RE: BOD meetings at the convention

["Bob Morris" <bobmorris@rmci.net>]

Mike:

One of the major, and I mean really MAJOR problems with the
Board Meetings is the way they are held. I quote the AERC
By-laws;
 "ARTICLE XV PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY
Section 1. The rules contained in the current edition of
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the
Conference in all cases in which they are applicable and in
which they are not inconsistent with these Bylaws, the laws
of California and the United States, and any special rules
of order the Conference shall adopt."

The Board Meetings are NOT held in conformance with the
Roberts Rules of Order and the one on one interplay is not
only disrupting but very time consuming with negative
results.  The Board members do not request the floor to
speak nor do thy recognize the authority of the Chair
(President in our case). The loudest gets the time and
babbles on.

A number of years ago Matthew McKay-Smith as President held
one of the best and most productive meetings topic was
brought o the floor, each of the Board was allowed one
minute to address it if they desired and then after every
one who wanted to comment had done so 30 seconds was allowed
each for rebuttal. It was amazing that many had nothing to
say as they could not argue and work got done.

I have for many years promoted the use of a Parliamentarian
at the meetings. Even if one had to be hired.

Anyway, think back on the BoD meetings you have observed and
comment.


Bob


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Maul [mailto:mmaul@flash.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 11:44 PM
To: ridecamp
Subject: RC: BOD meetings at the convention


In response to:
but doesn't
   sound like they are scheduled for maximum
participation....or maybe
   that's the intent? No offense intended, but that's the
appearance.

Jim,

Although I'm new at the BOD stuff - here's my take on why
they are scheduled for
Thursday eve and Sundays.

First - the BOD only has two meetings a year - the
convention and the mid-year
coming up this w/e.  In those two meetings - we have to get
a lot done and it
isn't easy.  We go until very late Thursday eve and on
Sunday - until we finish -
however long it takes.

If we scheduled these meetings at the same time that the
talks were(Friday and Sat)
- members and the BOD - would lose the opportunity to
contribute and/or learn from the seminars.  The
Directors go to the convention for the same reasons you do -
to talk
to people - see friends - learn from the talks - see the
trade show. We have
the same interests and goals you do for the convention.

So these meetings have to be outside the normal convention
days.  This may seem
not scheduled for max participation but having 12-14 hours
less of seminars and
open committee meetings just to have the BOD meetings in the
regular days seems
too high a cost.

And the reason for not allowing direct audience
participation in the Thursday
and Sunday meetings is really a matter of time.  We have
enough difficulty
getting everyone's views explored on the BOD for the topics
we cover - much
less allowing everyone in the audience to talk on the
topics.

The meetings would last forever and accomplish less than we
already get accomplished
if the floor was open to the membership participation.  With
26+ people in the
meeting - getting debate finished to get to a vote can be a
major accomplishment.
I'm not wild about having to pass notes for comments but
it's one way to do it.
Plus talk to the directors at the break - or watch when they
take a break and
catch them outside the meeting.

So this may seem defending the status quo but it has some
rationale behind it.

We are certainly open to suggestions on how to do it better
but it needs to
preserve the members/directors ability to attend the
seminars, talks, trade show
and get the BOD tasks done in a finite time. If we added an
extra day as has
been suggested - this means more time off and cost by
members and directors to attend.

Mike Maul
Director-at-Large


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