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.

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 5 - The Fun One! - Feb 12

Session Recap

Chart Quizzes

• Chart quiz grades are posted on Angel.
• If you did not pick yours up after class, we'll have them next week too. 
• If you want to retake a quiz, please let either Katie or I know, and we'll set something up.
• Some things to remember:
• Be exact when naming motions
• Mark "weird" votes.   
• ex. Call for the Orders of the Day-No vote, but need 2/3 negative to set aside
• Think through why things are the way they are.    
• ex. There is nothing to amend on adjourn, therefore it is not amendable. 
• If you need help, want to clarify anything, etc. just ask!

Group Videos

• You guys did a fantastic job and were very productive with your videos! I'm proud of you all!
• Make sure as we learn more motions, you work on the two motions your group did not get to yesterday.
• Have either Katie or I check over your scripts before you film.