How To Hold A

the organization.

Minutes
Minutes are to be taken by the recording secretary, elected at the

Good Meeting
beginning of each meeting. The minutes are to be clear and legible,
following the standard format. Minutes should be accessible to, and
only to, all members in good standing, and must be present at each
meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting are to be accessible to
the chair in order to make up the proposed agenda.

This is the Minutes Format:

• Date and place of meeting. Type of meeting (monthly branch
meeting, for instance). Number of members present. Name of
chair and secretary.
• Called to order- at what time.
• Cards checked.
• Minutes read and approved or amended.
• Agenda approved.
• Synopsis of reports. This must be brief. Longer reports may be
submitted in written form, for inclusion in the minutes.
• Old Business, then New Business, to be recorded as follows:
• Name of member (maker of motion)
• M/S (moved and seconded) : That we ...
• (Motion stated in exact wording)
• Carried or Failed (tally of votes - number Yes, number
No, number Abstained)
• Withdrawn, Amended to... (exact wording)
• Tabled or Referred (to when or whom).
• To be implemented how, by whom, by what time, and
reported back by whom, when.
• Example: James M/S: That we send $100 to the striking
tap-dancers. Carried 23Y,5N, 6A. Mike will write a check

Rusty’s Rules
and mail it this week, and report back to the next branch
meeting.

• Synopsis of Good and Welfare. Next chair. Next meeting time

and place.

of Order
• Adjourned - at what time.

These rules and procedures are to be made available to all

members. They will be amended and updated as needed, by
decision of the Branch.

16 1
 How To Hold A Good Meeting The chair should get to the meeting early to prepare for the meeting,
set up chairs, etc. She should make up a proposed agenda that is
By x344469 legible and visible to the whole room.
Portland GMB
The chair cannot vote, make motions nor discuss motions. If the
Good meeting procedure is probably the most basic tool in the chair really needs to do these things she must pass the chair on to
organizer’s kit. It’s the most basic building block in any form of another member for the duration of that item of business. This
collective action. With it a group of people can accomplish a lot shouldnít happen very often.
more than they could alone, more than the sum of their parts, if you
will. Without it, they can do very little, except burn themselves out The chair is to oversee the process of the meeting to insure that the
and reinforce the common beliefs that you can’t fight the powers following criteria are met:
that be and that collective action is a bore consisting mostly of
endless meetings. Maybe that’s why they don’t teach it in school any That the business moves along quickly. The chair must keep track of
more. the time. A timekeeper may be appointed by the chair if needed. A
meeting should take no more than two hours unless agreed upon by
The purpose of a meeting is decision-making. Decision-making has the group. Time limits may be set on discussion as needed.
several parts. The methods used must take care of each part.
That the Agenda is followed. That each item of business is taken
care of.
Decision-Making Dissected
That each member who wishes to participate is encouraged and
First, there’s the bright idea. This comes out of discussion or out of
given that opportunity. That none dominates the meeting and
somebody’s head when they’re thinking, driving, trying to go to
speaks excessively at the expense of the others.
sleep. We need to encourage the formation of bright ideas because
we need them. Have a place for unstructured discussion and
That the meeting is carried out in accordance with the rules and
brainstorming. Bright ideas are very vulnerable when first born, so
procedures agreed upon by the group.
don’t be tough on them. The time to challenge, criticize, amend,
argue against, point out unfeasibility—all these things come later. If
That the process is clear, understandable, accessible and
you jump all over the little baby ideas when they’re newly hatched
transparent to the members.
your chickens will stop laying them.
That an atmosphere and tone of mutual respect is maintained. The
Next comes discussion, maturation, clarification. You’ve got a
chair, in the name of the group, does not allow disrespect, insult or
cool idea, but will it work? How would we make it work? This is
personal attack in the meeting.
discussion amongst friends, outside of the business meeting, before
the idea is proposed. Get it thought out well and be able to state it
The chair may not take part in the business of the meeting. She can
clearly before taking it into the meeting to be proposed.
and should offer suggestions for the sake of clarity and to move the
business along. The chair may suggest (entertain) a motion or
Next, our little idea, somewhat refined, is proposed in the meeting,
procedure.
discussed, amended, and perhaps passed by the group. We’re
halfway there.
The duties of the Chair should be rotated, but a member should
chair several times in succession, in order to learn and refine the
Implementation is next. Who’s going to do it? How? With what
skill of chairing. The group critiques the chair at the end of each
money, equipment, support? By when? Maybe this is a committee
meeting in order to improve that skill. The ability to chair a meeting
matter. The committee is instructed by the group to do such and
well is considered to be a basic skill and necessity, to be learned
such, by this time, with these provisos, and to report back on such a
and perfected by each member, over time, as a part of the work of
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A Procedural Motion must be seconded and voted on by the group. date. Or somebody volunteers to do it. Or a special committee is
This should be done quickly, so as not to distract from the main called for, if it doesn’t fit into a standing committee.
business at hand.
Accountability is next. The committee or individual has agreed to
The chair may make a point of procedure, or suggest (entertain) a do it, by this date. The larger group needs to hear that the job has
procedural motion. been completed, or, if not, why not and when it will be done or what
needs to happen to get it done. This is the easiest part to let slip. If
• To Table (includes when it is to be dealt with) you slack on this we’re all flakes in the eyes of the world, and in
• To Refer (to committee or wherever) actual fact, we can’t do diddly. We’re screwed.
• To Adjourn
• To Recess (take a break) The last part will, in some cases, be review and drawing
• To Overrule the Chair conclusions or lessons. The project didn’t really accomplish what
• To Replace the Chair we wanted it to, and we think that’s because of this and this. We’ll
do this differently next time. Or, this thing worked really well,
• To Call the Question (call for a vote)
because of this, so let’s remember to try to repeat these good
• To Censure (the group tells an individual member that her
procedures. This is how we learn and advance.
behavior in the meeting is unacceptable and will not be
tolerated)
It’s good to have a record of the action and the review and
• To Expel (must be preceded by a motion to censure, except in
conclusions written down so we don’t forget, and for the sake of
case of immediate danger. This motion expels the individual
those brave comrades that come after us, so that they can learn
from the meeting, not the organization.)
from our successes and mistakes. It’s good to share this stuff with
• To Call for a Straw Poll (this is a non-binding vote, to assess the the rest of the union in other locals, so we can learn and advance
feeling of the group) together.
Points of Procedure: OK, that’s what the meeting is for. Here’s how to do it. Yahoo!
The maker raises her hand and speaks out: "Point of Procedure" (or Now we’re having some fun!
"Point of Order"). The chair must recognize the member
immediately.
What Makes A Good Meeting
The chair may rule on a point of procedure. The ruling of the chair
may be challenged by a member and put to a vote. There are a couple of general characteristics that all good meetings
share. One is that they are short. After about two hours people
Point of Personal Privilege: It's too hot, too stuffy, can't hear the become stupefied and quit retaining information. A diminishing rate
speaker, etc. of return is reached that is easy to spot if you watch for it. People
get a glassy look in their eyes. Time to adjourn.
Point of Procedure (or Order): This is a suggestion as to how to
carry out the business better. It is ruled on by the chair. The ruling If the meetings frequently reach that point you start losing
can be challenged and the point made into a motion. Don't get too membership, or at least the active participation of members.
carried away here, please. Restructure your meetings, tighten up procedures, strengthen the
chair, schedule more frequent meetings, use more committees,
whatever you need to do, but don’t carry on with long meetings.
The Chair You’ll lose your best people, leaving the decision-making and
The Chair is elected by the group and has a mandate to carry out implementation to the dull-witted few who can stand to be bored and
the will of the group as regards the procedure of the meeting. The have their time wasted. See the CP or SWP for examples of what
chair speaks with the authority of the group, for the group. that will get you in the long run.

14 3
 or corrects it. The chair instructs the secretary to record the motion
Good meetings are fairly civil. They are interesting. They have and to read it back. When it has been read back, in exact wording,
relatively lively participation from most people present. They get a from the minutes, the chair calls for discussion.
lot of work done. They are efficient and move along quickly. They
are well-organized. They don’t wander off into subjects that don’t The chair begins discussion by asking if anyone is opposed. If not,
concert the organization at that time. the vote is taken. If so, discussion begins with opposition.

The basic tools or parts of a good meeting include an agenda, a Discussion goes back and forth between favor and opposition until
chair, often a co-chair, a recording secretary, and most importantly a all relevant opinions have been heard. No member may speak twice
rank & file that knows how to take part in a good meeting. That’s the on a motion until each member that wishes to speak has been
real key. If the R&F is passive and sheep-like then you’re just out of heard. Possible exception to this rule would be to allow the maker of
luck. You’ll never do diddly squat and you may as well go home. If the motion to explain and clarify. Members may not repeat a point
the people in the meeting don’t really care about the business at that has already been made. If someone else makes your point
hand, there’s nothing you can do short of thinking up some business before you get your turn, just say, "I pass," when called upon, or
they do care about, or finding out what they care about and doing that you agree with the previous speaker’s point.
that instead. This falls under the heading of agenda. More on this
soon. A member may offer a Friendly Amendment during discussion. It
should be stated in exact wording. The chair asks the maker if she
If they just don’t know how to do it, but are willing, you’re OK. A accepts that amendment. If not, discussion continues on the original
strong chair can take the helm for a while, and institute a part of the motion. If the maker accepts the amendment, it is repeated by the
meeting that teaches the meeters how to meet. This is important chair, agreed upon, recorded and read back from the minutes. Then
and needs to take a high priority. the discussion continues on the Amended Motion, which becomes
the motion on the floor.
Teaching Meeters to Meet
The maker of the motion may Withdraw the motion at any time
There are two parts to teaching people how to hold a meeting. One before the vote.
is to set aside a part of each meeting, ant the end, to briefly discuss
the meeting itself. People can speak up about how they felt and The vote is taken when discussion is completed. The chair may call
what they wanted to have happen, what didn’t happen, how it was for the vote (Call the Question) or a member may do so. Call the
too long and boring, and criticize the chair and each other. This is Question is a Procedural Motion (see below).
touchy, but some form of criticism is necessary to collective
action, unless you are willing to have a boss who does it all for you. The vote is taken, counted, and recorded in the minutes.
Keep it impersonal, be gentle, understand each other as best you
can, and it can be a really good thing for the group. Try to work out Before moving on, the motion must be implemented. Decide what is
how the meeting or some part of the meeting could have been done needed to carry out the motion, who is going to take responsibility,
better. by what time, and when they will report back to the group. This
should be prearranged if possible.
The second part of teaching the meeters how to meet is to rotate the
chair. You do this for the obvious reason—that you need to have Procedural Points and Motions
more than one good chair in the group, and also for the purpose of Points of Procedure and Procedural Motions speak to the process of
teaching the membership how to be in a meeting, how it really the meeting. They are in order at any time and must be dealt with
works, how to be chaired. right away, before going on with the meeting.

What you want is a whole room full of good chairs, all just Procedural Motions:

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respect. Insults and personal attacks will not be tolerated. chairing the crap out of themselves and each other and all keeping
an eye on the process and the big picture as well as taking part as
Members may speak only when recognized by the chair. When members. Then you’ve really got something. Then you really make
speaking in the meeting, address the group as a whole. No private the chips fly. It’s a bit like the way waiters love to wait on other
conversations allowed during the course of the meeting. waiters, because they know what’s going on, are sympathetic and
appreciative and help the process along. Ditto with the chair. It’s a
Agenda real joy to chair people who know how to chair.
The AGENDA follows this format:
• CALL TO ORDER If you’ve got an experienced chair, get him/her to chair a few
• CARD CHECK REPORT meetings to show how it’s done. Then start putting one brave soul
at a time in the hot seat with the experienced chair as co-chair to
• CHOOSE RECORDING SECRETARY
step in as needed and guide the trainee. Keep the same trainee in
• READ AND APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
the chair for several consecutive meetings, until s/he is actually
• REVIEW, AMEND AND APPROVE AGENDA getting the hang of it.
• ANNOUNCEMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
• REPORTS Keep it rotating slowly in this manner and eventually you’ll have a
• OLD BUSINESS group that’s a breeze to chair, and who can go out and do the same
• NEW BUSINESS thing elsewhere. We’re all leaders, right?
• GOOD AND WELFARE
• ADJOURNMENT If nobody in the group really knows how to do it, then you all have to
learn together. Do this as a group project and give it the priority it
Announcements, Communications, and Reports must be brief, or deserves. Train yourselves one or two at a time, not with a too-fast
submitted in writing. There is no discussion, beyond brief rotation where nobody ever gets a chance to really get it down. It
clarification. No decisions are made, unless they are so obvious as takes time.
to require no discussion. If any discussion is required, the item goes
to New Business. Pick Your Process
Good and Welfare should include a critique of the meeting, critique The group has got to agree on a decision-making process. The
of the chair, selection of next chair, time and place of next meeting. obvious choices are consensus and majority rule. Majority rule has
a bad rep amongst some people, but it gets the job done. If it’s
Items under Old and New Business begin with the statement (or done right you’ll almost always have consensus anyhow, but you’ve
restatement) of a main motion. got a really functional system to go forward with when consensus
can’t be reached.
Making a Main Motion
A Main Motion concerns business to be carried out by the group. Consensus usually means long meetings with a lot talk that goes
There may be only one main motion on the floor at a given time. way off the subject at hand. In my experience you can get a lot
fairer, more democratic and egalitarian process, in actual practice,
The motion is stated, beginning with: "I move that" The motion with majority rule, and get a lot more work done. Consensus is
should be clear and concise. more applicable to a house meeting, to a small group that lives
together and is really tight. With a more diverse group like an IWW
If the motion is not seconded it dies. local, that actually has a lot of work to get done, majority rule is the
best bet. Consensus is also much easier than sabotage. I’ve seen
If the motion is seconded, it is repeated by the chair, to establish the it done more than once.
exact wording. The maker of the motion either agrees to the wording

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A Sample Meeting that hard, and not that boring or unpleasant. In fact, when
compared to bad meeting procedure it’s downright fun and exciting.
You have to set a time and place and frequency for your meetings. A lot of groups start to fall apart or cease to be democratic when
Call the first one, and put this on the first agenda. No time is good they get past a dozen people, because they don’t make the jump
for everybody. Do the best you can, and remember it can always be from the little group of friends that functions in a loose family style to
changed. Get a place that’s quiet, private, and preferably doesn’t the larger-group ways of working.
belong to one of the members. That’s a possible power problem, so
avoid it if you can. Many of us have little or no experience with a functional and healthy
large democratic group, but such things do exist. The relearning
The first part of an agenda is the order of business. Take the one and development of the forms and ways of doing this large-group
from the IWW constitution for starters, and modify it if need be. It’s a democratic collective work is in an of itself a pretty subversive action
good one, tried and true. The chair prepares a proposed agenda, in the present social context.
leaving space for additions. The agenda has to be approved by vote
of the group, or else you’re already being led by the nose. Sort of Like it says in one old Wobbly cartoon:
like the situation you meet in the voting booth. Organize now! Organize right!

Sample Agenda:
The Agenda, One Item At A Time Call to order
Choose recording secretary
The chair should be chosen at the previous meeting, so as to be Read and approve minutes
able to prepare in advance. The chair gets there early, sets up Agenda review and approval
chairs for the membership, makes coffee or whatever, prepares a Brief announcements and communications
proposed agenda big enough to be easily read by all, and greets Reports
people as they arrive. Old business
New business
When it’s time to start the chair calls the meeting to order. I Good and Welfare
recommend doing this at the exact moment the meeting was Next chair & Meeting critique
scheduled for and let the latecomers be late. One of the most

Rusty’s Rules of
important things in a good meeting is to avoid wasting people’s
precious time. Let the late ones be late and miss out (they can read
the minutes), and reward the prompt ones by not wasting their time.

Choose a recording secretary. This person takes the minutes.

The minutes should be clear, legible, and brief. They must include
Order
motions made and whether or not they carried or not, how they are
to be implemented, by when and by whom. That’s the meat of it. Rules and procedure for meetings, as adopted by Portland General
Also include time and place of the meeting, who chaired and Membership Branch of the IWW.
recorded, who was present. You can leave out the discussion on
questions usually. Get the bones and keep it clear and brief. Decisions are made by a majority vote of GMB members in good
standing. Cards will be checked at the beginning of each meeting.
Read the minutes from the previous meeting. They should be Nonmembers may be seated by decision of the group, but may not
read in full and approved, or amended and then approved by vote of vote or make motions.
the group. This way everybody has it clear what has been decided
and who said they would do what by when. That’s your jumping-off Meetings should be businesslike and efficient, lasting, in most
point for the current meeting. It keeps you honest. It makes a cases, no more than two hours. The tone should be one of mutual

6 11
If an amendment is suggested it must be accepted by the maker of record of the life of the collectivity. It’s necessary for making the
the motion before it can be acted upon. Otherwise the original next agenda. Don’t shortchange the minutes.
motion has to be voted on before another motion, even an amended
version of the previous, can be made. Otherwise you get the Approve the agenda or amend and approve. Make sure people
situation where some people are speaking to the original motion, know they have a say in this. It’s more important than the average
some to the amendment, and maybe some to a second or third newcomer realizes.
possible amendment. The result is a muddying and a loss of sense
of the meeting. Brief announcements and communications. The key word here
is brief. These items require no discussion. If they generate agenda
A ‘point of order’ is always in order. In other words, it can be made items for new business, get them on the agenda and move on. You
at any time. You just say “point of order” and make your point. It can easily get mired down here, so watch it. They should be
should either be for clarification of the motion at hand or clarification relevant to the group, and if they are lengthy either have them in
of the process. Use it to point out that the speaker is not addressing written form for interested parties to read later or have people who
the business at hand, that the chair has overlooked some part of the want details talk to the person later. Keep it rolling.
process, that people can’t hear what’s going on, something directly
related to the process, not the content, of the meeting. Reports also require no discussion, except for possible clarification.
If they generate business to be discussed and acted upon, they go
“Call the question” is a common point of order. This means that to new business or to the appropriate committee. Reports should be
this discussion is going on too long, the ground has been covered, kept brief, and can be presented in written form if they are long.
that people are repeating themselves, and let’s vote on it now. “I’ve got a report here from the doodad committee regarding current
innovations and the rising cost of gizmos. It’s long, so I’ll let you
Miscellaneous Words of Wisdom read it after the meeting if you’re interested.” Reports include those
of officers, standing or special committees, delegates, attendees of
The meeting isn’t really time for social stuff, hanging out with your events or activities.
friends. It’s about business. The friend stuff is at least as important,
so give it its due. You may want to have a social hour before the Also report on the implementation of previously made decisions of
meeting or retire to a nearby pub afterwards to hang out and talk. the group. “We decided last meeting to poison the stream to murder
the neighbor’s dog. Bill and Nancy were in charge of
Committees are a good way to get work done and save time. If implementation on that one. Can we hear a report?” That sort of
something can be done in committee, don’t use up the time of the thing.
whole body on it. The committees have to report back to the larger
group, but you don’t need twenty people to decide where to get Now we’re into the main meat of the meeting, the business. We
a good price on paper clips and who should pick them up. should have whizzed through everything up to here pretty quick (but
not so quick as to neglect), because now is when the going, of
Something an old Wobbly taught us (along with most of the rest of necessity, gets a little slower.
this) is to always conduct your meeting as if there were a
hundred people there, to be ready when the times comes when Business is anything that requires a decision and/or
there are a hundred people there. Sound advice. For instance, implementation by the group.
it’s a good idea to get people to stand up to speak. It helps us all
hear, and gives us all a little experience speaking t a group. Makes Old business was once new business, but we’re done with it quite
it a lot easier when you have to stand up in front of a large group to yet. Maybe it got tabled ‘til we got more information. Maybe we
speak at a rally or something. were too dingy to deal with it last meeting, but didn’t want to just
forget it. Maybe it was too hairy to handle all at once. Whatever
Good meeting procedure is something we all can learn. It’s not business wasn’t satisfactorily completed last meeting is now old
business, unless all we need is a report on implementation.
10 7
A new business item is best presented as a motion, though Often you’ll need a break to get through a two-hour meeting with a
sometimes you may need a few whereases to make it clear why you clearheaded group. We usually take five or ten minutes between old
are presenting the motion. The maker of the motion should have and new business. It’s best if people will move around, go outside,
taken the time to think it out pretty well, maybe kicked it around with make noise.
friends, and should have a pretty clear idea of what needs to
happen, thus saving us all a lot of time. “I move that we take off our If there’s too much business and you see that you’re losing the
pants and sing Yankee Doodle on 14th Street, this Wednesday at membership, see if there are items that can be tabled. You have to
noon, and that a committee should be set up to help implement this ask the person whose item it is or the group about tabling
decision.” something. The chair can’t just do it without permission, but the
chair can suggest it.
There, now! That’s a nice clear way to bring up a new business
item. The chair says: “It has been moved that we blah, blah…” The last item is good and welfare. This is a more general
restating the motion, both for the sake of the membership and to discussion of things pertaining to the good and welfare of the group
help the recording secretary get it right in the minutes. The chair and its members. It’s less structured, more touchy-feely, if you will.
says: “Is there a second?” If nobody seconds it then that’s that. It’s It includes critique of the meeting and the chair, somebody needs a
not much of an idea and we can get on with the business. If one place to live or a part for their car, somebody needs help or has
more person wants it to pass, they second it, and it’s not totally out extra zucchinis, somebody has a general feeling about how the
of left field, and apparently worthy of our time. “Is there any group is doing, the direction it’s moving. Stuff that matters, but
discussion?” doesn’t really fit into the motion-making-and-implementation mode.
It’s the community part and deserves time and attention.
If it’s a shoo-in there doesn’t need to be much discussion. We don’t
really need to hear three people say why they think it’s a good Pick your next chair, agree on the next meeting time and place and
idea if nobody disagrees. The chair should direct the discussion somebody can move to adjourn. No matter how good your
with this in mind. Ask if anybody wants to speak against the motion. meetings get you’ll rarely hear anyone speak against a motion to
Ask if anybody is unclear on it or has hesitations or reservations adjourn.
about it. Draw them out, to be sure it’s adequately discussed, but
ride hard on it to avoid waste of time. Keep the discussion to the Robert’s Rules Reduced
topic. The chair has to tactfully interrupt if somebody is wandering
off the track. Membership should also do this as needed. It’s a bit A few basic rules need to be in place to carry out the making and
tricky, but very learnable. passing of a motion. Robert’s Rules of Order are so complex that
they’re of little actual use, but the basic ideas are sound.
When it seems the question is clarified, adequately discussed, the
chair or any member can call the question, call for a vote. “All A motion can be made by any member at any time, having been
opposed. All in favor.” If you think it’s a shoo-in, which is really recognized by the chair. Any time there isn’t already a motion on
common in a well-functioning group, you can save a lot of time by the floor, that is. If there’s a motion on the floor, that motion must be
asking, after the motion has been seconded, if anyone’s opposed. If dealt with before another motion can be made. Exceptions are a
not, it passes without the need for discussion. motion to table or the suggestion of an amendment.

When the motion passes, make sure to get it implemented. If it’s a Once a motion is on the floor, anything that doesn’t pertain
one or two person job, call for volunteers. If it’s a committee job directly to that motion is out of order, and must be cut off
refer it to the appropriate committee or set one up. Make sure we promptly before the whole shooting match is sidetracked and
know who’s going to do it, by when, and when we’ll hear a report on fuddled. You can come back to it later.
it. Make sure the recorder gets all that in the minutes. Move on to
the next item of business.
8 9