Meetings
Title
Meetings
Identifier
MEETINGS_3
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"It seems as if I have been going to meetings all my life."
Date
2015
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Text
MEETINGS
It seems as if I have been going to meetings all my life. My first memory of meetings is in junior high school. I was a member of the debating club and on the staff of our literary magazine, and we held meetings. My mother told me about her union meetings before she was married, and she also attended union meetings and PTA meetings when I was in elementary school. There were club meetings in high school and college. Meetings were where business was conducted. Without meetings, where officers reported to the membership, and members expressed their views, and voted on motions, it would be a dictatorship.
Meetings served different purposes. They may ostensibly be called to inform or get input, or make decisions, but they may degenerate into rubber stamping the leader’s decisions.
There are all kinds of meetings: leadership meetings, (boards, officers etc), mass meetings, meetings of people with similar interests to share ideas, opinions, activities) (book clubs, bridge clubs,
In one of my favorite songs, “Talking Union” there is the line: “…pass out a leaflet and calling a meeting.”
I have been both the caller and the callee. Certainly, being the caller is the more challenging job. You put together the agenda, you notify the potential attendees, you may have to make arrangements for a place for the meeting, and see to it that everything is all set.
A woman once told me that her husband treats every meeting notice as if it was a subpoena.
Just like a lawyer who should never ask a question without knowing what the answer will be, you should never call a meeting without know what you want the outcome to be.
My “arc of meeting.” The neophyte attender. In awe of whoever is presiding. I listen carefully, say nothing, take notes, am respectful of everyone who speaks, confused by Roberts Rules of Conduct.
It seems as if I have been going to meetings all my life. My first memory of meetings is in junior high school. I was a member of the debating club and on the staff of our literary magazine, and we held meetings. My mother told me about her union meetings before she was married, and she also attended union meetings and PTA meetings when I was in elementary school. There were club meetings in high school and college. Meetings were where business was conducted. Without meetings, where officers reported to the membership, and members expressed their views, and voted on motions, it would be a dictatorship.
Meetings served different purposes. They may ostensibly be called to inform or get input, or make decisions, but they may degenerate into rubber stamping the leader’s decisions.
There are all kinds of meetings: leadership meetings, (boards, officers etc), mass meetings, meetings of people with similar interests to share ideas, opinions, activities) (book clubs, bridge clubs,
In one of my favorite songs, “Talking Union” there is the line: “…pass out a leaflet and calling a meeting.”
I have been both the caller and the callee. Certainly, being the caller is the more challenging job. You put together the agenda, you notify the potential attendees, you may have to make arrangements for a place for the meeting, and see to it that everything is all set.
A woman once told me that her husband treats every meeting notice as if it was a subpoena.
Just like a lawyer who should never ask a question without knowing what the answer will be, you should never call a meeting without know what you want the outcome to be.
My “arc of meeting.” The neophyte attender. In awe of whoever is presiding. I listen carefully, say nothing, take notes, am respectful of everyone who speaks, confused by Roberts Rules of Conduct.
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Meetings,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 23, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/336.