Customer Reviews

Meeting Procedures: Parliamentary Law and Rules of Order for the 21st Century

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Lochrie's "Meeting Procedures" is a good alternative to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR). Both of these books are intended to be adopted by organizations as the parliamentary authority, but no matter what authority you use, "Meeting Procedures" is a valuable addition to the presiding officers bookshelf.

Where RONR has pages of rules for special cases (which ~do~ come up), Lochrie takes a different approach. A group using "Meeting Procedures" will find special rules are easier to adopt (2/3 vote, no notice), so that special cases can be handled by individual groups with special rules as they are required, allowing the book to be more streamlined. For example, there are no rules in this book on disciplinary procedures (trials). These things (thankfully) rarely come up, and an organization using Lochrie's book could adopt special rules for the proceedings when and if they do.

Elections, something that does come up, is thoroughly covered, including detailed examples. Also covered is the interesting subject of "election paradoxes", and how to cope with them with various voting methods (e.g. the Borda count).

Included with the book are a section with answers to some common parliamentary questions, sample minutes, a sample committee report and sample convention rules. One thing that seems to be missing is a sample set of bylaws, but one can find such things on the internet (with varying degrees of quality though!).

Overall, a wonderful book, even if your group prefers RONR or another authority.

Meeting Procedures: Parliamentary Law And Rules Of Order For the 21st Century by certified professional parliamentarian James Lochrie is a no-nonsense reference to the terms and procedures for organizing debate among large bodies of human beings, whether in committees of representative government or on a corporate business board of directors. Discussing the mechanics of motions, voting methods, nominations, orders of business and more, Meeting Procedures is an absolute "must-read" for anyone seeking to master the basics of these formal principles in order to better participate and communicate in business or civic meetings of any size and of diverse complexities.

This book is ideal for the president of any of the many volunteer and professional organizations across the country. Explanations of the rules governing meeting procedures are easy to understand and put into use. Mr. Lochrie takes complicated concepts and simplfies them so even an inexperienced presiding officer can run a meeting effectively and efficiently.