Simplified Rules of Order

Sample Order of Business

Adoption of the Agenda

In some associations it is the practice to circulate copies of the agenda of the meeting in advance. Alternatively, the proposed agenda may be written on a chalkboard before the meeting begins. In either case the meeting should begin with the consideration of the agenda. The chairperson will ask if any of the members have additional matters that should be placed on the agenda. After these have been taken care of, the chairperson should call for a motion to adopt the agenda.

A member should then move: "That the agenda be adopted." (Or "adopted as amended.") A seconder is required. Passage of the motion (requiring a simple majority) restricts the business of the meeting to items listed on the agenda.

Many of the less formal associations do not bother with consideration of the agenda in this way. However, the procedure outlined above protects the membership from the introduction, without prior warning, of new, and perhaps controversial, matters of business. If a meeting does adopt an agenda, it can change that agenda only by a formal motion to do so. A member might move, for example, that an item be added to the agenda or deleted from the agenda or that the order in which the items are to be discussed be changed. Such a motion must be seconded and requires a two-thirds majority vote. (See "Orders of the Day".)