Guide to announcing, hosting, and managing sessions by twotoque

Office of the Chair of the Board Cupertino Alliance

Guide to announcing, hosting, and managing sessions Jayden Lycon September 2020, first edition

Copyright The Cupertino Alliance Printer holds copyright on behalf of the Government of the Cupertino Alliance and her member states. The Cupertino Alliance Printer permits any person to reproduce this document without asking for permission and without charge, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). You will be required to attribute the author, for which the name of the author is: The Office of the Chair of the Board, Cupertino Alliance Font “Kayak Sans” by Jack Harvatt

Table of contents Copyright

Table of contents

Planning

4-5

• •

Creating a calendar programme Main, auxiliary, trainer sessions

Announcing the session • •

Time zones, dates, etc Automated plan of action for delays

Bill template and design • •

11–14

Starting a session Topic discussion Passing the floor Point of order Decorum rules Session timetable

Post-session • •

Agenda

During the session • • • • • •

8-9

Fonts and sizes Sharing on Google Drive

Pre-session •

6-7

Postmaster-based, reaction-based voting Urgent voting

15-17

Planning Sessions are planned on the calendar programme. Usually, a session optimization census is sent during the month, which includes • Times in which delegates think they can attend a session; • Events in which could hinder delegates’ ability to attend a session; • Time zone / regional changes that need to be updated. These censuses are announced through the announcement channel only. Once responses are collected, the Chair of the Board will draft the programme and will present it to review to the Lieutenant Chair, Minister of European and African Affairs and Minister of Asian and Oceania Affairs for amending and advising. Once the committee review is finished, the programme is presented for reading to Parliament during the penultimate or final session of the month. Parliament will discuss its feedback and will vote in a poll if they can attend the proposed sessions or not. It is not required that Parliament needs to pass a calendar programme.

Planning Once it has been presented to Parliament, amends can be added depending on how Parliament reacts to the motion. Calendar programmes will have the date, session number, session type, and times in both Universal Time Coordinated and Eastern Time (Standard or Daylight depending on date). Session types consist of: • Main sessions, in which topics are presented and reviewed. Chair or Lieutenant Chair presides these sessions. • Auxiliary sessions, in which topics discussed in the main sessions are relayed to delegates who can not attend the aforementioned sessions. Topics may also be presented and will be discussed in the main session. Minister responsible presides these sessions. • Trainer sessions, in which someone teaches someone else regarding anything new in session hosting. Delegates may attend but topics are not presented. Placeholder bills and topics are used to simulate session discussions. After all amends are finished, the calendar programme is released to the public.

Announcing the session A reminder of a session should be announced 12 – 24 sessions before the session starts. The reminder should be: @members Session planned <date>, at <time in UTC and Eastern>. Post it to the announcement channel. Announce again one hour before the session, but use the example below instead: @members Session planned in 1 hour. On the off chance that you are unsure that you can attend a session, attempt to hand it off to your deputy. If you do not have a deputy or your deputy does not respond in 30 minutes – 1 hour and the delay was considered on the day of the session, create an automated plan of action. The plan of action should include: • An announcement that you are not sure that you can attend; • Number of minutes from the planned session date that you may arrive; • And, if you miss it, the session will automatically be moved to a new time in which you are sure you can attend.

Announcing the session Your plan of action should be announced immediately. An example is provided below: @Members Session maybe delayed to 11PM UTC / 7PM EDT. If I don't get online by 6:15PM EDT assume it is moved to 7PM EDT. On the unlikely chance you make the listed time, AND the session was planned to be delayed for an hour or more, attempt to start a short session and go over the agenda. Once finished, call a recess and continue the session at the delayed time. If you make the listed time, AND the session was planned to be delayed for less than an hour, start the session. If these rules are ignored and the session does not start for at least 20 minutes, members should assume that is has been postponed to another time. Such a claim will be verified once you return.

Bill template and design It is recommended that all of our newer bills stay uniform. Henceforth, please use our template. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xTqZ7_ENmNspFH24GpCByO6vjmEi7YWiFOI9peJdS4/edit?usp=sharing) Coat of arms of the CA

Lato, 12 Lato, 18, bold

Georgia, 18

Bill template and design Alata, 11 Georgia, 12, bold Georgia, 10 Georgia, 12, bold Georgia, 11

Georgia, 11, bold

It is by no means required to follow this template but strongly recommended. Feel free to edit delegates’ proposed bills to also match the template. Also feel free to use our guide on sharing something on Google Drive. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e4yrYBSm5yElGO JGFR7A07ubNW4Q6wT8xAuWFVEs9O0/edit?usp=shari ng)

Pre-session Before the session, it is recommended that you create a small agenda on what you plan to discuss and in what order. In an auxiliary session, you will receive a message from the Chair or Lieutenant Chair regarding what was discussed and what you need to relay. Such an agenda does not need to be written down (I prefer just having it in my mind, but you do you.) Agendas do often though go off course, fine if it is about the alliance but ensure that off-alliance topics do not receive much time. Each topic is usually talked about for at least 10 minutes. Also, ensure that you allocate a lot of time for delegates to motion bills or topics.

During the session When the clock strikes the time listed, start by saying: @Members Session starting soon Delegates will usually do attendance. This is not required though. After 5 minutes have passed, say: Alright, then, let's get started. …and present your first topic of the day. During the start, expect delegates to be slow at reviewing. Do not be impatient. After delegates seem to be finished at talking at the current topic, wait a couple more minutes. Do not move on if someone is typing. After that, you are safe to move on. During the middle/end of the session, delegates will become much more active. Ensure that any opposition to such an idea is given the floor and their claims are debated; effective governance must hear opinions of all. If a delegate requests to state a long topic or an idea, give them the floor. Ensure that respect to such delegate is fulfilled and warn any delegate who talks when they have the floor. Once they are finished, allow members to discuss their opinion or idea.

During the session If multiple delegates are speaking at the same time, call a point of order and give the floor to one member, then to another. Once it is finished, allow delegates to discuss in an orderly manner. Decorum must be maintained during a session. These rules, listed Chapter 14 of the Charter Act include: • Proper nickname formatting (Article 110) • English is the working language but other languages can be spoken (Article 112) • Delegates need to be semi-formal. This includes • No swearing • Capitalization or proper grammar preferred • Slur words, offensive language, NSFW content not allowed (Article 113) • Sessions are for Cupertino Alliance first, Side discussion allowed but must be minimal. (Article 114) • No memes during sessions (Article 115) • Use preferred gender terms if possible (Article 119) • Treat all other delegates with respect (Article 120)

If someone violates decorum and it is minimal (e.g. they accidentally posted a meme), you have the right to delete it and warn the delegate. Repeat offenders or severe violations must be reported to the Superior Judge and the Chair. Take screenshots and collect message IDs before deleting.

During the session Delegates may also reserve the right to kick a delegate, Chair, or Minister for a rule violation. If this reaches a simple majority from all attendees of a session, you must kick them and report to the Superior Judge and Chair. (Article 117) If you get kicked, name a Chair / Lieutenant Chair / Minister Pro Tempore to continue the session and then continue. (Article 118). Examples of decorum violations: Yo y’all ate the new Traves Scot burger? Plan of action: delete and warn the delegate. Delegates start discussing about recent British elections Plan of action: allow some discussion. If it gets too far, issue a point of order and request delegates to go back to the topic. You [slur] you [swear] [slur] Plan of action: take a screenshot, collect the message ID, delete the message. Report to Superior Judge and Chair, and motion to kick the delegate. All delegates, regardless of rank, are under these rules. Do not create a double standard.

During the session It is important to maintain formality at a session. A bad session could diminish our reputation. Once you have exhausted all of your topics, allow delegates to motion topics to be discussed. Give them the floor and discuss it. If a delegate needs time to draft a bill, call a recess for a maximum of 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, move on. Once everyone has finished, continue to membership applications, if any. Ensure that you do not take much time in this session. If everyone has nothing else to discuss, do a final call. After 5 – 10 minutes, announce that the session will adjourn in 5 – 10 minutes. If someone asks to move a bill during the adjourned time, and the total session time is less than 1 hour and 30 minutes, allow them to have the floor. More than 1 hour and 30 minutes and it is recommended to move it in a future session. After the 5 – 10 adjourn period has elapsed, announce that the session is adjourned. Thank delegates for attending and wish them a good day.

Post-session Once a session has been finished, report to the Chair. The Chair will then review the session regarding any new topics discussed. Votes are not posted for auxiliary sessions and must go through at least a main session first. Usually, however, topics are voted once they have attained reading from all the auxiliary sessions. There are two types of votes, reaction-based and Pollmaster-based. Minimal security, low affect votes like opinion polling, events, etc can be placed through reaction-based voting. Pollmaster should be used for all high security, high affected votes including charter amends, member applications, etc. To post a reaction-based vote, go to the voting hall. The formatting should look like this and an example is listed below: [<number>] <URL to act or describe the proposal> [247] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lnWqhayy1N 2bjRjnfK_9OfbpI4UCq71gbT6madm8mBA/edit?us p=drivesdk

Post-session Add the thumbs up and down through reactions. For Pollmaster based voting, type “pm!advanced”, then the URL or question. Next will be your act number, then yes for anonymous. For acts, choose in favour, against, abstaining. For memberships upgrading, do upgrade, retain, expel. For elections, do candidate name, candidate name. Next, choose single choice, hide the live vote count, then type “Members”, add no weights, and the poll should close in 3 days. If you make an error during the process, type “close”. Usually, 3 days are allotted for voting. However, it can be shortened to 1 day for urgent bills. Under the Urgent Proposal Act, 2020, this power must be used if absolutely necessary, and a reason must be given within the act. Furthermore, the Superior Judge can overturn the request. An example of a reason is: As changes to membership may be happening, this is to close the form quickly to avoid confusion to more applicants that will apply during the normal 3 day voting period. -(Membership (Closure) Act, 2020

Post-session For an urgent bill, state that the bill is urgent in the act number (e.g. URGENT, 201). For position voting with multiple candidates, voting is usually conducted in multiple rounds, with the lowest polling candidate(s) eliminated until a majority can be attained. Note that Ministers do not require parliamentary approval and can be appointed or dismissed at the Chair’s pleasure. This does not apply to the Lieutenant Chair, Superior Judge, or Associate Judges. Once everything is done, prepare for the next session.

Thank you for your service and good luck! Feel free to DM me if you require any assistance.