What do you need or need to do to chair a committee?

Question

What advice can you give to someone whi has never chaired a committee before?

Answer 1

The chairman acts as a neutral facilitator for the committee. They only vote if there is a tie. Some committees I have been a chair for have used Roberts Rules of Order and others have used knowledge based decision-making. Depending on which your group uses, I would become familiar with the procedures.

A good onlie source for Roberts Rules is:
http://www.rulesonline.com/start.html

Answer 2

I was Chairman of our P & Z Commission for 5 years. The main thing to know is how to bring the meeting to order and rules of order. As Chairman, you are the tie breaker if this ever happens. Without knowing the rules of order, the meeting can be nothing but chaos.

Answer 3

You can get information on this at www.boardsource.org. They're a great website and very helpful.