be critical to beginning the next step. In parliamentary procedure, an agenda is not binding upon an assembly unless its own rules make it so, or unless it has been adopted as the agenda for the meeting by majority vote at the start of the meeting. Otherwise, it is merely for the guidance of the chair. If an agenda is binding upon an assembly, and a specific time is listed for an item, that item cannot be taken up before that time, and must be taken up when that time arrives even if other business is pending. If it is desired to do otherwise, the rules can be suspended for that purpose. Order of business In parliamentary procedure, an order of business, as the name may suggest, is the sequence of items that is to be taken up during a meeting. This sequence may be a standard order of business or a sequence listed on an agenda that the assembly has agreed to follow. Standard Order of Business Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) has the following standard order of business: Reading and approval of minutes Reports of officers, boards and standing committees Reports of special committees Special orders Unfinished business and general orders New business The above standard order of business has been found to be appropriate for meetings in most organizations. The "special orders" and "general orders" refer to items of business that usually come from a previous meeting (the word "order" in these two cases do not refer to "sequence" but instead is more like a "command" in its meaning). Usually items become special orders or general orders by adoption of the motion to postpone. A difference between these orders is that, in general, a special order can interrupt other business when the time comes for its consideration, while a general order waits until the pending business is taken care of. For example, say a motion is being considered and then postponed to the next meeting. This postponed motion becomes a general order for the next meeting. When the time for "general orders" comes up in the order of business, consideration of the postponed motion is resumed. "New business" is where the bulk of the discussion as well as decisions in the meeting usually takes place. If a group has not adopted an agenda or an order of business, all of its business would be considered