I Was Elected The President

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Not really, just wanted to attract attention. Anyhow, last Wednesday, I was elected a deputy member of executive committee of Mielikkitalo. Some of you may remember the club house I visit almost daily, where used to be almost exclusively the only place where I used TPM. It's also a club house for mental health trainees and other people who need a place to go daily. Mielikkitalo's main goal is to protect the clients from loneliness and alienation. We chat with friends, play games and also can voluntarily take part in housework.

I was elected with a secret voting system where each of about 50 partakers in our main meeting wrote from 1 up to 4 names on pieces of paper and 4 people were elected the main members and three deputy members.

As a deputy member, I'm going to take part in committee meetings and I'm really curious.

So that this won't be just a mere congratulations thread, I ask you other TPMers if you have ever been members of executive committees or perhaps boards of directors of enterprises or such. If not, would you be interested in such action.

For example, my dream was to work for Nintendo once. Right now kinda distant dream.

Also, you may, of course, ask me something realted to this!

[Magmar]

Committees!!! Ohohohoho. I did many a committee in my days in undergrad. :)

Depending on how formal your committee hearings are, and depending, of course, on the purpose of your committee, here we follow Robert's Rules of Orders in which one member is elected speaker (usually the "ex-officio", or non-voting member) to coordinate the meetings and follows this rule guide to officially manage the hearings. Usually there is an agenda, which members vote on whether to approve at the start of meetings and can amend before making the final vote, and a roll call. On the agenda are "line items" and can look like this:

Sample TPM meeting agenda!
I. Call to order
II. Roll call
III. Approval of the Agenda
IV. Officer's Announcements
--a. President--KEVIN
--b. Vice-President--LADY VULPIX
--c. Treasurer--LITTLE_PIKACHU
--d. Secretary--JEFF
--e. Speaker--FIREPOKEMON
V. Old Business
--a. Pikachu vs. Electabuzz which is better--M. YUKITATSU
--b. Mt. Moon Posting Privileges--HEALD, REDSTARWARRIOR
VI. New Business
--a. Should we ban Drusilla--CHOBICHIBI, MAGMAR (sorry! just for example!)
--b. Sexiest TPM member commission--OSLO
--c. Forum improvements
VII. Issues of Committee Members
VIII. Adjournment

At least, that's how we conducted them in my experience.

Usually, all members get to vote yes, no, or abstain on issues that require a vote on whether to pass, fail, or "table". By "tabling" an item, you can either push it for a future meeting until a later meeting, or "table indefinitely" which is what you do when you think what you are discussing is of no relevance and your body has no authority to make a decision on this. You can "remove an item from the table" by doing something called "make a motion". When you make a motion, you are calling to attention an action that you would like the committee to agree on doing. Such as "Motion to approve banning Drusilla". If another committee member "seconds" your motion, then the "motion" is open to debate. You can't debate something without a motion on the table, because the expectation is usually that by the time something comes to the committee, there is enough information to motion for something either way.

You can amend motions with "friendly amendments" as long as you have a second, but then there is discussion on the amendment to the motion. So it could become "Motion to ban Drusilla and Asilynne from TPM" and then there is debate. If the amendment is approved by a majority vote, then you have to vote on the main motion again.

It gets lengthy and boring when you do things this way.

To alleviate that, there are special provisions such as the "Two/Two rule", where each committee member can, should they decide to speak, discuss with the group at most twice how they feel on that particular motion or make suggestions for no more than two minutes each time. The speaker keeps tabs of this and can rule anything that breaks a rule "out of order", which makes it null and void to the discussion.

You can also "yield the floor" to anyone you wish. For example, with our fake agenda, say Dragonfree is not a member of the committee. You could elect to speak first and say, "I yield the floor to Dragonfree" and then Dragonfree will be able to speak about the suggested forum improvements.

Speaking out-of-turn and acting uncivil/unprofessional during a committee meeting could lead to your being thrown out of the meeting! If you don't do your job well and it creates a great deal of contempt (not saying you will, but someone else could), you could be asked to "resign" (quit). The general membership, those who elected you, could also petition for a "recall" of your election, in which you must run again for the position in a new vote. You can also be "impeached" from your position if you do something very wrong, in which you could be asked to voluntarily step down and if you refuse, there is a trial and the membership gets to vote on whether or not to keep you.

Hmm what else happens at committee meetings... Oh there is usually someone who takes "minutes" of the meetings. Minutes are transcripts that are also generalizations of what happened. It is rarely completely verbatim. They are often typed out and then sent back to your body for approval at a later date. You can read them over, usually in advance, and then approve or amend the minutes with a motion, which leads to further debate.

Sometimes you vote by raising hands to yay, nay or abstain; sometimes you verbally vote; sometimes it is "secret ballot" meaning you put your answers on a piece of paper and they are tallied, allowing you to vote anonymously. This takes away accountability for voting against something you feel is wrong, and if the votes are split nobody really knows who voted either way; if they are unanimous (all voted the same way) then the awkwardness is gone and you can move on with the next "line item" aka line on the agenda.

I don't know if your committee is this serious or not. I just wanted to give you a good heads-up as to what some committees really ARE like where I'm from and what I've experienced. :)

And you'll do just fine! You're a very likeable and nice person. Just pay attention to discussion and don't speak out of turn, and you'll be okay!

[Becky]

Just like Magmar, I was either in charge or a member of many groups in both my undergraduate and graduate careers. Magmar covered lots of important information much better than I could have. I'm excited for your new opportunity!