C. Alan Jennings PRP - Roberts Rules For Dummies

Roberts Rules For Dummies, 2nd Edition

by C. Alan Jennings, PRP

Roberts Rules For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Not all content that is available in standard print versions of this book may appear or be packaged in all book formats. If you have purchased a version of this book that did not include media that is referenced by or accompanies a standard print version, you may request this media by visiting http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit us at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012941783

ISBN 978-1-118-29404-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-29409-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-29410-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-29411-6 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

C. Alan Jennings holds a Professional Registered Parliamentarian (PRP) credential from the National Association of Parliamentarians. He is a past president of the Louisiana Association of Parliamentarians and is a member of the American Institute of Parliamentarians.

His interest in parliamentary procedure began when he was a fifth-grader at Davis elementary school in Jackson, Mississippi. His class learned about Roberts Rules when electing class officers. Alan confessed he was more interested in the cute young secretary who smiled at him during the meetings and made him melt than he was interested in Robert or his rules.

Alans experience as a parliamentarian began when it became his duty to establish a new local congregation of his church. As is true for most parliamentarians, his education as a parliamentarian is experiential. As he learned Roberts Rules by using the book as the guide for organizing the congregation, he applied the rules in another venue creating an educational organization for Louisianas Notaries at Civil Law. From the start, Alan encouraged the leadership teams of these organizations to develop a working knowledge of the official Roberts Rules and to use it in their work with the organizations; he credits the success of the local congregation and the state notary association (both have achieved international recognition) to the leaderships consistent application of the principles of procedure and leadership found in the pages of Roberts Rules.

In 2000, Alan retired as the executive director of the Louisiana Notary Association. He currently writes for several publications in his professional fields and publishes a regular newsletter for notaries at civil law in Louisiana. He is a consultant to the director of the Louisiana State University Office of Assessment and Evaluation, which administers Louisianas Civil Law Notary qualifying examinations for the state. Alan formerly served on the advisory committee to the Louisiana State 19th Judicial District Court on civil law notary examination procedures.

Alan is active as a professional parliamentarian and serves as meeting parliamentarian for organizations on the local, state, and national levels. He provides consulting services year-round for clients in a wide variety of situations and specializes in bylaws and corporate documentation.

Alan and his wife, Hartwell Harris, have been married for 32 years this year. Retired from 31 years of public service, Hartwell is an accomplished photographer and artist. Both Alan and Hartwell enjoy not only the day-to-day adventures at home in Baton Rouge (with their dapple rat terrier, Jaz; American bulldog, Buddy; golden tabby cat, Sunshine; and Manx cat, Molly), but also their working (and vacation) travel time together.

Dedication

To all the people who attend meetings and come home thinking, Surely, there has to be a better way.

Authors Acknowledgments

This book wouldnt be in your hands right now if it werent for the generosity of so many. Ive worried a bit that I have nowhere near the page count available to acknowledge them all if I were to start the list where it belongs, with my first-grade teacher who started me off with that big fat pencil and Big Chief writing pad. So Ill just thank Miss Hill for that and move on to the more immediate friends, family, and colleagues who helped me with this particular work.

First, I thank my original parliamentarians mentors Eleanor Earle, PRP, and Myra Myers, PRP who gave me their time and encouragement.

I am inspired by the example of these leadership role models who exemplify such special character attributes that no one can go wrong by seeking to emulate them: the late Eileen Armstrong, NAP past presidents Loretta Simonson and Kathryn Scheld (this books first-edition general reviewer), Judy Young, and Tommy French. I am inspired by the skill and dedication of these parliamentarian teachers: Nancy Sylvester and Eugene Bierbaum. I am inspired by the wisdom and loyalty of friends like my late colleague, Col. Tom Austin, and I am at once inspired and humbled by the personal strength and dedication to learning of an early protg, Rapunzel Fontenot. Finally, I am inspired by the consummate professionalism of Ann Rempel, PRP, CPP-T (this editions technical reviewer), and Jim Lochrie.