The How
WHY an d
What Ifs
of NAP Units By Tannis Nelson, PRP
“What we learn to do, we learn by doing.” — Thomas Jefferson
Do you want to become a Registered Parliamentarian or a Professional Registered Parliamentarian? Or, if you are already credentialed, do you want to improve your parliamentary knowledge and skills? Participating in a unit of the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP) can assist you in continuously expanding your parliamentary knowledge and in your efforts to become and/or remain a credentialed member. Units of NAP provide excellent opportunities to increase your knowledge and understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), meeting structure, bylaws, quorum, and other parliamentary topics. Units can address the special desires and specific needs of their members more frequently and more informally than larger state associations. To better understand NAP Units, this article will focus on how units are formed, reasons to join a unit, and when and how one may consider starting a unit. Often, a unit arises out of a group of individuals who have discovered they want to learn more about parliamentary procedure and begin holding study sessions. NAP Units may be chartered by at least five members of NAP. These units may meet in person or electronically as provided in NAP’s bylaws. Therefore, an NAP Unit gets to decide if they want to meet only in person, only want to meet electronically, or meet with the option of either in-person or electronically. For many individuals, an electronic unit is much more convenient both www.parliamentarians.org
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