Meetings
(L4L)
Rules of Order
Introduction
to Robert's Rules of Order
A short, easy-to-read guide to the basics.
Survival
Tips on Robert's Rules of Order
From the California State Associations of Parliamentarians and regularly
updated, but you'll have to ignore the flawed design. Tips on topics
from by-laws ("The
best advice anyone can give you is to become familiar with the Bylaws and Constitution
of your organization.") and agendas to the six steps in every motion and ways
to amend a motion. Briefly stated tips that can keep your meeting in order.
Robert's
Rules of Order Motions Chart
Charts describing the purpose of a motion, the wording you use, whether it
requires a second, etc. The first table for main motions will probably be the
most useful.
Cagle's
Parliamentary Procedure
"The homepage provides basic instruction on important topics in Parliamentary
Procedure, an opportunity to ask a real Parliamentarian questions, and a link
to Questions & Answers I have received and given"--an excellent, clearly-presented
resource. Includes advice on making meetings work and making committees work.
Effective Meetings
Meeting
Wizard: Your Meeting Planning Center
A site devoted to planning and holding good meetings from the makers
of an online meeting tool. Some of the useful information you'll
find here in addition to tips for effective meetings are sections
on meeting
agendas, taking
minutes, and chairing
meetings.
Effective
Meetings
A series of exercises produced by The New England Regional Leadership
Program that a group can do to evaluate and improve meetings and group
work, including training. Some of the topics: Nominal Group Technique,
General Assessment of Needs, The Facilitator's Role, Choosing the Best
Training Activities to Meet an Objective, and Reaching Your Community.
An unusual resource, elements of which can be used independently in
a variety of contexts.
The
Basics of Designing and Facilitating Meetings
From MIT, a nice guide to planning and facilitating meetings. Be sure to follow
the links to get the most from this site. You might also want to explore the
other Learning Topics that
MIT provides.
Effective Library Board Meetings
Administrative Essentials #5 from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction provides information on preparing an agenda and conducting a meeting. A sample agenda and links to additional resources are provided.
Open Meetings
A
Guide to Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law
A brief overview is given along with a link to the Open Meetings Law Compliance Guide.
Understanding and Complying with Wisconsin’s Open Meeting Law
League of Wisconsin Municipalities' Legal Counsel Claire Silverman provides an overview of the law and explanation of some key provisions. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities also has a detailed FAQ regarding Wisconsin’s open meetings law.
Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law and Library Board Closed Sessions
This site describes the WI Open Meetings Law as it relates to library board meetings and closed sessions. There are detailed instructions on the requirements for conducting a closed session meeting and links to relevant documents.
Taking Minutes
Write
Minutes, not Hours
Several basic points to consider about the nature of minutes and minute-taking.
An
Important Skill
What you need to do when you take minutes, organized around what you need to
do before, during, and after the meeting. From about.com
Tips
for Taking Minutes
From the Communications Committee of the Association of College and Research
Libraries.
Other Issues
Should
Staff Attend Board Meetings?
Statements of opposing views. The context is non-profit boards. ED stands for
Executive Director, incidentally.
Facilitating
Meetings
A useful overview
of the process of effectively facilitating a meeting: preparing for the meeting;
determining your role as a facilitator; opening the meeting, running the
middle of the meeting, and closing the meeting. Short, practical, and on
target.
Group
Dynamics: Basic Nature of Groups and How They Develop
Full of useful information on group dynamics and things you can do to improve
meetings and group work, ranging from ice breakers and warm-up exercises to
a discussion of informal group norms to meeting management to negotiating.
Borgess
Navigation Center
Wow! This is a site about innovative and effective group process. It has an
in-depth facilitation
manual, and much more to look at, e.g., the knowledge
worker manual and the MG
Taylor Axioms.
Supporting public libraries in Outagamie and Waupaca counties