Meetings

Short, lively, and interesting meetings are incentives for membership participation. Clubs are encouraged to participate in identifying issues of interest to the local community. Clubs can provide arguments for and against issues and develop appropriate positions in letters to editors, candidates, and elected officials.

Location

Meetings are usually held monthly, at times and places convenient for members. Possible meeting locations may include municipal, county and state office buildings, libraries, schools, recreation centers, churches, clubs, banks, savings and loans, union halls and business facilities, and members’ homes. Some locations may be free while others may assess nominal charges. Club meetings and event sites should be wheelchair-accessible. The conference room at the SDCDP office may also be available to be reserved for club meetings.

During the COVID-19 emergency many clubs are holding meetings online, using

video conferencing⁠

tools.

Agenda/Content

Prior to each membership meeting, officers should distribute an agenda. This will keep the meeting running smoothly and rapidly. Meetings that exceed two hours usually discourage member attendance. Previous meeting minutes, Executive Board minutes, club committee reports, and SDCDP events may be part of the agenda. Old and new business to be considered by the members is typically included. Refreshments may be provided.

Speakers

Elected officials, colleges, public interest groups, unions and journalists are excellent sources for speakers. Newsletters from other clubs and the Council of Clubs meeting are excellent idea sources. Also, check with the Director of Clubs to see if a speakers list is available.

Accessibility

The California Democratic Party requires that all public meetings at all levels of the Democratic Party be open to all members of the Democratic Party regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, religion, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, persons with disabilities as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or economic status.

Further, the scheduling and location of public meetings and other public affairs of the Democratic Part at all levels must take into account the ability to fully and fairly participate with reasonable accommodations, where appropriate, of persons with disabilities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The scheduling and location of such public meetings and other public affairs must also take into account the ability to fully and fairly participate with reasonable accommodations, where appropriate, of any religious minorities of significant numbers of concentration whose level of participation would be affected.

Sound System

It's important that all club members can fully participate in meetings - one of the best investments you can make is in a small sound reinforcement system. You don't need anything too large (or heavy). Craigslist and Ebay often have used equipment at reasonable prices. As well as a reliable, wired-microphone for the presiding officer, consider getting a wireless microphone that can be easily passed around between club members. This way everyone can hear what is going on, and it's easier to ensure there's only one speaker at a time :)

Notice

Notice of all meetings should be provided to all members of the club through the club’s newsletter, email, or other mechanism. For certain kinds of meetings, e.g., endorsement meetings, the SDCDP requires that all members be noticed at least 14 days in advance by email (or another method specified in your bylaws for those without email). This ensures that members are given the opportunity to participate in endorsements.

Quorum and Voting

Club bylaws should spell out quorum and voting requirements. Clubs may want to have an established quorum for all meetings or for business meetings only. For example, the quorum could be the number of elected officers plus 10% of the membership in good standing at the time of the meeting, but not less than 6 members (see Table 1).

Quorum

Quorum

#Officers

#Members in good standing

#Officers +10%

#Officers +20%

> 50%

100

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Majority and Super-Majority Vote Thresholds

Majority and Super-Majority Vote Thresholds

#Voting members

>50%

>60%

Two-thirds

>70%

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Robert’s Rules has specific instances where a two-thirds vote is required; this will apply to clubs who use Robert’s Rules as their parliamentary guide unless they have made other specifications in their Bylaws.

SDCDP Requirements and Support

Meetings must be held at least once quarterly and SDCDP must also be noticed at least two weeks prior to all meetings.

The meeting will be added to the SDCDP website which helps publicize your meeting. SDCDP will provide you with edit access to the calendar for your meetings to make it easy for you to highlight what is going to be happening at each meeting.

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