Fellow Toastmaster and Honored Guests. I'd like to talk to you about Julie's Rules of Order. How many of you know about Robert's Rules of Order? Great! Well, Julie's Rules of Order are even better. It includes everything you get with Robert, plus some strategy on how to win at meetings.

I predict that each and every one of you will have a need to win at a meeting some time in the future. Perhaps it's at a PTA meeting or a neighborhood association. Maybe you need to win because if you don't the school swimming team will be disbanded. Maybe the city wants to put a speed bump right in front of your house. I needed to win at a meeting a couple of months ago - the old jazz society was going bankrupt and they were organizing a new group. I knew with all my heart that the new group needed to have both jazz & swing in the name - it would allow us to double the size of our prospect pool by including swing dancers in our audience. I had to be effective and get my suggestion adopted. The new name is the Capital City Jazz & Swing Association.

Learn Your Robert's

Before you can learn any tricks, you need to know your Robert's Rules of Order. Knowing how to adjourn a meeting running amuck or get a revote on a motion that you previously lost is powerful. You'll sound smarter if you learn the vocabulary. You MOVE to accept the treasurer's report -- you don't MAKE A Motion to accept the treasurer's report. When a motion has been seconded, there is no need for it to be third. Certain motions, like a Motion to Adjourn take precedence and must come to an immediate vote without discussion. I will be handing out a cheat sheet for you to take home.

Does everyone know the definition of quorum? It's the number of people you need at a meeting for it to be legal.

On behalf of Governor Wilson and President George H. W. Bush, I once got a convention adjourned. The opposition had a controversial resolution they wanted to pass and the campaign knew that it would be the headline in every paper the next day. The campaign wanted the headline to be California GOP supports George Bush. I calculated that the convention attendance was barely over quorum which was 50% +1 of the dues paying members. I suggested we pay the dues of the people who hadn't paid to raise the requirement. It worked.

Before the meeting begins, study your opponent. Identify who you think will be speaking. What will their arguments be? Have they sent a letter detailing their points?

Do they have support from some of the leaders of the organization? In most groups there are the insiders and the outsiders. If they have the insiders you want to buddy up with the outsiders.

There are usually members who are unaligned and don't usually take sides.

How do you get them to be on your side?

I suggest - be nice to them.

My secret trick was the politics of dancing. At a convention, there are many social events including parties with great live bands. Back in the day, women waited for a man to ask them to dance. I would zoom around the event gathering up all the women saying - We're going to dance now - come dance with us. We don't need no boys. The next day all those ladies would vote for me.

I do this every time I go to a convention, even if I have no agenda. I like to think I have dozens of pocket votes I can count on from people I've had fun with.

You can apply this to other things besides dancing - for instance, my friend Kevin McCarthy who is now the Majority Leader in Congress was always organizing tours things like "Meet us in the lobby at 9:30 tonight we're going on a tour of the DC Monuments."

Spread Out

If you have a team of people supporting your cause - don't sit together. Spread out all over the room and talk to the people near you. You might pick up a vote or two. And you can implement the ...

Tornado Speaking Strategy.

Put a person in each of the corners of the meeting room. Speak in clockwise order, beginning with the person in the front row, far right position. It makes your position seem very popular to the observers - and everyone likes to be with the winner.

Don't Let Them Embarrass You

Sometimes you'll be at a meeting and your opponents will treat it like a presidential press conference. They want to "get" you and make you admit or acknowledge something.

If you're quick and a majority of people in the organization support you, you can use my favorite Robert's Rule ...

Objecting to the Consideration of the Question.

It means - I don't want to talk about this! If someone brings up something controversial or off topic, you can immediately object to the consideration of the question. There's no debate and if 2/3 of the people agree with you, the topic cannot be discussed. You've shut them down.

Say Please, Say Thank You.

At the end, remember to be gracious in victory. There will always be another meeting, and if your pave the way with your politeness, you will see another win.