Notice of Meetings, Quorum and Agenda
Notice of Meetings
Members of societies should always receive a notice of the meeting requesting them to attend. Voluntary organisations – including political parties, trade unions and community groups – should as far as possible represent the views of all their members, and the best way of achieving this is to ensure that members are encouraged to attend meetings regularly by sending them written notices. This should apply unless there are effective substitutes – for example, by using notice-boards at the workplace for union branch meetings. To ensure maximum participation by members, at least seven days’ notice of meetings should be given, particularly when important issues are to be discussed or elections to be held.
Notice should set out the agenda
Whenever possible, the notice convening the meeting should set out the agenda: that is, the items of business which are to come before the meetings. To guard against accidentally omitting any item of business from the agenda and to allow for contingencies which may arise after the agenda has been printed, it is advisable to say on the notice summoning the meeting ‘The agenda will include the following items’. Then follows the list of items. if this is not done, someone may challenge the right of the meeting, when it is held, to deal with an item which has not been specifically mentioned in the notice. Except in the case of an annual or similar formal conference (where it is desirable to preclude the introduction of ‘surprise’ items), the items ‘Any other business’ should be put on the agenda as an additional safeguard, so that if any item has been left out by accident it can be brought up under this heading. It also enables members to raise matters not on the agenda. Notices convening meetings should as far as possible contain every item on the agenda to enable members to judge for themselves how important it is for them to attend.
Although notices of meetings should wherever possible set out the agenda, they may vary widely in other respects. Some may be brief and formal, simply listing the items to be discussed. Others, as well as setting out the agenda, may give the background to an issue to be discussed at the meeting and encourage members to attend by arousing their interest.
Preparing for the meetings
Preparing the agenda
In the case of branch or committee meetings, the agenda is usually prepared by the secretary and submitted to the chair for their approval. If there is a difference of opinion between the chair and the secretary as to whether any particular item should be put to a meeting, or on any other point concerning the agenda, it is the secretary’s duty to refer the matter to the committee or the body under whose auspices the meeting is taking place. It is then that committee’s job to decide the point. Failing this, the full meeting must decide whether the item is to be included in the agenda or not.
Familiarisation with the issues
The chair should prepare thoroughly for the meeting by familiarising themselves with any papers to be considered and making brief notes about any points which may come up. They should make a point of getting to the meeting place at least 15 minutes before the meeting is due to begin to discuss with the secretary any important issues which are likely to arise, and to familiarise themselves with any correspondence which is due to be discussed and which they have not seen in advance. Otherwise they will have to do this while the meeting is in progress, which will mean that they will be unable to give their undivided attention to conducting the meeting properly.
The Quorum
The standing orders or rules will specify the quorum – the number or proportion of members who must be present to permit business to be transacted at the meeting – and no meeting should be allowed to start until the chair is sure that a quorum exists. The object of requiring a quorum is to ensure that enough people are present to make the meeting sufficiently representative of the association or body concerned.
Size of quorum
The rules of societies should make provision for a quorum, either by giving the actual number of members required or by stating the proportion of members which must be in attendance. In principle, a majority would be ideal because there would then be less chance of decisions running into objections on the grounds that the meeting had not been truly representative. But in practice, participation in most bodies tends to be low and a lower figure is more realistic. There will not usually be provision for a quorum in the case of public meetings called by political parties, local associations, religious or social bodies, or mass meetings of trade unions.
Time limit for quorum
The important thing for the chair to keep in mind is that if there is no quorum present at any meeting where a quorum is required by rule or standing order, the meeting should be adjourned to another date. If it proceeds, the business will not be in order and decisions will not be binding upon the members. The standing orders should state the time limit within which the necessary quorum should be present – for example, 15 minutes from the start of the meeting.
Proceeding in the absence of a quorum
Can anything be done in the absence of a quorum? Common-sense suggests that where routine business would be held up because of the absence of a quorum, and where there is no vital issue at stake, nothing would be lost by those present having an informal talk about matters. There may be some outstanding business which cannot be deferred. If there is no meeting, the officials would have to act on their own initiative and it might be helpful for them to know the views of those present. But in such circumstances the officers would bear the responsibility for any actions taken subsequently, and the chair would have to make it absolutely clear that because of the absence of a quorum no binding decisions could be taken by those present. No record would appear in the minutes other than the bare announcement that no quorum was present and that the meeting had to be adjourned. If the officers are doubtful about the wisdom of even an informal discussion, the chair should rule that as there is no quorum present no business can be transacted. The secretary should record this in the minutes.
Members leaving break up quorum
A quorum is needed not only at the beginning but throughout a meeting. If at any time members leave, and this reduces the numbers below the required quorum, the meeting should be adjourned. Otherwise any business which was transacted afterwards would be out of order. The secretary should tell the chair if they discover that there is no quorum, and the chair should then adjourn the meeting.
Opening the meeting
Once they are satisfied that there is a quorum, the chair should ensure that meetings begin punctually by rising promptly at the time for commencement and calling the meeting to order. They may use a mallet for this purpose, but in larger meetings a bell is perhaps a better means of ensuring attention. Making sure the mallet or bell is at hand is the secretary’s job, as is providing a carafe of water for the chair with glasses for them and any visiting speakers.
Agenda
Specimen branch agenda
The following is a fairly typical agenda for a trade union branch meeting:
Agenda
- Apologies for absence
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- General Correspondence
- Branch Committee Reports
- Applications for membership
- District Committee’s Reports
- Trades Council or other Reports
- To consider the following Notice of Motion by Bro. C. Shore: ‘That Branch Meetings be held monthly in future instead of fortnightly’
- Any Other Business
- Date of next meeting
Object of the agenda
The main reasons for having an agenda are to make sure that no item of importance is omitted; to provide that business is dealt with in the proper order; and to warn all members about what will come before the meeting, thus preventing items being sprung upon them suddenly.
If, as was recommended at the beginning of this chapter, a notice of the meeting setting out the agenda has been circulated in advance of the meeting by the secretary, then it is unnecessary to read the agenda to the meeting (although the chair might make sure that every member has a copy, and the secretary should have spares available for those who have forgotten to bring their agenda). If no agenda has been circulated, immediately after opening the meeting the chair should read the agenda to the meeting.
Any other business
Apart from letting everybody know what is to be discussed, this enables members to prepare to raise points under ‘Any Other Business’ which always comes towards the end of the agenda. At this point in the meeting, or at a convenient early stage, the chair should ask members if any of them will want to raise any points under ‘Any Other Business’, and what these points are. The chair should take these members’ names and when ‘Any Other Business’ is reached they should call on these speakers in the order their names were recorded. If at this point someone else who has not previously indicated their intention of doing so tries to raise a new matter, the chair is perfectly entitled to rule that they may not do so. Insisting on advance notice in this way enables the chair to adjust the timing of the meeting, which might otherwise over-run.
‘Any Other Business’ should not be used to bring up controversial matters and if members try to use it to put forward motions for which they should have given notice, the chair should rule that these motions should be placed on the agenda of the next meeting.
Emergency motions
However, ‘Any Other Business’ can be used to bring forward emergency motions. Such motions must concern issues which have arisen after the agenda has been prepared and which are genuinely urgent – in other words, that action needs to be taken before the next meeting. If the chair is certain that the issue raised falls into this category (and experience suggests that most so-called emergency motions do not do so), they should take the emergency motion first under ‘Any Other Business’, allowing rather more time for it than would be usual under ‘Any Other Business’ as the subject will almost certaily be interesting and controversial. Like all other motions, emergency motions must be seconded (see chapter 3).
Items not on the agenda
If any member has put forward an item or given notice of motion, and this item is not on the agenda, they should inform the chair before the start of the meeting if the agenda has been circulated in advance (or immediately after the agenda has been read). If the item has been omitted by a mistake, the chair should announce that it has been added to the agenda.
Timetable
The chair should have a timetable worked out before they go into the meeting. Otherwise the meeting may spend a disproportionate amount of its time discussing trivial issues rather than more important business. If the agenda is a full one, it is the chair’s responsibility to make sure no time is wasted and once they feel that an issue has been adequately dealt with, they should secure the approval of members to progress to the next item. They can also take responsibility for suggesting to the meeting that it might defer considering matters which are minor or not urgent so that the meeting can give proper attention to the more important business. Even on important matters the chair can suggest limiting the number of speakers and the length of speeches. Members will usually go along with them if time is short.
Varying the order of the agenda
Items should usually be taken in the order in which they appear on the agenda paper. However, the chair can vary the order at their discretion, and if one individual (usually the secretary) is due to speak on several agenda items consecutively, it may be advisable to do so to avoid boring the members and to give the secretary a break. But where the order is varied, the chair should always explain what they are going to do, and give the reasons for their decision. If they fail to do this, it may give rise to unreasonable suspicions amongst members.
A member present at a meeting may ask for a particular item to be taken out of order, either by being brought forward earlier, or deferred. The chair is entitled to exercise their discretion on this kind of request, but the meeting can insist if the chair objects. In such a case a motion will have to be moved and seconded by members present to ensure that the proposed change is accepted and put into operation by the chair. But this would be very unusual and it should be possible to sort things out without having to resort to the formal procedure of a motion.