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If you belong to any type of organization—from school board to garden club to bowling league to trade association—chances are this book can save you many boring meeting minutes. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised is the current authoritative guide for properly conducting everything from sessions of the U.S. Senate or House of Representative to meetings of neighborhood associations. This friendly guide translates Robert’s Rules into principles you can understand and apply the next time Billy Bully tries to dominate the discussion or Debbie Dictator issues another edict. If you’ve ever been frustrated at the way condominium association business was (or wasn’t) conducted or fidgeted while PTA members debated whether to have goldfish or pencils as prizes for the elementary school carnival, this is the book for you. Written by a Professional Registered Parliamentarian, it covers:
With Robert’s Rules For Dummies, you’ll not only discover how to hold more effective meetings, you’ll get advice for dealing with malcontents or monopolizers who can disrupt, derail, or prolong meetings. And if you’re in a leadership position, you’ll get great information on:
Complete with a glossary of parliamentary terms and sample agendas, reports, and minutes, this guide has everything you need but a gavel. Whether you belong to an elite country club or a civic organization, an investment club or a volunteer fire department, when you use the principles in this book, meetings won’t be dominated by the loudest or pushiest member or go on and on and on and on and on….
Introduction.
Part I: It’s Parliamentary, My Dear: Participating Effectively in Meetings.
Chapter 1: Following the Rules (Robert’s, That Is).
Chapter 2: Defining the Organization: Bylaws and Other Rules.
Chapter 3: Meetings: Making Group Decisions.
Chapter 4: Starting with Notice and a Quorum.
Chapter 5: Taking Care of Business without Wasting Time: Order of Business and Agenda.
Part II: Motions: Putting Ideas into Action.
Chapter 6: Main Motions: Proposing Ideas for Group Action.
Chapter 7: Debate: Discussing the Pros and Cons of Ideas.
Chapter 8: Making Group Decisions: Voting on the Motion.
Chapter 9: Subsidiary Motions: Helping to Process the Main Motion.
Chapter 10: Privileged Motions: Getting Through the Meeting.
Chapter 11: Incidental Motions: Dealing with the Questions of Procedure.
Chapter 12: Haven’t We Talked About This Already? Motions Which Bring a Question Again Before the Assembly.
Part III: Getting Involved in Leadership.
Chapter 13: Who’s Going to Do the Work? Following Nomination Procedures.
Chapter 14: Holding Elections and Making Appointments.
Chapter 15: Running the Show: Officers and Directors.
Chapter 16: Gearing Up for the Real Action: Committees.
Chapter 17: Reporting to Your Organization.
Chapter 18: We Gotta Get Rid of this Guy! Disciplining and Removing Officers or Members.
Part IV: The Part of Tens.
Chapter 19: Ten (Or So) Meeting Procedure Myths.
Chapter 20 Ten Tips for Presiding Officers.
Chapter 21: Ten Motion Mistakes to Avoid.
Part V: Appendixes.
Appendix A: Glossary of Parliamentary Terms.
Appendix B: Sample Agendas, Reports, and Minutes.
Index.
gs
Posted January 25, 2009
I'm not a professional or scholar; I'm a woman who was newly elected to a club presidency. And I needed HELP. This book delivered it in a clear concise and entertaining manner. The scenarios made me chuckle and helped set the rules in my mind. I have referred to it several times by chapter and am gradually making my way thru the entire book. My husband is reading portions of it too. <BR/>Mr Jenning provided individual help by answering a question via email. I believe that is well above and beyond what is normally expected of an author. <BR/>I conducted my first meetings, both executive and general membership and was so very happy to have his book on the table in front of me just in case I needed to clarify something. <BR/>There are bonus sections available via computer which are also quite helpful.<BR/>I heartily recommend this book. I believe it is not only accurate but easy to understand because of the way he presented the material.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 22, 2011
I'm on the senate for my local community college as a representative of our book club. We use Robert's Rules to run the meetings. I find this book very useful for a quick research of how business needs to be conducted at our meetings. Most of us don't know Robert's Rules so this was a great way to start understanding how it works.
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Posted December 21, 2011
I am the current president of the faculty senate at our university and needed something that would lead me to the correct area of Roberts Rules of Order - this helps ALOT!
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Posted June 8, 2009
This book helped me to understand a difficult topic. It is written in the "For Dummies" style making reading, referencing, and understanding easier than others. Very helpful! I should have bought this one first!
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Posted January 22, 2009
This book is essential reading for anyone that attends meetings of any kind - even having your buddies over to watch the game will be more fruitfull with some basic understanding.
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Posted November 6, 2008
As a novice parliamentarian, I found Robert's Rules of Order very time consuming and cumbersome, but Mr. Jennings book was the answer to my needs. I highly recommend it for quick, easy reference.
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Posted October 4, 2007
I own the book and have even had a question answered by the author! I highly recommend 'Dummies'. Its made me less of one!
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Posted January 21, 2007
Robert's Rules for Dummies is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in parliamentary procedure, but especially for anyone serving on a committee or Board that is governed by Robert's Rules. Main motions, incidental motions, calling the question, rules of debate, knowing when you can interrupt and when you need a second on a motion -- all are much easier to understand when you've read Alan Jennings' excellent explanations of what they all mean. Take charge of your meetings and don't let yourself get railroaded just because you don't understand parliamentary procedures! This book is an excellent companion to Robert's Rules (Newly Revised, 10th edition) and should be studied before your next meeting. You'll be glad you did!
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Posted June 15, 2006
If you are interested in learning about Robert's Rules this is a good book. Like all the books in the 'Dummies' series it is easy reading and easy to understand. But what really impressed me is that Mr. Jennings makes himself personally available to questions about Robert's Rules via email. His response to my questions always arrived within 24 hours.
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Posted May 1, 2006
Robert's Rules for Dummies takes a very complex book on procedures and makes it understandable for the average person.
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Posted September 22, 2005
This book is a great introduction to Robert's Rules. I came in with zero knowledge and was able to understand and learn a great deal about Parliamentary processes through this book. You can read straight through or cherry-pick according to topic and your needs. I needed this material for my role in church leadership. It is helpful to also have bought RONR for reference and the whole story but I would not suggest just reading RONR straight through as I do with 'Dummies.' RONR In Brief is just for a curious meeting attender, in my opinion. As a suggestion, it would be nice if the book had ready references to the corresponding RONR section. I emailed the author a few questions and got a quick, friendly, and helpful response.
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Posted November 20, 2005
This book is written in a very readable style and provides an excellent overview of Robert's Rules and their application. Ideal for the beginner or novice.
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Posted April 17, 2010
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Posted October 14, 2009
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Posted July 13, 2010
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Posted November 20, 2008
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Overview
If you belong to any type of organization—from school board to garden club to bowling league to trade association—chances are this book can save you many boring meeting minutes. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised is the current authoritative guide for properly conducting everything from sessions of the U.S. Senate or House of Representative to meetings of neighborhood associations. This friendly guide translates Robert’s Rules into principles you can understand and apply the next time Billy Bully tries to ...