District 8 – 2021 Conference

I joined NAP in 2013 and became a PRP in 2018. I have been nominated and nominated others many times for service, both from the floor and within a nominating committee. The Body of Knowledge of NAP tells us that a leader should have the knowledge and skills to conduct nominations. In this session, we will cover the role and function of a nominating committee, and the nominations process generally, including the changes introduced in the 12th ed of RONR. After the session, you will be a more effective nominator, member of a nominating committee, and chair during nominations.

“Parliamentary Jeopardy” is an educational (and hopefully FUN) game patterned after the popular TV game show “Jeopardy!” Participants will choose questions based on Roberts’ Rules of Order Newly Revised (12th Ed.) in a variety of categories and two rounds of play along with a “Final Jeopardy” clue, just like the TV version. Adaptable for three players, teams, or large group play, “Parliamentary Jeopardy” gets you thinking in different ways that can test your knowledge of RONR while having fun along the way.

David has been a member of NAP since 2008, and has been very active with the Sacramento Parliamentarians – Epsilon Unit throughout. He has been a requested presenter at California State Association of Parliamentarians annual meetings, Sierra Area Parliamentary Institutes, and Pacific Area meetings in northern California. Having retired from the United States Air Force in 1996, David turned his avocation of computers into a second vocation and earned his BS degree in Computer Science/Information Technology, with honors, from National University in 2001. He continued working in the IT field as a Business/Data Analyst until 2019.

This workshop on a secretary’s job will not take a “softball” approach such as presenting 10 easy steps to writing minutes. Instead, it will take a “hardball” approach by presenting 10 in-depth requirements for a good set of minutes, including a few nuances about minutes from the new 12th edition. So whether you’re a newly-elected secretary, a seasoned veteran of minutes, or someone who teaches others to write minutes, this workshop is for you. Come prepared to challenge yourself by playing a little hardball!

David is a PRP, Past CSAP President and former District-8 Director. He has presented for years at state, district and national educational conferences. He is known for his creative approaches to parliamentary topics and always challenges attendees to look at RONR topics from a different perspective. So if you attend, be prepared to participate and learn.

Lorenzo R Cuesta is a Professional Registered Parliamentarian. He has served as a parliamentarian for boards, conventions, and annual meetings in and beyond California for more than 20 years. He has been teaching parliamentary procedure by means of a three-hour interactive workshop focusing on members’ rights and efficient meeting management. He is convinced that telling is not teaching, and listening is not learning, but education should be enlightening. He is a frequent contributor to the National Parliamentarian and an annual workshop presenter at the NAP convention and conference. He is a past president of California State Association of Parliamentarians.

As Parliamentarians, one of our goals is to help others make better decisions….but sometimes, the best decision is NOT to do anything. RONR offers several means of avoidance; I could say we are going to discuss “Refer/Commit” so the business can languish and die an ignoble death in other hands — but that’s an old joke. So instead we will focus on Object to the Consideration of a Question, Postpone Indefinitely, Discharge a Committee, Rescind, and Withdraw. That’s a lot to cover so if we run out of time, we might withdraw “Withdraw.”.

Scott Burns first honed his parliamentary skills in high school; then as a labor union activist.   In 1990, Scott met Hugh Cannon at a labor convention.  Hugh introduced him to NAP and AIP and Scott then hung around with a varied group of distaff mentors for twelve years.  He finally decided to go legit — becoming a Registered Parliamentarian in 2002 and a Professional Registered Parliamentarian in 2005. For some reason, the California State Association of Parliamentarians foolishly thought he had leadership skills and elected him President. Twice.  To beef up his resume, he also became a charter member of the American College of Parliamentary Lawyers, where he has successfully avoided holding elective office for more than a decade.  Scott’s clients range from small arts organizations who don’t pay to large labor unions and professional associations who pay his outlandish fees because it’s easier than learning to master the book themselves. Scott is also a dealer in rare books and ephemera, but has no first editions of RONR at the moment. His biggest source of parliamentary pride is having once written a set of bylaws for which the “Quorum” was an elected officer.   If the Quorum wasn’t present, no business could be conducted.  Needless to say, Scott was the first and only Quorum the organization ever had.

This workshop demonstrates the steps a professional parliamentarian should take regarding virtual meetings to protect their clients. How did you handle bylaw amendments for your clients, help them recover from a state of emergency, and fix the mistakes they may have made in the year of a pandemic-yes, they decided to go ahead with zoom meetings because everyone else was doing it!. And during the process did you protect yourself?

Vivian is a Professional Registered Parliamentarian. She has been a member of NAP since 1990. She served as District 8 Director from 2017-2019. She is a past president of ASAP and a member of the AZ Alpha Unit. Vivian provides parliamentary services to local, state, and international organizations and individuals.

In his presentation on presiding, Mike covers the difference between being a Presiding Officer and a Professional Presiding Officer, and covers a variety of qualities a Presiding Officer should posses.

Mike has been a member of NAP since 1978, and is currently Director of District 8. He is a former president of the Arizona association, and has served in officer positions in several Arizona units, as well as units in Michigan and Nevada. An Associate Broker with RE/MAX Alliance Group, he also teaches real estate through MPRES.