An alternative approach which I was taught at an enrichment course at school but which became more relevant as life and career progressed - be the minute-taker.

A lesson also learnable from top civil servant (good grief, I sound like a headline writer) Sir Humphrey in "Yes, Prime Minister" (episode "Man Overboard"): "Ah, Prime Minister... It is characteristic of all committee discussions and decisions that every member has a vivid recollection of them and that every member's recollection of them differs violently from every other member's recollection. Consequently we accept the convention that the official decisions are those and only those which have officially recorded in the minutes by the officials, from which it emerges with an elegant inevitability that any decision which has been officially reached will have been officially recorded in the minutes by the officials and any decision which is not recorded in the minutes has not been officially reached even if one or more members believe they can recollect it, so in this particular case if the decision had been officially reached it would have been officially recorded in the minutes by the officials. And it isn't so it wasn't."

Used this in union meetings and Mason meetings. Definitely worth picking up!

A simplified version, Rusty's Rules of Order[0] is used by the IWW. It's worth checking out if you're unfamiliar to Roberts' Rules or need a quick refresher.

[0] https://libcom.org/article/how-hold-good-meeting-rustys-rule...

I think you're thinking of Consensus-Based Decision Making where a minority bloc of 20-33% (depending on the rules of the body) can control the body by refusing to assent.

My introduction to it was from watching The Wire. One of "Stringer's" lieutenants was shown reading a book behind him during meetings. I ended up looking up the book after finally catching the title and thought "hey, this is actually powerful stuff..." What an interesting detail for some already interesting character development.

Yeah but you’re going to get kicked out if you do that. The rules can definitely be gamed but there is a metagame too which is that the rules can be bent if someone is not acting in good faith.

(removed by request)

Motion to have the parent comment stricken from the record.

Sustained. Motion to have "date" amended to "formal meeting" denied.

Seconded. All in favor, signify by not commenting now.

Motion passes