be from 7:30 to 8:30 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.

Chat instructions to attend a meeting

The New Chat Room is housed on our own website. It is strongly advised that you try entering the Chat room a day

or so before the meeting to make sure you can enter with out any problems. The New Chat room supports most browsers, however, 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. Don't forget to reboot your computer after installing

the upgrade for the new java applets to take effect.

Once your java program has been updated you can enter

"The New Chat Room" via the top menu bar under MEMBER SERVICES or by clicking here.

When the new pop up "Input Required" window loads, fill in

the box "_Please enter your Real Name_", with your full name and whether TAS or Guest. (example:  Wayne_DesLauriers_TAS; or Guest_Wayne_DesLauriers) 

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

Hope to see you there!

Problems seeing the chat bar once the room loads. If you are unable to see the communication chat bar at the bottom of the room, it means your computer settings need to be adjusted. With Internet Explorer open click on the TOOLS option. Then scroll down and click on the View Compatibility. You will need to make sure that you add http://www.theangelfishsociety.org/ as one of the sites that you want to be compatibile, also at the bottom be sure to check the box that says Make these site Views Compatible. Hope this Helps!

Attending The Angelfish Society Meetings

Meetings of The Angelfish Society are held in The New TAS 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 new chat room 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

• Moderator Shall Be

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

  The moderator, if not the President, must sign in so that their admin priveleges can be engaged. The current BOD and Web Team all have the ability to administrate the chat room to control chat and members during meetings.

  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 right side chat room list. 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). When the Private Message window opens you will see a file folder type Tab at the top of the window as well as the Tab for the Main Chat Area. You can use these to toggle your chat viewer back and forth to see what is being said in each view. To close the Private Message, click on the little red "x" in the Tab at the top of the PM window. This will return your view to just the main chat room.

   

• Requesting the "floor"

  Any member may request the floor at any time, and should do so through a PM with the moderator or by typing "floor", or "!". Please wait for the Moderator to acknowledge your request, they will do so by typing your name in the chat when it is your turn to respond.

   

• 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). All questions shall be pertinent to the subject of the motion on the floor at the time. This serves to direct the question at that person, and should facilitate a response from only that person. Please do not chat unless you are the one asking the questions or the one answering them. 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. The Member that makes the Motion may also reserves the rights to be the last one to speak on the subject of the motion. 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 (50% + 1)will result in a motion that passes. Their must be a minimum number of 20 members present for the motion to be considered legal.

  • 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 New TAS Chat Room

• Click on the link above (or any other link to The New TAS  Chat Room) and wait for the chat room java applet to complete loading. You will see the phrase "Please sign in with Real Name" in the Input Required pop up box.

   

• Enter your Real Name in the box labeled "_Please enter your Real Name_" then left click your mouse button over the OK button in the box. This will take you to the chat room and you will see everyone in the room listed on the right side. You can also use your "enter" key on your keyboard to enter into the chat room after adding your name to the Input box.

  Members must use the following format for their nicknames:

  Firstname_Lastname_TAS - for example: Tom_Krehel_TAS

  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

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 "Chat Room Window".

• The right side of the screen lists all members and guests currently logged into the chat room "Chat Members List". This list can be turned on/off with the

  Chat Options settings.

• The bottom of the screen contains a text box where members type messages that everyone in the chat room will see on the left side of their screens (and on your own screen too). To post your chat to the main screen for all to see, point your mouse to the Chat Bar then click your mouses left button, type your message in the "Chat Bar" hit the "Enter" key on your keyboard once you are finished typing or click on the "Send" button on the right side of the Chat Bar Text Box to post your message.

  Underneath the "Chat Bar" and to the left side, there are Icons that control your chat room settings.

  1. First one is used to leave the chat room or disconnect.

   2. Second Icon is used to Change Text 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.

  3. Third Icon is used to show or hide the time and date stamps on the far left side of the chat.

  4. Fourth Icon is used to Turn your Sound Notifications On or Off in the chat room.

  5. Fifth Icon is used to Show or Hide the emoticons box on the bottom of the window.

  6. Sixth Icon is used to Show or Hide the Chat Room Members List on the right side of the chat window.

• 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" or "/leave" in the white text box at the bottom of the chat room window and either the "Enter" key or click the "Send" button.