BOD Members Meetings Schedule 2009 -Regular BOD meetings will be held preceding the general membership meetings on alternate months.  Meetings times will normally be from 7:45 – 8:45 PM Eastern time.  If the amount of business warrants, the meeting may start earlier.  All routine business will be conducted during these regularly scheduled meetings. Additional special meetings will be scheduled as needed.

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Chat instructions to attend a meeting

There are a few possibilities to access our chat meeting room. For people who wish to connect using the java links, I highly encourage you to download the free software at http://www.java.com/en/index.jsp. Just click "get it now" or http://www.java.com/en/download/windows_automatic.jsp

*NOTE- Please keep in mind that the java applet can sometimes take 10 minutes or longer to load, please be patient.

When the window loads, fill in the box "Your Nickname" with your full name and whether TAS or Guest. (example:  Wayne_DesLauriers_TAS; or Wayne_DesLauriers_Guest) 

If you forget to do that, you can use the following command once you are in the room to correct your nickname:  /nick Wayne_DesLauriers_Guest.

1.) java links:
http://www.theangelfishsociety.org/chat.htm

2.) or mIRC
Using mIRC is another alternative to attend our TAS meetings as sometimes there can be problems with the java link ( TAS meetings chat) supplied on the website.

mIRC is a chat client. It is shareware, a free download, and highly
configurable. The program is based on the windows platform ,and it will not work on WinCE, Linux, Mac OS, PalmOS, Epoc, Atari's or the C64.

If you wish to try mIRC you can download it at www.mirc.com. After you've downloaded and have it installed, you are ready to set it up. You will see a box, simply fill out your full name, email, and nickname (example: Wayne_DesLauriers_TAS; if you are a guest in a general membership meeting use Wayne_DesLauriers_Guest).

Hope to see you there!

Attending The Angelfish Society Meetings

Meetings of The Angelfish Society are held in The TAS Meetings Chat Room to accommodate our worldwide membership. While an on-line chat room has proved to be a challenge, with a few basic rules, this forum is useful and manageable.

In accordance with the TAS by-laws, meetings will be conducted using Robert's Rules of Order. While the guidelines listed below follow these rules, there are some unique guidelines to accommodate our on-line meeting format.

Chat Room meeting procedures and guidelines

To assist all in understanding how to use the chat room, members and guests are expected to follow the guidelines described below.

• Meeting norms and guidelines
  
• Logging into the chat room
  
• The chat room screen
  
• Chat room commands
  

Meeting norms and guidelines

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• Moderator

  The President of The Angelfish Society, or as noted otherwise.

  The moderator, if not the President, must change his/her nickname so that all present in the chat room can quickly determine which member is the moderator. The format for the moderator nickname is as follows:

  Firstname_Lastname_moderator - for example: Steve_Rybicki_moderator

  The moderator's job is to officiate at the meeting and control the "floor". All members are expected to follow the directions provided by the moderator.

  The moderator is expected to call the meeting to order, and establish the agenda for the meeting. The moderator must also enforce parliamentary procedure as outlined in Robert's Rules of Order, and as such should have knowledge of those rules to facilitate running the meetings as smoothly as possible.

  At the start of each meeting, the moderator is expected to call for a motion to waive the reading of the minutes from the previous meeting, and approve them as written. Once seconded, in the absence of any discussion, the motion will be put to a vote.

• Private Messages or PM

  A PM is initiated by double clicking on any person's name who is in the chat room. This will cause a separate window to open in which you can conduct a private conversation with the person that you PMed (double clicked their name).

• Requesting the "floor"

  Any member may request the floor at any time, and should do so through a PM with the moderator.

• Moderator procedures and guidelines
  • The moderator will grant the "floor" to all members who request it through the PM mechanism. The "floor" is granted to members in the order in which the requests are received. When the moderator grants the floor to a member, the moderator will simply type that person's name to indicate that the floor has been granted to that member.

  • All moderator messages will be typed in an agreeable color (light blue seems best) and with the Bold attribute. This sets the moderator's messages apart from others, and makes them easier to recognize (as being from the moderator).

• Motions

  The procedure for handling motions is as follows:

  • All motions are made by the member currently acknowledged as having the "floor".

  • After a motion has been made, the moderator will call for a second. Any member wishing to second a motion should do so by typing "I second". Once any member has seconded a motion no additional seconds are necessary.

  • Once a motion has been seconded, the moderator may open the floor to all members for discussion. Questions directed at the member who made the motion should be preceded with the member's first name (and last initial or last name if not unique). This serves to direct the question at that person, and should facilitate a response from only that person. Members are asked to be patient during these open discussions, as the chat can get busy (and confusing).

    Note: not all motions need necessarily be opened for discussion

  • After the discussion is complete, the moderator will call for a vote. No further discussion is expected. When the vote is called for, all members are expected to vote with a single word; "Yea" or "Nay".

  • The moderator will announce the result of the vote. In accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, a majority vote will result in a motion that passes.

  • Exceptions:

    A motion to rescind a previously passed motion or vote requires a 2/3 majority to pass.

• Calling for a motion
  • The moderator may call for a motion when necessary. Generally, the moderator is not expected to make a motion, but may call for one if a motion is needed. For example, the moderator may call for a motion to adjourn the meeting.

  • If the wording of the called for motion is acceptable, any member may acknowledge the call by simply typing "So moved". Once the motion is on the floor, normal procedures apply.

Logging into The TAS Meetings Chat Room - JAVA application

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• Click on the link above (or any other link to The TAS Meetings Chat Room) and wait for the chat room java applet to complete loading. You will see the phrase "Please specify a nick" in the bottom left corner of the blue box when the java applet has completed loading

• Enter your chat room nickname in the box labeled "Your nickname:"

  Members must use the following format for their nicknames:

  Firstname_Lastname - for example: Tom_Krehel

  Guests are welcome to join the meeting, but are not permitted to vote or make motions or seconds. Guests are asked to use the following format for their nicknames:

  Guest_Firstname_Lastname - for example: Guest_Tom_Krehel

• Delete the email address that appears in the box labeled "Your email address:" and leave this box blank.

• The box labeled "Join channel:" should already have the correct channel in it (#theangelfishsociety).

• Click on the box labeled "Connect". This completes the logging in process and you should now see the chat room window.

The TAS Meetings Chat Room screen is divided into three major sections.

• The left side of the screen is where all of the text will appear as members enter their comments, suggestions, motions, seconds, and votes. Let's call this region the message region.

• The right side of the screen lists all members and guests currently logged into the chat room.

• The bottom of the screen contains a text box where members and type messages that everyone in the chat room will see on the left side of their screens (and on your own screen too).

  To the left of the text box, there are colors which are used to change the color of the text that will appear in the message region above. To change the color of your text, simply click on the desired color, type your message, and hit the "enter" key.

  You may also notice that letters appear next to the colors to control Bold, Italics and Underline features.

• Changing your nickname

  To change your nickname while already in the chat room, simply type "/nick" followed by the new nickname in the white text box at the bottom of the chat room window, as shown in the example below:

  /nick Tom_Krehel

• Leaving the chat room

  You can cleanly leave The TAS Meetings Chat Room by typing "/quit" in the white text box at the bottom of the chat room window.

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Web Committee Update 08/22/2009 - last automatically updated 08/22/2009

From the TAS Web Team, We thank you for using the Web Site. Enjoy!