OCCC club officers will get a helping hand at how to efficiently and effectively run a meeting at an upcoming Leader Series.

“Robert’s Rules of Order” will be the topic from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct 8, in the college’s Oklahoma Room, said political science Professor Dana Glencross.

“‘Robert’s Rules of Order’ is a book that establishes rules for how to conduct a meeting,” she said.

To start, a mock meeting is created, Glencross said. Then, unexpected topics will be raised.

“We will show how those things will be able to be … solved in appropriate ways,” she said.

Glencross said the meeting will have three main sections: the introduction of Robert’s Rules, a mock meeting and a question-and-answer feedback session.

“I will take probably 20 minutes to discuss some general rules, then another 20 minutes to practice having a meeting … ,” Glencross said.

“I will make various things go wrong and then, I can coach them as how to correct that.

She said another 10 to 15 minutes will be set aside for the Q and A session.

“Anybody can attend,” she said. “Students do not have to be club officers.”

Glencross said skills will be learned at the event such as what rights each person has.

For instance, she said, every voting member in a meeting should have the chance to vote, know what they are voting on and understand what is going on in the meeting.

Glencross said the meeting also will help [students and clubs officers] understand the order of opening a meeting, conducting business, taking votes and closing the meeting.

“I think a lot of club officers lack training and lack direction in who gets recognized to speak, and so they will all talk at once,” she said.

“ … Then they run out of time to get business of the club done.”

Glencross said the event came about after Student Life noticed many clubs on campus fail to follow meeting criteria in their meetings.

“It is frustrating for students who take their time to go to club meetings (and) then they come out an hour later and haven’t done anything,” she said.

“And it is also frustrating because [club members]want to say something or have an idea and they never got to do it.”

Glencross said [Robert’s Rules of Order] is good not only for a club’s officers, but also for people who are involved in the community.

Gradahpe Pizano, pre-medicine major, said she was in a debate club in high school. She said some of the meetings she attended then were unorganized.

“Club meetings have a limited amount of time, and they usually could not cover the whole topic in time,” Pizano said.

Pizano said she thinks the Robert’s Rules of Order event will help club leaders avoid that issue.

Psychology student Adelina Gregory said Robert’s Rules is a great idea for helping clubs conduct their meetings more efficiently.

“ … Club speakers usually spend too much (time) on subjects at the beginning of the meeting, then they try to rush in other subjects.”

For more information about the event, email Glencross at dglencross@occc.edu.

For more information on Robert’s Rules of Order, visit www.robertsrules.com.