When people get together to act in a collective manner, one of the most important things they do as a group is make specific decisions. Without a robust decision-making process, the group cannot act collectively. The instrument used by such groups to make a decision is called a “motion”. A motion is a proposal by one member of the group that the group take a particular action or stance, and there are six simple steps to handle it: the motion is made by a member, then seconded by another member, then stated by the chair, then debated by the group, then then voted upon by the group, then announced by the chair as adopted or rejected. Until a motion is dealt with, nothing else can be discussed or decided, with a few important exceptions. it is important to note that debate is only permitted in the context of a particular motion, and that it is improper at any other time.

Before a member can make a motion, he or she must legitimately acquire the turn to speak, which is called “obtaining the floor”. Unless a member has properly obtained the floor, he or she may not speak, except in a few special circumstances. This keeps he meeting from getting out of control. The chair is responsible for assigning the floor to members who request it. To request the floor, a member first waits until the current speaker is finished and sits down. He or she then immediately stands up and says “Mr. President!” or “Madam Chairman!” or whatever would be appropriate. The chair then chooses who will speak next from among the members who have done so. Once the chair indicates who will speak next, everyone else sits back down to try again next time. This procedure is followed whenever anyone wishes to speak or make a motion at a meeting.

Once he or she has obtained the floor, the member makes a motion by saying words to the effect of, “I move that…” and then saying what the proposal is. For example, the member might say, “I move that John Smith be admitted as a member of the club.” In so doing, the member is saying that he or she wants John Smith to become a member of the club, and wants the club to make that decision now, or at least consider making it. The exact wording of the motion is key: the secretary will record it as such in the minutes, and nothing that isn’t officially part of the motion will be a decision of the group. If a member is unsure of how exactly to word a motion, he or she should briefly consult with the chair or other members before or during the attempt to make it. Ideally, all motions would be prepared in writing, read out loud, and then handed to the secretary for the record. Once the motion is made, the member sits back down and waits for the next steps to take place.

The second step in the motion process is conveniently called “seconding”. In this step, a member other than the one who made the motion simply shouts “Second!” without obtaining the floor or waiting for the chair to say anything. As soon as the mover has started to sit down, anyone who agrees that the motion should be considered should immediately second the motion. If no one seconds a motion, then the chair declares it dead, and moves on with the meeting. There is no need to keep track of who seconded a motion, since it is really just a quick-and-dirty way to ensure that no motion gets considered unless at least two people think it’s worth the time to do so.

The chair is then responsible for “stating the question” on the motion, thus making it the topic of discussion until it is taken care of, but he or she should only do this if the the motion is clear and describes a proposal, and does not violate any applicable rules. The chair states the question by simply saying, “It is moved and seconded that…” and then repeating the motion for everyone to hear. The motion is then said to be “before” the meeting. The rule that every motion must be stated by the chair before coming before the meeting protects the group from malformed motions and other such nonsense.

Once the motion is before the meeting, members may debate for and against it, or may offer comments or additional information that will help with the decision-making process. Any other kind of speaking is inappropriate, and the chair or any member can interrupt the speaker to ensure that he or she does not waste everyone else’s time. The member who moved the motion gets first dibs on speaking (once), but the system for obtaining the floor otherwise works the same as described above. In addition to debating the merits of the proposal, members can make certain secondary motions that, for the most part, relate to the primary motion being debated, but these are beyond the scope of this article.

Once everyone has spoken his or her piece, or once the group has decided that enough discussion has taken place already, the chair will “put” the question by saying, “The question is on the motion that…” and then repeating the motion again. He or she will then ask all those in favour to say “aye”, and then all those against to say “no”. For most motions, there need only be more “ayes” than “noes” for the motion to be adopted; members who choose not to vote are not counted in the results either way. There are other methods of taking a vote that can be used if the results are not obvious using this method, and the chair works his or her way up through them until such clarity is achieved.

Based on the outcome of the voting, the chair announces the result to the group. He does this first by saying whether the ayes or the noes “have it”, then saying whether the motion was adopted or rejected, and then describing the consequences using words from the motion. So, for example, he or she might say, “The ayes have it and the motion is adopted. John Smith is admitted as a member of the club.” The chair then immediately announces what the next item of business will be, thus keeping the meeting on track.

Sometimes, it is clear from the circumstances that a motion will not be opposed or debated by anyone. Such motions can be handled much more expediently by a process called “general consent”. The chair would say something like, “If there is no objection, we will now recess for lunch and return in one hour,” then pause for a moment and say, “Since there is no objection, the meeting is in recess for lunch and will return in one hour.” In so doing, all six steps are combined in one smooth motion—no pun intended.