Ask the Chair

Free · about 2 minutes

Meeting Readiness Check

Twelve quick questions about how your board, council, or association runs its meetings. You’ll get a score out of 100, how you do in each area, and the specific fixes that matter most — with a PDF report to share with your board.

What kind of organization is it?

Before the meeting

Agenda, materials, and notice

1. How is the agenda prepared?
2. Do members get reports and documents to review before the meeting?
3. Is notice of each meeting given the way your bylaws (or state law) require?

Running the meeting

Quorum, motions, debate, and votes

4. How are decisions made?
5. Does the chair confirm a quorum before doing business?
6. When someone moves to amend, “table,” or “call the question,” how does it go?
7. How does discussion go?

Minutes and follow-through

The record, and getting things done

8. What do your minutes record?
9. Are minutes approved at the next meeting and kept somewhere safe?
10. Are action items tracked until they’re done?

Bylaws and governance

The rules your body runs on

11. When were your bylaws last reviewed?
12. Do your bylaws clearly say what a quorum is, how to call special meetings, and how to amend them?
0 of 12 answered
Ask the Chair

This is procedural guidance, not legal advice. Confirm high-stakes decisions with your attorney or clerk.

Robert's Rules of Order is a registered trademark of the Robert's Rules Association. Ask the Chair is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Robert's Rules Association or the publishers of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised.