Zoom to Success

Recently I had the honor of presenting a parliamentary workshop for the Miami Valley and Queen City Units of the National Association of Parliamentarians. The topic was Zoom for Parliamentarians. I’ve done parliamentary workshops about Zoom, but this one had a different focus.

Zoom has become an important tool for parliamentarians; even if you know your parliamentary procedure, if you’re bumbling around with your Zoom, people might infer that you don’t know your parliamentary procedure either. Parliamentarians are expected to project a certain authority, and if we don’t know how to use Zoom confidently and comfortably, it compromises that authority.

So this program was more about mastering Zoom than about parliamentary procedure. Some of it may be helpful even for Zooming civilians who never lift a gavel, advise a presider, or render a parliamentary opinion.

Those interested in seeing the presentation can contact me for a link. And if you’d rather read than watch, in October I offered some resources in a post I called “Okay, Zoomer.”

Comments always welcome.

A Parliamentarian Looks at POP

POP home page
POP’s Home Page, https://www.pop5.org

POP has a self-perpetuating closed governance structure in which the members’ only role is to fund the corporation.

Author’s conclusion

This post will be of interest primarily to Ohio public employees, particularly those who are retired. Approximately a quarter of American public employees–Ohio’s among them–participate in public retirement systems separate from Social Security.

I am pretty good at keeping up with email, but I tend to get behind on postal mail. Just last weekend I opened a mailing that I received, probably weeks ago, from Protect Ohio Pensions, Inc. If you’re one of the thousands of Ohio retirees who got their mailing, perhaps you’ll want to read what follows.

Continue reading “A Parliamentarian Looks at POP”

OEA’s RA: Questions about Proposal 1

If you’ve read my last post, “OEA’s RA: A Contrarian Considers,” then you know that I think we needed to do a better job of deliberating about the issues at OEA’s virtual Representative Assembly on Saturday. Today I want to explain why I expect to vote against Proposal 1 when the mail ballots come out.

Continue reading “OEA’s RA: Questions about Proposal 1”