Welcome to the Website for Robert's Rules For Dummies.

Bonus Chapters

We have included three Bonus Chapters in PDF format. You will need Adobe Reader installed to view these files. If you don't have Adobe Reader installed, you can download it from Adobe's website.

Starting a New Association: The Steps to Success

If you have a cause that needs the collective effort of a group of people with the same or similar objectives, there are steps you can take to ensure your group’s effectiveness in meeting your goals. Starting a new organization isn’t terribly difficult, but like anything else in Robert’s Rules, it’s all about procedure. This bonus chapter helps you navigate through the technicalities of establishing your association so that it’s not only effective but operates as a well-oiled machine. Topics covered in the chapter include:

• Understanding how new organizations are formed


• Managing productive organizational meetings


• Staffing a committee to draft bylaws


• Enrolling charter members

Yessir, once your new association is up and running (thanks to the information in this chapter), then you can have fun participating in all sorts of parliamentary goings-on, like meetings, voting, and conventions.
What? You’re curious to know about the workings of your organization’s big annual convention? Well then, take a look at the next bonus chapter on the Web site.

The Convention of Delegates: A Special Kind of Assembly

Some people think conventions are just big excuses to get a bunch of people together to party. Well, I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say that some conventions really are like that, but for the most part, conventions are serious business. Work needs to be done to establish your organization’s direction for the next year (or two, or four). This bonus chapter shows you how to conduct business in a convention, and shows you the special rules designed to make a convention an efficient and proper operation. Topics covered include:

• Understanding the special nature of a convention of delegates


• Organizing a convention of delegates


• Using specialized convention committees

Ten Custom Rules to Consider

It’s a sad fact that Robert’s Rules in no way tries to be one-size-fits-all when it comes to individualizing your own rules. This bonus chapter lists some of the ideas frequently recommended by professional parliamentarians regarding special rules and bylaws. Adopting some of these rules may reduce your chances of having to hire a professional parliamentarian to help straighten out a mess!

Downloadable Forms for Your Meetings

Teller’s Election Worksheet

In any election, it’s important to track the nominees and the ballot totals and tallies. This teller’s worksheet is designed as a nice, simple way to accumulate all the information you need to prepare a perfect Teller’s Report. Of course, once you download the form, you can adapt it according to your own needs, but I personally find its current, simplified layout more than helpful.

When your organization votes by ballot reporting the details is important for the record (and for preventing the occasional fist fight). Two forms on the Web site are designed to help you in that process. One form is for reporting the ballot counts in a vote on an election. The other form is for reporting the ballot counts in a vote on a motion. Both forms include the critical components for proper reporting of the following:

• The number of votes cast


• The number of votes required to elect (or adopt, as in the case of a motion)


• The total votes cast for each candidate (or choice, as in the case of a motion)


• The total number of illegal votes and a short description of each such vote

Notice of Proposed Amendment to Bylaws

Here’s the granddaddy of all the forms included on the Web site. Amending the bylaws is serious business, and this form is designed to show you how to prepare and give notice for proposed bylaw amendments, how to show the differences between current and proposed bylaws, when to go out for coffee (no, I’m kidding), and more. This is the prettiest form in the bunch, and you’re sure to find that it comes in very handy.