Chairing Successful Meetings: Lespérance Code

The purpose of this guide is to provide an easy-to-use consultation manual on deliberative meeting procedures that is adapted to the new requirements of the field. It consists of about one hundred rules grouped according to the chronology of a meeting: preparation, beginning, middle and end. These rules are presented in the form of articles numbered consecutively and include supplementary comments, an index and a summary table of the rules. This guide also includes two appendices: a method for filing documents related to deliberative meetings and a description of the functions and structure of meeting minutes. Published in English.

Table of Contents:
Preface   Section 1. Meeting Preparation Section 2. Meeting Opening Section 3. Meeting Proceedings   General Rules 1. Assembly Characteristics 2. Rules Relating to Participants 3. Rules Relating to the Agenda   Specific Rules   1. Motions 1.1 Main Principles 1.2 Motion Classification and Order of Precedence 1.3 Rules Relating to Each Motion Class 1.3.1 Privileged Motions 1.3.2 Incidental Motions 1.3.3 Dilatory Motions 1.3.4 Ordinary Motions 1.3.5 Special Motions 2. The Plenary Committee 3. Nomination and Election of Committee Members 4. Voting 5. The Chair’s Supplementary Powers   Section 4. Meeting Adjournment   Appendix A   Meeting Kit   1. The Notice 2. The Meeting Agenda 3. The Minutes of the Previous Meeting 4. Documents Distributed for Information Purposes 5. Working Documents 6. Correspondence Received 7. Follow-Up Correspondence Regarding the Debates   Appendix B Writing and Presentation of Minutes   1. The Role of the Minutes 2. Page Numbering 3. Header 4. Identification of Participants 5. The Deliberations   Rule Nomenclature Index Table of Motion Rules

About the Author :
Michel Lespérance is a lawyer and was a member of the Barreau du Québec from 1967 to 2005. He worked at Université de Montréal as Assistant Secretary General, Assistant to the Vice-Rector of Administration and Secretary General before retiring in September 2005. He was appointed Secretary General Emeritus of the university in April 2008. 

Review :
« [U]ne version moderne et agile de procédures qui [… ] sert très bien toutes les associations qui l’ont utilisé.  [J]’ai la profonde conviction que des organisations anglophones utilisant jusqu’ici ici une version ou une autre du Robert’s Rules of Order, un guide américain du XIXe siècle (inspiré à la fois du congrès américain et du fonctionnement militaire), pourraient bénéficier d’un guide mieux adapté à la réalité d’aujourd’hui et à notre pays, où les traditions britanniques et françaises cohabitent dans nos organisations.  – Frédéric Bouchard, doyen, Faculté des arts et des sciences. Université de Montréal »