Print this page
it is common for major interstellar political issues to be resolved in plenary meetings of the major powers - especially so under the Treaty of New London, which has provision for up to two per year of these.
This is a short guide to the protocols and procedures for such meetings.
Seating:
Each delegation
should have only one seat at the table, except the host who would have
two additional seats for the Chair and Secretary [Game
note: if the host team does not have enough players present, these roles
could be temporarily taken by another player].
The Chair and
Secretary should sit together, so that the Chair can if necessary quickly
take advice or refer to the official record .
The delegation
seat should normally be taken by the head of delegation but may temporarily
be occupied by another player if the head of delegation needs/wishes to
leave the table;
Other delegation
members should be seated away from the table behind their leader;
A seat at the
end opposite the Chair should be allocated to invited experts and observers
[Game note: JIM0000's chair]
There is a standard
order of seating of delegations, which is in the agreed
order in which they are to be hosts.
Addressing the meeting:
Only delegates
currently occupying seats at the table may address the meeting;
Delegates may
only address the meeting when called upon by the Chair;
Delegates should
indicate that they wish to speak by raising a hand and the Chair should
so far as possible call delegates to speak in the order in which they
raise their hands (part of the Secretary's job would be to keep an eye
on this and advise the Chair if he misses a delegation);
The exceptions
to taking contributions in this order would be
| (1) if a delegate poses a question for another delegation, the Chair should ask that delegation whether it wishes to respond at that point; | |
| (2) if the "experts" need to clarify something e.g. the accepted interpretation of a Treaty, to keep discussion on track, the Chair should call upon them. |
All statements
and questions in the meeting should be made to the Chair, not direct to
another delegation, and be appropriately phrased e.g.not "Why
are you in the GFA cutting your defence spending?" but "May
I ask our esteemed colleague from the GFA to explain why his government
is cutting..." etc. (Good rule of thumb is that the more cordially
two states detest each other the more politely they will speak of each
other)
Other communications:
Preferably private
communications between delegations, not forming part of the meeting, or
consultations between the player currently at the table and the rest of
his delegation, should be by exchange of notes;
Alternatively,
they may be conducted by speaking to each other, provided that this is
done very quietly and kept to the minimum necessary;
If such discussions
interfere with the conduct of the meeting the Chair may order them to
cease.
Order of Business.
1. Adoption of the agenda. At this point delegates may ask to
| (a) include items not on the circulated agenda. The delegation making such a request should explain why it was not possible to put the item forward sooner. Unless the meeting agrees at this point to accept a new item, it cannot be raised later in the meeting. | |
| (b) take agenda items in a different order. | |
| (c) a delegation that raised an item in the circulated agenda may indicate that it wishes it withdrawn - but it will only be withdrawn if the meeting agrees. |
2. Agreement of minutes of previous meeting.
3. Discussion of agenda items, usually beginning with the Chair inviting
the delegation raising an item to briefly introduce it, and ending with
the Chair briefly summarising the outcome of the discussion on each item.
4. Closing statements (opportunity for each delegation to say how useful
the meeting has been in fostering interstellar understanding and cooperation,
thank the host for the facilities and excellent Chairing, and what time
does the state banquet start?)
(Thanks to Jon Casey for this)
BACK