Roberts Rules of Order

I take most of this from http://www.robertsrules.org, since I can't find my book with the rules.

There are several rules, and their intent is to allow decisions to be made in a straightforward manner. The language used in Robert's Rules sounds somewhat Victorian. Maybe I can break it down into more modern English.

Definition of "motion": a formal proposal for action made to a deliberative assembly for discussion (google definitions, princeton website)

We might say, "propositions", or even better, "offers". The other meaning of "motion" could be captured by the word "plan".

The main offers have a certain order of precedence, meaning when one is offered with lower priority than what is currently going on, it gets ignored.

Main Offers (from lowest priority to highest):

- to begin discussing a plan

- to end permanently the current plan

- to reword the current plan

- to let a committee figure out the details of a plan

- to postpone a plan to a certain time

- to limit or extend a debate

- to close a debate

- to lay aside a detail temporarily

- to follow the agenda for the day instead of whatever was going on

- to complain about something going on in the proceedings

- to take a break

- to end a meeting

There are a few other things you can do, as situations arise, like have a plan reconsidered, cancel a previous action, request information, enforce rules, and avoid making a decision about something. Pretty neat way to run meetings.