Sample Rules for Synchronous e-Meetings
Paul McClintock, CP-T
The electronic chapter of AIP (www.e-AIP.org) has been meeting online since June, 2002 in various chat rooms. Meeting in such a way requires authorization in bylaws, and special rules of order to adapt Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) to the chat room meeting situation. This article provides a sample set of bylaws and other rules for fictional AIP chapter 99 for chat room meetings, with comments {enclosed in braces} intermixed with the rules. These sample rules stem from the rules developed by e-AIP, but differ in some respects.
Sample Bylaws for Chat Room Meetings (for AIP Chapter #99)
Article on Meetings
Section on Location. Meetings shall be held in the chapter's chat room unless otherwise ordered by the chapter or executive board. The default location shall be decided by standing rule. Any meeting location shall be accessible via the internet using a standard web browser. Telephone and video conference meetings are also authorized. {Comment: a teleconference meeting might be necessary in the event of technical difficulties in meeting online.}
Section on Notices. Notices may be given by e-mail to the e-mail address on file for each member.
Section on Web Site. The chapter shall maintain a web site which shows the meeting time and location and some way to contact an officer.
Section on Secret Voting. The chapter, executive board, or president shall provide a means for secret voting via the internet during online meetings, with links and instructions posted on the chapter's web site.
Article on Executive Board
Section on Board Meetings. Meetings may be in a chat room, by telephone or video conference, just as allowed for chapter meetings.
Article on Parliamentary Authority
The rules contained in the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the chapter in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with NAP's or these bylaws and any special rules of order the chapter may adopt. In applying the parliamentary authority, the chapter shall be considered a deliberative assembly when meeting in a chat room with proper notice and quorum.
Sample Special Rules of Order for Chat Room Meetings
1. Online meetings shall be held in an internet relay chat room (IRC) which displays the nickname (nick) of each attendee next to each message posted by the attendee.
2. Members shall connect to the chat room using a nickname that readily identifies the member in a style such as JohnDoe, and upon the request of the chair, any nickname shall be changed to a more suitable name.
{Note: the /nick command, e.g., [ /nick JohnDoe ], changes the nickname.}
3. Prefixes for nicknames shall be used as follows: p_ for president, v_ for vice-president, s_ for secretary, t_ for treasurer, and g_ for guests.
{E.g., p_JaneDoe for president Jane Doe.}
4. Abbreviations shall be allowed and encouraged for the following:
MC = Mister/Madam Chairman
CR = The Chair Recognizes
MS = It is Moved and Seconded
PO = Point of Order
Other abbreviations shall be allowed if understood by attendees and there is no objection.
5. The chat room facility used shall have the ability to display the nicknames of all attendees. This list shall be used to determine the presence of a quorum. Attendees who are temporarily absent shall indicate their departure and return in some suitable and clear fashion, such as the /away and the /back commands.
{Note: some IRC programs may use [ /away for 2 minutes ] for departing, and [ /away ] (the command word with nothing following) for returning.}
6. The chair may put the vote in the chat room with a single call, such as: Those in favor type Yes; those opposed type No; those abstaining type Abstain. Vote responses may consequently be intermixed in the chat room. The chair may announce the vote result once ample opportunity to respond has been given and further responses could not affect the result.
If ample opportunity to respond has been given but further responses could affect the result, the chair may type, “If there are no further votes...” [enter], and give a 3 second countdown with “3” [enter], “2” [enter], “1” [enter], then “The polls are closed” [enter]. When further responses could affect the result, the polls shall be closed only after such notice and 3-second opportunity to cast a vote.
7. The chair may use a polling site for an open or for a secret vote, at the chair's discretion or as the chapter orders. The polls shall be opened and closed at such a site in any reasonable, clear and fair manner.
{Note: Voting in the chat room works well for small groups of around a dozen or fewer for non-secret voting, but for larger groups the votes can scroll off the screen. Even though votes can be scrolled back into view in a chat room, it can be increasingly difficult to determine the outcome of a close vote as the number of voters increases. For this reason, a separate polling site may be needed when there are many voters. Such a site tallies the votes, and poll sites can provide for both secret and non-secret (open) voting.}
8. Each speech in debate shall be limited to 3 minutes of typing and posting time.
{Note: if the speaker pastes a prepared speech, it make take well under 3 minutes to copy and paste it, but well over 3 minutes to read it. The limit is on the posting, not on the time it takes to read it.}
9. Long motions, reports, and speeches shall be posted in parts, with each part before the last ending in “...” and the last part ending in “END” to signify yielding the floor. Each part should be short enough that the time to post it is under 30 seconds. If the member having the floor does not post within 60 seconds, the chair may assume the member has yielded the floor.
10. The chair may assign the floor on the basis of recent requests for recognition, rather than strictly on the basis of those seeking recognition after each person yields the floor.
11. IRC software for PasteBin and UploadFile or some other suitable means shall be used for posting lengthy messages.
Sample Standing Rules for Chat Room Meetings
A. The chapter's default chat room shall be at the SlashNET.org IRC channel #aipchap99.
B. The chapter's web site home page shall be at www.aipchapter99.org.
C. Members shall provide the chapter with a valid e-mail address for chapter communications and voting.
D. Free web sites and facilities shall be used where possible.
Paul McClintock, CP-T, is the president of the e-AIP online chapter (www.e-aip.org), and webmaster for AIP (www.AIPparl.org). He lives in the Seattle, WA area and is also president of the North Sound Chapter of AIP.