Robert’s Rules, in plain English
Ask the Chair
Run a confident, orderly meeting — in plain English.
A parliamentarian in your pocket for city councils, school boards, HOAs, nonprofits, and churches: answers to procedure questions, word-for-word chair scripts, minutes written from your meeting recording, and a check of your minutes and bylaws.
Free plan: 15 questions a month, a sample chair script, and a Bylaws Health Check score. No credit card.
10-point
Bylaws Health Check with a score out of 100
Word for word
chair scripts for every agenda item
12th edition
of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised
Free
to start — 15 questions a month
Try it now
Ask anything about Robert’s Rules
Describe what’s happening in your meeting. You’ll get a plain-English answer and exactly what the chair says.
Who it’s for
For anyone who has to run the meeting
City councils and commissions
Open-meeting rules, charters, and statutes above your bylaws.
See how it helps →
School boards
Public votes, motions, and minutes that hold up.
See how it helps →
Homeowners associations
Member meetings, quorum, and elections done right.
See how it helps →
Nonprofit boards
Committees, conflicts of interest, and clean minutes.
See how it helps →
Churches
Congregational and council business meetings, in order.
See how it helps →
What it does
Everything the chair needs, before the gavel falls
Free to try
Ask the parliamentarian
Ask any procedure question in your own words. You get a plain-English answer: what to do, exactly what the chair says, and the vote it takes — following your own bylaws first, then Robert’s Rules.
- Answers cite the Robert’s Rules sections they rely on
- Share an answer by copy, email, Word, or PDF
- On the Board plan, ask about your own records: “When did we last raise dues?”
Example
“A member wants to change the motion we’re debating. How do I handle it?”
What to do: treat it as a motion to amend. It needs a second, it’s debatable, and it takes a majority vote.
“It is moved and seconded to amend the motion by striking ‘$5,000’ and inserting ‘$7,500.’ Is there any debate on the amendment?”
Vote on the amendment first, then on the motion as amended.
Free sample
Agenda in, chair script out
Upload or paste your agenda — even a scanned board packet — and get a word-for-word script for the whole meeting, with the chair’s words highlighted so you can find them at a glance.
- What to say if there’s no second, an amendment, or a tie
- The full vote for every motion
- Download as Word or PDF
Example · Item 4. Approve the budget
“Is there a motion to approve the budget as presented?”
[ Wait for a motion and a second. ]
If no second:
“The motion fails for lack of a second. We’ll move to the next item.”
If there’s a tie:
“The vote is four in favor and four opposed. The motion is lost.”
First review free · Public Body plan · $29/month add-on
Read the packet before the meeting
Got the agenda packet on Friday and no time to read it? Upload it, and every item is checked against your bylaws, earlier minutes and motions, and unfinished business. You get a short briefing — for every member, not just the chair.
- Possible conflicts with your bylaws, charter, or law
- Notice requirements, two-thirds votes, and readings
- Items already tabled or voted down, and what the board asked for last time
Agenda Pre-Review — regular meeting, October 20 · 5 of 10 items to look at
Item 4: changing the council’s rules needs written notice at the prior meeting and a two-thirds vote (Rule 12). The October 6 minutes show no notice.
Item 6: this rezoning failed 2–5 on August 11; Rule 15 bars bringing it back for six months.
Item 7: the fire truck purchase is still on the table from September 8 — take it from the table rather than moving it again.
Items 1–3: no concerns found.
Chair plan and up · $19 each on Free
Minutes from your meeting recording
Upload the meeting’s audio or video, or paste its YouTube link. Ask the Chair writes draft minutes in Robert’s Rules form — every motion with who moved it, the second, and the result — and marks anything to check against the recording.
- Name the speakers so movers and seconders come out right
- Review, edit, and save the minutes as a record
- The minutes audit and Bylaws Watch run on them automatically
Example · Regular meeting, 2:14:05
Director Owens: “I move we accept the Blue Wave bid of eighteen thousand five hundred dollars.” Chair: “Is there a second? … The motion carries, three to one.”
New Business
Director Owens moved “to accept the Blue Wave bid of $18,500 for pool resurfacing.” Director Patel seconded. The motion carried, 3 to 1.
Check at 2:14:40 — confirm the vote count.
Chair plan
Minutes audits and Bylaws Watch
Every set of minutes is checked against Robert’s Rules and your bylaws. Bylaws Watch flags what the board did that the bylaws don’t allow, amendments it adopted, and policies that conflict — each with a suggested fix.
- Action items pulled from your minutes automatically
- Flags you can add to the next agenda in one click
- A records archive for minutes, agendas, and policies
Minutes audit — March 4, 2026 regular meeting
Quorum recorded (5 of 7 present).
Motion to approve the budget doesn’t record who seconded it or the vote count.
Officers elected by voice vote; the bylaws require a ballot (Article V, Section 2).
3 action items found and added to your tracker.
Free score · full report on paid plans
Bylaws Health Check and amendments
A 10-point checkup of your bylaws with a score out of 100, plus the loosely defined terms someone could stretch or redefine later. On the Board plan, turn the suggestions into amendments the board can vote on.
- Check the draft and watch the score climb
- Motions to read aloud and what adoption requires
- A Word package with every change marked, for board approval
- ✓ Choose changes & build
- ✓ Review the draft
- 3 Improve it
- 4 Share with the board
- 5 Record the adoption
Health Check: 35 now → 82 with the amendments. Includes the motions to read aloud, what adoption requires, and a Word package with the changes marked.
Board plan
Your board’s records, in one place
Your minutes, agendas, bylaws, and policies — read, searchable, and kept in order of authority, from state law and charter down to standing rules. Every task from your minutes, with who owns it and when it’s due.
- Up to 15 people on the Board plan
- Ask questions about your own records
- Bylaws versions with exactly what changed
- Get three quotes for the roof repairPat (Treasurer) · due May 15Overdue
- Send the revised budget to membersSam (Secretary) · due June 1Open
- Book the hall for the annual meetingLee (Chair) · due June 10Done
Public Body plan
Built for public bodies
Councils, commissions, and school boards work under open-meetings law, charters, and statutes. Ask the Chair keeps those above your bylaws and supports several bodies — a commission and its foundation, for example — under one account.
- Laws and charters followed in order of authority
- Executive-session records only for the people you allow
- Unlimited members, priced yearly by population
How it works
Ready for your next meeting in minutes
- 1
Add your organization
Upload your bylaws and other governing documents. We read them and run a Health Check.
- 2
Ask, or upload your agenda
Get answers in plain English, and a word-for-word script for your next meeting.
- 3
Run the meeting with confidence
Follow the script. Afterward, upload the recording or paste its YouTube link — we draft the minutes, check them, and track every task.
Built by a board chair
“I was rusty, and the board deserved better.”
William A. Green, Jr. has served as Montgomery’s District 5 City Councilman, as a founding board member of LEAD Academy, a charter school in Montgomery, and as Chair of the Alabama Public Television Foundation. He’s seen firsthand how meetings, and their outcomes, suffer when there’s no parliamentarian in the room — so he built Ask the Chair, the help he wished he’d had.
Read why he built it →Questions
Common questions
Is this legal advice?
Which rules does it follow?
Can it write our minutes from a recording?
Can it check our agenda packet before the meeting?
Who can see our documents?
Can the whole board use it?
I run more than one board. Do I pay twice?
What does it cost?
Can we cancel anytime?
Your next meeting can run by the book.
Start free. Upgrade when your board is ready.