 9 Articles in order)
• Article I: Name
• Article II: Object
• Article III: Members
• Article IV: Officers
• Article V: Meetings
• Article VI: Executive Board
• Article VII: Committees
• Article VIII: Parliamentary authority
• Article IX: Amendments
• All about the Bylaws!
• How important it is to "waterproof" your organization's Bylaws
• A group an essentially establish any rules it wants when it creates its Bylaws
• How to write a solid set of Bylaws and where to start
• The importance of descriptive, specific Bylaws
• Bylaws amendments

What do you want to learn more about?

• Bylaws in informal groups where people don't care
• If there is no need for Bylaws, there is no need for Bylaws. Informal groups generally do not have Bylaws. However, if you are a campus organization you do need Bylaws filed with the Office of Student Activities. They will give you a very bare-bones skeleton that you can fill in in order to put down the most basic information about the organization.
• Special meetings
• A special meeting is a meeting that is called outside of the regularly scheduled meeting times and in which only the business sent out when calling the meeting can be discussed.
• See RONR, p. 91-92 for more information. 
• Amending Bylaws
• Amending Bylaws can be a very in-depth process. In order to start the process, often a Committee is created to do so. Also, usually previous notice is given. 
• Read more about all aspects of amending ("revising") Bylaws here: RONR, p. 592-599 
• The final exam
• We'll be talking about it soon!

Session 11 - Organizational Leadership - April 2

Responses to your Ticket Outs from Session 11!

What are you curious about?

• Some more scenarios of punishments
• Development of bylaws and utilization of them
• That's next week! Also check out chapter 18
• Bylaws
• See chapter 18
• Best election practices
• What do you do if you are in an organization that struggles to follow its own bylaws? What can you do as an officer?
• Bring it up to the rest of the officers. Your organization should be following its bylaws! You can explain to them why it's important. 
• Is there a format for creating standing rules?
• They can be adopted by a majority vote as long as it doesn't amend or conflict with any existing rule or act of the society. RONR pg. 18 
• Is there a difference in disciplining officers, chairs, and members?
• Your bylaws may specify different rules. For example, officers can be removed from office as a punishment.  Chapter 20
• More info on officers
• Rules about your officers may be different depending on your bylaws. See also chapter 15
• What about ties in elections?
• In ballot votes where there is no majority reached (like in a tie), the chair announces "no election" and a second election is conducted. pg. 439, l. 33-34 The same situation would occur in a tied roll-call election. pg. 443 l. 19-21

What did you learn?

• How we are supposed to nominate
• If the secretary is absent, you must elect a secretary pro-tem
• Who takes minutes when the secretary is absent
• Voting
• Different types of elections
• Ballot, Viva voce, Roll call, Cumulative voting
• Write-ins taken online for nominations are still nominations by ballot
• Cumulative voting 
• Positive and negative
• Executive secretary is a paid position 
• Duties of a secretary and the presiding officer
• Robert's does lay out policies on discipline 
• What to do in the absence of officers
• When elections take effect

What do you want to learn more about?

• Need a review of motions 
• Bylaws
• Chapter 18 and next week!
• How to start bylaws
• Bylaw revisions
• Rule infractions within meetings and their consequences
• See pg. 644-649 and your bylaws
• When to abstain in an election 
• Anytime you do not want to express an opinion on the election
• Object to the consideration 
• Allows assembly to avoid discussion on a motion, Does not require a second, Not debatable, Not amendable, 2/3 vote against the consideration sustains the objection, A negative vote can be reconsidered
• pg. 267-270