BASFA Meeting Madness

[howeird]

Last night's BASFA meeting wasted a lot of time, once again, on start-of-the-meeting mock parliamentary procedures. I arrived at 8:15, they were still debating some item which eventually failed almost unanimously. We only have 2 hours, tops, for the meetings (1.5 is the technical time, but our restaurant cuts us some slack), eating up such a big chunk on nonsense motions means not getting to the good stuff. The auction was so rushed we probably only got half the income we should have, not to mention the fun. I had three reviews I wanted to give, but didn't because we were so short on time. NP, I'll do them here. Eventually.

Through all this, our esteemed President continues to do a brilliant job of conducting the meetings with wit, charm and fairness, against all odds. The parliamentary madness is something he's stuck with, it's part of the club rules (which I like to call the Dread Pirate Roberts' Rules of Order). The abuse of these rules by the members is fun, don't get me wrong, I just prefer some meat under my piquant sauce. Announcements, reviews and auctions are all great sources of mirth, and they're high in nutrition as well. I guess what I'm asking the membership is to please not fill up on the appetizers.

And I found myself being rude to a new member who sat next to me, who was trying to ask me questions about something which had nothing to do with the meeting (a review I wrote). As much as I wanted to talk to her about that, it wasn't the time or place. And I'd just commented last week on how annoying the side conversations are. If she's reading this, my apologies, comment here and I'll make it up to you.

Comments

[caprine.livejournal.com]

"Dread Pirate Roberts' Rules of Order"?

Bwahahahaaa!

[melchar.livejournal.com]

The 'Dread Pirate Roberts rules of order'? I -love- that! You must mention it at some meeting because that is just wonderful

[gil-liant.livejournal.com]

Through all this, our esteemed President continues to do a brilliant job of conducting the meetings with wit, charm and fairness, against all odds.

^_^ I appreciate the kind words. In general, BASFA's a fairly forgiving lot and I think this praise far in excess of the facts. Chairing a meeting is easy, anyone could do it. (Honest! ^_^)

I have been trying to 'play games' with the agenda as a way of signaling to the membership that too much 'silly buggers' means stuff will get missed -- and it isn't always going to be the same stuff! (Maybe I should put officer's reports last, next time ...?) So people should be considerate of their fellows. Also a quiet pre-meeting word in the president's ear can help make sure certain agenda items will get priority for a specific meeting ... sometimes. Ultimately, of course, it's their meeting! I just facilitate.

But it's always nice to read nice people saying nice things about oneself. ^_^

[howeird]

I mentioned it a few months ago, when [tall] Kevin was explaining how we used a modified Roberts Rules. But it must have got lost in the other surrounding jollity...