A I P
C O M M U N I C AT O R SPRING
2020
President’s Message: Misunderstanding, Mayhem, Mischief and Mystery! By Al Gage CPP, PRP, PAP
TABLE OF CONTENTS
We just had the most successful West Coast Practicum in the recent history of AIP. I am not sure what the best attendance has been, but we had over 50 participants. The theme of dealing with House of Delegates and Conventions attracted a great many medical and dental professionals along with a broad spectrum of other interested parties. Of course, being taught by Glen Hall, DDS, CP-T and Barry Glazer, MD, CPP-T, PRP, two of the finest convention parliamentarians I know, certainly didn’t hurt. As always Curriculum Director Mary Remson, CPP-T, and General Coordinator Dollie McPartlin CP-T, PRP, ran a tight but very fun and entertaining (cruise) ship. MISUNDERSTANDING
President’s Letter
1
Calendar of Events
3
AIP Officers
3
Deadline Dates - Communicator
3
Obituary and Newest CPP
4
New Members
5
West Coast Practicum Recap
6
Teacher Certification Course
7
AmazonSmile
8
As I work with a wide variety of clients and the general public, I find that there are two fundamental misunderstandings of the role of a parliamentarian. I am not talking about the misunderstandings of the material itself because those would simply be too numerous to iterate. I am talking about errors in the public’s perception of the fundamental role that a parliamentarian plays. For the purposes of this discussion, we will only address the role of actual parliamentarian and not secondary roles as a professional presider and/or floor parliamentarian (hired to advocate for a specific party.) The first is the widespread perception that the parliamentarian makes all the rulings and decisions about parliamentary law. This will be demonstrated by comments like “We are paying a parliamentarian, they should make the ruling!” or “Oh, you’re the parliamentarian, you’re the rules police!” More commonly, it will be something along the lines “You’re here to keep us in line and on track!” While it is certainly true that we can guide the organizations in these directions assuming we have the cooperation of the chair and we can offer methodologies of doing things that are efficient and at times spare personal feelings as well, we cannot single-handedly enforce the rules or make a meeting go smoothly. In my personal opinion, one of the great flaws in our parliamentary authorities is that they were all written under the perception that members in attendance want to accomplish business and have the best interest of the organization at heart. This simply isn’t always the case!
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AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS Page 1
SPRING
Spring 2020
2020
AIP Communicator