\ 124 The meeting is ''called to order" by the chairman or the. pr_esiding officer; The minutes of the previous meeting ru·e read by the secretary (if a copy of tl1e minutes has not been given out to each member prior to the meeth1g). The minutes may he approved. as read or written or may be approved with additions or corrections; Business arising from the minutes are discussed ne;,,. 1:. These include prog1:ess reports ou the items discussed in the previous meeting ; Agenda items are ne;,,.-t in line. These may either be reports of standing and/or special committees or other to_pics either for information, for discussion or for decision; Financial statement report is read by the treasurer; The last item in the "Order of Business" before "Adjournment" is "Other Matters. " These include announcements or other items,vhich members feel should be shared ¼'itl1 the rest of the group but have ool been pa1·L of the agenda items; "Adjo UTnment" is made after the group has decided on tl1e date, place, and possibly, the agenda of the next meeting, if these bave not been previously made or agreed upon. (b) Making it clearw here the meeting should try to get to by the end. The members should know if they are hoping to make a clear decision or firm recommendation or if they are only making a preliminary deliberati on in order to l1ave something to go away witll and think about. The chairman can give the members a choice: "If the group can come u. p with a cour;:;e of action now, that's fine. However, if it shall be difficult to do so, then we can set up a working group to study tl1e problem and recom. mend possible solutions before our next meeting. " (c) Making sure that all members understand the issue and why they are discussing it. Sometimes the issue is obvious <:ir that the group may have been through it before. If not, then the chairperi;oo or someone who knows the issue or has been previously briefed on it can ex. plain the fo)]o V'. ing: (1) some indicatio n of the reason why the topic is on the agenda; (2) the history of tl1e items and its present status; (3) what needs to be establish ed, resolved, or proposed; and (4) some 