It turns out we were very few in numbers at our noon meeting today. In fact the speakers that were scheduled were unable to attend. So we had no speakers and the speaking portion take up the majority of the program. Well what to do with all the time on our hands?
With a little flexibility, all those present were asked to introduce themselves trying to keep the theme and the word of the day in mind. This exercise gives everyone an opportunity to speak as well as try and incorporate the theme and word into their introduction. The word today was "Hello" as today is the 40th annual World Hello Day and the theme was "Gregarious". We learned the definition of gregarious is to be fond of company; sociable and also to live in flocks or loosely organized communities. Needless to say there were a few chuckles around the table during the introductions, especially for those who lived in flocks or loosely organized communities.
Well the introductions stretched the meeting out to 12:15, what to do with the next 40 minutes in the program? Well it was decided that a business meeting could be held. This would allow us to practice running a business meeting and get a little more familiar with Robert's Rules of Order. A great learning opportunity that turns out, we don't see often enough. We didn't have any real business to attend to, and it was thought there might have been some "Monkey Business" left on the table from our last business meeting. Let the fun begin.
We started with club Officer Reports, of course no one was prepared so it turned out to be a bit of a Table Topics exercise which was very well done. While this was going on, the minutes from our last business meeting were located. We needed these to see if there was anything left on the table, a very important part to say the least. It turns out there was a motion that needed to be dealt with. There was some discussion around the motion to get everyone familiar with the issue and just to complicate matters, someone moved to amend the motion (amendment #1). Well this amendment was seconded and there was a some discussion. Then there was another motion to amend amendment #1 (amendment #2). Fortunately, no one would second this motion to amend so it was not considered but then there was another motion to amend the amendment (amendment #3). This one was simply to replace the word "or" with the word "and". This amendment (#3) was seconded, was discussed and passed. This affected the wording of amendment #2 which was then discussed, voted on and passed. So now we had an amended main motion that originated at our last business meeting. This again was discussed and oddly enough it passed as well. Normally any monkey business that gets to a final vote is defeated.
With quite a bit of laughter, some head nodding and a lot of puzzled looks we learned why 2 amendments to a main motion are all that Robert's Rules will allow, how important it is to state your motion clearly and
succinctly so it can be recorded accurately. We also learned you can't try and convince us to be in favour of your motion before it is seconded. And most importantly, when the Chairman doesn't instruct the timer on the length of the business meeting, it can go on and on and on.
We had a good meeting even though we had no speakers. We had fun with our introductions while our business meeting was abruptly ended without any consultation with the assembly or instruction from the timer. But most importantly we learned that with flexibility, you can conduct a lot of business.
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