Cannon's Concise Guide to Rules of Order

Book excerpt: Cannon's handbook on parliamentary procedure is user friendly for the inexperienced and an invaluable guide for the veteran presiding officer. His method for holding effective meetings is based not on the traditional, bewildering accumulation of particulars and exceptions, but on common sense, logic, good communication and fairness all within the bylaws and rules of any organization as well as traditional procedure. A professional parliamentarian since 1965, Hugh Cannon has guided meetings with as few as 30 and as many as 10,000 delegates. Now, with revealing and amusing anecdotes, he puts this extensive practical experience at the service of readers. His Card System,' for communication between a parliamentarian and the Chair, was first introduced in this handbook, and now is presented as a workshop topic at many national conferences for parliamentarians. The section of the handbook devoted only to rules of procedure ( A Short Course in Parliamentary Procedure ) is a mercifully brief 70 pages, compared to the hundreds of pages in traditional procedure manuals. Yet these pages cover all that will ever come up in most local, state or national meetings. In simple, contemporary language the reader is provided a thorough and complete understanding of the rules of parliamentary procedure.