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Don't Abuse Executive Sessions
As with many practices that are not fully
understood, executive sessions can cause
consternation. And, as with practices that are
not completely open, they have the potential for
misinterpretation and misuse. When not well
managed, executive sessions can fuel problems,
ranging from a lack of transparency and
disregard for public accountability to
inappropriate board member behavior and distrust
between board and staff members. But, they need
not.
Read more
 Formal Consensus When
it comes to decision making in homeowner
associations, parliamentary procedure (like
Roberts Rules) is often the basis for making
them. It provides a systematic and efficient way
to get business done. However, parliamentary
procedure is based on the democratic notion of
"majority rules." Sometimes you win and
sometimes you lose. Americans have come to think
this is the best option. While the system works
pretty well, there is another process for
decision making called "Formal Consensus."
Read more:
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| Basics |
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14 Tips for Running Effective
Meetings Effective meetings create a positive
experience for attendees and help them provide
worthwhile contributions. Follow these tips to make the
most of your meetings:
1: Provide sufficient advance notice.
Allow at least four weeks. However, give as much as two
to three months if your community includes a significant
number of out-of-area members, or if your meeting topic
is potentially contentious; this allows for a second
notice and gives potential attendees a reasonable
opportunity to arrange schedules.
read more
Board Meetings: Tips for Becoming
More Productive Have you ever suffered through an association
board meeting that went on forever and
absolutely nothing was accomplished? Well you
aren't the only one! This article outlines tips
on how to shorten up your association board
meetings and make them more productive.
Read more
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| Resources |
Effective Meetings
Whether you're a newcomer to meetings or a
seasoned pro, the
EffectiveMeetings.com resource
center offers hands-on meeting advice for
every possible situation. Plus, our sage
advisor, the Meeting Guru, will help solve
your meeting dilemmas |
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| Legal |
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A Numbers Game: Associations Struggle
with Achieving Quorum to Get Anything Done It’s a numbers game. As association homeowners
gather for their annual meeting to discuss
important is-sues and elect new board members,
the count is on. Maybe, just maybe, business
will be transacted tonight. Then again, maybe
not. Read More
The
Open Government Guide
is a complete compendium of
information on every state's
open records and open
meetings laws. Each state's
section is arranged
according to a standard
outline, making it easy to
compare laws in various
states. If you're a new user
of this guide, be sure to
read the Introductory Note
and User's Guide.
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| Board &
Committee Meetings |
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Improving Your Association Board Meeting
- Board meetings play an important role in the life of a
community association. Whether such meetings are
conducted monthly or quarterly, each meeting is
extremely important. Board meetings are one of the most
basic avenues used for initiating official actions of
the association. The organization and tone of your board
meeting most likely reflects how well the community
association as a whole is being managed. If you find
that your board meetings are not as productive as you
would like, try using the following pointers listed
below for preparing and conducting board meetings:
Have an Effective and Efficient Board Meeting
Every Time
While a meeting of the board of directors
convenes to ‘conduct the business of the
association,’ a separate issue is how well
the meeting itself is executed. A board
meeting does more than carry out the
business of the association - it is also a
reflection on how well the business is being
managed. A poorly run meeting diminishes the
community’s confidence in a Board’s ability
to make sound decisions on behalf of the
membership; observers will be left to feel
as if the Board is not in control and
haphazardly arrives at its decisions.
read more
 Planning, Rules of Engagement, and
a Firm Hand Can Make Board Meetings More Productive than
Painful The
manager sitting across from me looked as if she had just
walked 10 miles through a desert at mid-day without
water. She might actually have enjoyed that exercise
more than the one she had just endured - attending the
monthly board meeting at a community association she
managed. The scenario she described will be all-too
recognizable to many managers and board members:
read more
What’s on the Agenda?
(PDF) A consent agenda can
make your board meetings more efficient. This
handy instrument removes items that don’t need
discussion (such as minutes of the last meeting
and approval of routine correspondence) and
bundles them into a package that can be passed
with one unanimous vote.
Key to an Effective Board Meeting In my 20 years of community association
management, I have either attended, organized,
participated in, or spoken at over 2,000 board meetings.
Calm, orderly, effective business meetings are the
general rule; however, I have witnessed elderly
gentlemen in fistfights. I have also witnessed two board
meeting heart attacks ("Call 911 immediately"); one,
sadly, resulting in death of the homeowner. Drawing from those
experience, we attempt to lead our managers and board
members through the key steps of setting up effective
board meetings.
WHEN MONTHLY BOARD MEETINGS
LAST A MONTH My firm managed an
association that had two distinct factions.
Each alternating election produced a
majority from one of the factions.
Individuals representing the minority often
used the board meetings to scrutinize the
financial statements and the most routine
aspects of getting contracts. They
monopolized the meeting in an effort to
discredit the chair, often maneuvering the
discussion back to topics previously voted
upon in which their opinion was in the
minority.
Those meeting were not fun and they were
always long. It was only by formalizing the
process - voting on an agenda, voting on
time limits, insisting upon a second for
every motion before discussion, recording
votes in the minutes - that the meetings
became more manageable and effective.
Board
meetings – Getting The Job Done
Property managers are often asked
for advice concerning the best
approach for conducting board
meetings. The manager should take
advantage of these opportunities
to assist the board members in
structuring productive board
meetings. Many board members have
not had experience operating a
business or conducting board
meetings. The property manager, on
the other hand, has generally
participated in many board
meetings and has seen and heard
the good, the bad and the ugly.
Let’s look at some tips the
manager may provide to the board.
Reexamine Your
Recurring Meetings - Are
your recurring meetings as effective as
they could be? The best way to find out is
sitting right in front of you – ask the
attendees themselves.
CONDOMINIUM
& HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION DOCUMENTS:
KEEP OR TOSS? - Are
your association’s important
documents located where you can
quickly get your hands on
pertinent papers? Or is
everything all lumped together in
the bottom drawer of an
overflowing file cabinet? Do you
maintain your association’s
important documents, and dispose
of unimportant ones? Or are your
association’s significant records,
such as governing documents,
likely to be found with
correspondence from the first
quarter of 2001, which you haven’t
decided whether you’re supposed to
keep?
10+ Tips for Starting
(and Finishing) Your Meetings on Time
- Your meetings often start late and
run over time, but it doesn't have to be
this way.
GETTING HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT
Community associations are
notorious for long meetings that seem to
accomplish much less than was intended at
their outset. There are many reasons for
this phenomenon, but the most pervasive one
is that community associations deal with
issues that affect peoples' lives at home.
Because our culture is steeped in the
home-as-castle convention, we resent
intrusion into and regulation of our home
life as much or more than all of the other
indignities we suffer. Add to this the fact
that those who run and attend association
meetings can often be the most outspoken and
garrulous in the community, and you have an
instant recipe for a "late nighter".
Recording the
Minutes of Board Meetings -
what type of information should the minute
contain? Minutes, at a minimum, should
contain the following:
Board Meeting
Administration - At first
glance, it seems so obvious how a Board
meeting should be conducted. However, as a
Board member, unusual circumstances can
throw an entire board into a loop. Take
the time to put some measures into place
so there are no surprises. |
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| Annual &
General Meetings |
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The ANNUAL MEETING – Prepare like
it’s the Super Bowl! Prepare!
Assume nothing!! Veterans of past meetings will attest
to the importance of these basic concepts. It is
essential that the manager take the bull by the horns to
assemble the team, create the game plan, lead, and
execute the plan. The manager is the “Quarterback”
(preferably New England 's Tom Brady - - sorry Peyton -
- because of his unquestioned leadership under pressure
and unparalleled success in big games) of this process
and should craft the “game plan” to take advantage of
team strengths. |
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HOA Meetings That Soar!
Holding
successful homeowner association meetings
takes thought, creativity, advance planning
and funding. Too many scramble to cobble
together this important event -- with
mediocre results. Few show up and the
numbers fall short of the quorum
requirements. This doesn't need to happen.
Just think what you can accomplish at this
important event:
Want to Increase Attendance at Community
Events? Many associations are looking for ways to
create a sense of community among residents.
One of the best ways to do that is through
community events and social activities. Such
events can create a positive feeling of
community, help neighbors to meet each
other, and lead to new volunteers for the
association. Sometimes, however, getting a
member to attend a social engagement can be
as difficult as getting them to turn in
their proxies. How can you increase
attendance?
read more |
Guide to Annual
Meetings - An Annual
Meeting is as much a celebration of the
Association and it's accomplishments as it
is a time to handle the necessary business
of the Association. If an Annual Meeting
is well organized and the Board and
management work together, it generally
will not run more than 1 1/2 hours. When
it is over, everyone should feel good
about their Association and the people who
have been elected to run it.
Making the Most of
Annual Meetings - Annual
meetings are important events in the life
of an association, and making the most of
these events takes careful planning.
Hands-on Homeowner
Democracy - Homeowner
associations offer their membership one of
the most accessible forms of democracy
around, if they choose to use it
Achieving Quorum
- How many times have you tried to hold an
official meeting of the members of a
community association, only to find that
not enough homeowners appeared in person
or sent in their proxies to meet the
quorum requirement to conduct a legally
held meeting?
The Secret To Keeping
Mail-In Ballots Secret
How can associations structure mail-in
ballots to ensure that those votes remain
a secret? The answer lies in multiple
envelopes – two to be exact. (Note: This
method also works for directed proxies.)
To preserve secrecy, an association should
send or deliver the ballots and two
preaddressed envelopes (Envelope #1 and
Envelope #2) to its owners.
A Guide to
Successful Association Meetings
- Annual Meetings or special meetings of a
community association are not usually
well-attended by the members. In fact, it
is often rare for an association to have
adequate attendance levels required by the
governing documents to vote on matters
pertaining to the governance of the
association. While there may be many
legitimate reasons for unsuccessful
meetings, certain practices and
preparations can lead to better attended
and more effective meetings.
Ways to Capture a
Quorum - The most effective
way to attract a quorum to an annual
membership meeting is to assure it is well
run, upbeat, reports on what happened
during the last year, announces what is
planned for the next year, and recognizes
the volunteers who made it happen.
Meeting Glossary
- terms to understand
Phrases for the
Presiding Officer - what
you need to say when you're running a
formal meeting
Meeting
Agendas: The Key to Order and
Efficiency
Have you every wondered why the
best laid plans for a successful
community association meeting can
go awry immediately following the
beginning of the meeting? The
usual culprit is the failure to
have a well-organized and clear
agenda for the meeting
Celebration
- Every community association meeting,
business or social event, should end on a
positive note. The thoughts and feelings
of the participants as they go out the
door are the ones they will remember.
Effective
Presentations Meeting of the Members -
It's your time to shine! -
An idea comes to mind and you've
decided to follow - "A Guide to an
Effective Presentation." (1) Organizing
the presentation; (2) Developing the
content; (3) Creating and using visual
aids; and (4) Delivering the presentation.
Preventing Contested
Elections - An election
challenge is a serious matter, which if
left unresolved, can have long lasting
implications for your association.
Board of Directors
Candidate Survey (PDF) -
from Matthew Swinton's blog, question
sheet for potential board members
Symphonizing Your Homeowner
Association Meetings - A well
conducted meeting is like a symphony. Using
a well thought out plan, the Chair cues,
directs and closes the meeting much like a
conductor. Conducting successful meetings
doesn't happen by chance. There is a
combination of clear purpose coupled with
ground rules. Here are some tips that can
make your meetings like music to the ears.
Homeowner Association Meetings of
The Mindful - Community
associations are required to hold an annual
owners meetings. The main reason for the
annual meeting is to elect directors to the
board. This time, however, provides a
wonderful opportunity to celebrate the
community and build rapport between the
owners. Here are some ways to make your
annual meeting a "don’t wanna miss it"
event:
How To Popularize Homeowner
Association Meetings - Getting
folks to turn off the tube and turn up at
the annual meeting can be a challenge. How
do you trump the pros of entertainment?
While it's tough, there are several things
you can do, including:
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Parliamentary Procedure |
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PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE
The unique system of parliamentary law
originated in the English Parliament as a
way of debating public affairs. The rules
were introduced to meetings in America with
the first settlers from England and, as we
know them today, were established in 1876 by
Henry M. Robert when he published his first
manual on parliamentary law entitled
Robert's Rules of Order (hereinafter
Robert's). The most recent edition of
Robert's is titled Robert's Rules of Order
Newly Revised (1990 Edition) (hereafter
referred to as RONR). A common misconception
is that parliamentary procedure is
synonymous with Robert's Rules of Order. It
is not, it is simply the most popular and
most commonly used form of parliamentary
procedure, with others like Sturgis Standard
Code of Parliamentary Procedure, Demeter's
Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure
and Riddick's Rules of Procedure also
available and popular with specific groups
such as doctors or unions. Read More
 Community
Associations and Parliamentary Procedure
“Laws should be like clothes.
They should be made to fit the people
they serve,” advised Clarence Darrow.
Similarly, the
procedures used during meetings should be made
to fit the particular organization as well as
the particular meeting.
read more
Robert's Rules of Order Motions Chart Chart of motions and their order of
precedence. A motion can be introduced if
it is higher on the chart than the pending
motion.
read more
Parliamentary Procedure for Community
Associations - Justice and courtesy to all; One
thing at a time; The rule of the majority;
The right of the minority.
read more
How to Run an Effective Meeting
Have you ever sat though a pointless meeting and
calculated just how much money was being wasted
as a dozen well-paid professionals zoned out
around a deathly boring conference table? Horror
stories of bad meetings are legion, but the
qualities that characterize a good meeting are
harder to define. Whether they're team check-ins
or department updates, the regular meetings we
hold every week or every month are often the
hardest to get fired up about. But making them
better isn't simply a matter of ordering coffee
and bagels (or even pretzels and beer).
Productive, valuable, and engaging meetings
require a clear goal, an open dialog, and a
strong leader. Here's how to make your meetings
matter.
Read More
Community Associations and Their Rules
- Although a tremendous opportunity for service,
community associations are foreign to many
parliamentarians. Parliamentarians venturing
into this area must become familiar with the
language of community associations, complex
governing authorities, and some unique problems
affecting community associations.
read more
Community Associations and Parliamentary
Procedure - Conduct of business often
varies by assembly size. Most
parliamentary manuals provide that the conduct
in smaller boards and committees can be more
informal. Robert’s
Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th
Edition) suggests that the formal procedure
used by larger groups could hinder business in a
board meeting of fewer than a dozen.
As a result, smaller
boards and committees can follow an informal
procedure, such that:
read more
Community Association Statutes and
Procedures - As a parliamentarian, you
will likely be called upon at some point to
assist a community association. According to
the Community Associations Institute (“CAI”),
over 51 million Americans live in
association-governed communities. Some
9,000-11,000 new community associations are
formed each year, and more than four in five
housing starts during the past 5-8 years have
been built as part of a community association.
Given such statistics, the number of community
association meetings must be astronomical—think
of all those associations multiplied by one
annual meeting, occasional special meetings,
monthly board meetings, and regular meetings of
committees. As a result, it is worth the effort
to learn what community associations are (and
are not), how they are organized, and some of
the unusual statutes and procedures that govern
them.
read moreThe above 3
articles come from Jim Slaughter's web site on
parliamentary procedure matters. For more
articles here is the link to his
table of contents
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