A refresher on Robert's Rules of Order? Yes, please | Opinion

Does this scenario sound familiar?

You are attending a meeting of a club to which you belong. There is some discussion occurring, but you are not quite sure what is being decided, if anything. The presiding officer is sitting and watching, but not saying much.

Your neighbors to either side of you are engaged in some discussions of their own. You check your watch and for the hundredth time wonder to yourself why you even bother to attend because you know that nothing (or very little) will be decided and not much action on anything will be taken. You have read your organization's bylaws/rules and you know that Robert's Rules of Order are supposed to be used to facilitate the meeting, but you are not quite sure how the Rules are to be applied and it seems evident that no one else, including the presiding officer, knows how to apply the Rules either.

That's where we come in. We are the Apollo XI Parliamentary Law Unit, a chartered unit of the National Association of Parliamentarians, the teaching arm of the Robert's Rules Association, and our mission is to teach Robert's Rules of Order to clubs, groups and associations who wish to run their meetings smoothly and efficiently so that the maximum amount of business can be conducted in the minimum amount of time.

We meet on the fourth Saturday of the month from September through May (except for November and December, when it is the third Saturday) at 10.30 am at the Brevard Association for the Advancement of the Blind, 674 S. Patrick Drive, Satellite Beach, FL 32927.

April is National Parliamentary Law Month and we celebrate the achievement of General Henry M. Robert for writing and then revising his Rules of Order for the efficient conduct of meetings, now published as "Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 12th Edition."

Henry M. Robert was an officer in the US Army in 1863 when he was asked to chair a meeting.  Not wishing to decline, he accepted the request but, then, in his words, "My embarrassment was supreme. I plunged in, trusting to Providence that the assembly would behave itself.  But with the plunge went the determination that I would never attend another meeting until I knew something of .... parliamentary law." (Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 12th Edition, p. xxxix)

More local news:Here's a look at the 6 policies Brevard's school board revised or passed this week

More:Democrat Anthony Yantz of Palm Bay to again run for Florida House District 33

Over the next few years, he studied writings on parliamentary law, including Cushing's Manual, Wilson's Digest, the Congressional Manual, the Rules of the House of Representatives and Barclay's Digest of Rules and Practice of the House.  His studies showed him that there was no consensus on how to run meetings and that rules varied widely among organizations and even between the US Senate and the US House of Representatives.

General Robert's epiphany came when he realized that what was needed was a standardized set of rules, "based, in its general principles, upon the rules and practice of Congress, and adapted, in its details, to the use of ordinary societies." (Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 12th Edition, p. xli)

He began writing in January 1874 and by October, had a manuscript ready for publishing. Unable to find a publisher, General Robert paid for 4,000 copies to be printed. Even as the printing progressed, General Robert was preparing a Part II, a simpler and he hoped more user friendly version to go with the original publication.

The two parts were printed at the end of 1875.  Initially, General Robert thought the book would sell slowly, but he was wrong ― the book sold out within four months!  A second edition was published in July 1876 and a third and expanded edition was published in 1893. These first three editions are properly known as "Robert's Rules of Order."

The basic rules of parliamentary law are:

a)  the will of the majority (as expressed through a vote) is supreme;

b)  the right of the minority to be heard (in debate) is protected;

c)  in meetings, only one item of business at a time is considered;

d)  in meetings, only one person speaks at a time and, ideally, opposing views alternate;

e)  in meetings, all debate is conducted through the chair, not person to person;

f)  one person, one vote.

Finally, Henry M. Robert said: “The great lesson for Democracies to learn is for the majority to give the minority a full, free opportunity to present their side of the case, and then for the minority, having failed to win a majority to their views, gracefully to submit and to recognize the action is that of the entire organization and cheerfully to assist in carrying it out, until they can secure its repeal.”

If you would like to learn how to apply Robert's Rules of Order to run your meetings more efficiently and effectively, please join us at our next meeting on Saturday, March 25, or Saturday, April 22, or call Pat Rosenthal, President, (321) 626 5419; Betti Cogswell, Vice President, (321) 613 2278.

Jacqueline Moore is the treasurer for the Apollo XI Parliamentary Law Unit, a chartered unit of the National Association of Parliamentarians. 

Support local journalism and become a subscriber. Visit floridatoday.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: A refresher on Robert's Rules of Order? Yes, please | Opinion