Become a Professional Registered Parliamentarian

The Professional Registered Parliamentarian® (PRP) is the third and highest level of membership in the National Association of Parliamentarians® (NAP). See our Join NAP page for information on becoming a regular member of NAP, and our Preparing for the RP Exam page for information on becoming a Registered Parliamentarian® (RP).

Once you become an RP, to become a PRP, you have to take a 2-day Professional Qualifying Course (PQC), which is given in conjunction with the September or October NAP convention (odd-numbered years) or national training conference (even-numbered years), and at such other times and places that enough students arrange to take it. See NAP's Event List for dates and locations. See NAP Operating Policies and Procedures section 5.2 for PQC rules, and the 2008 news article below by the chairman of the Professional Development Committee that administers the PQC.

See some preparation tips and resources below.

From the May 2008 "The Possibilitarian" -- NAP's president's newsletter

[Note: the PDC noted below is now called the Professional Recertification Course, PRC.]

Your Professional Development Committee

The professional development committee is responsible for developing and updating the curricula for the courses for attaining and retaining the Professional Registered Parliamentarian® (PRP) status. PRP status indicates to others that a member has not only the knowledge, but also the practical skills, to successfully deliver parliamentary services to clients.

PRP status is granted to Registered Parliamentarians® who successfully complete the Professional Qualifying Course (PQC) and demonstrate competency and skills in these areas:

♦ serving as a professional parliamentarian and/or professional presider at conventions and meetings

♦ working with an organization's governing documents

♦ engaging in parliamentary research and writing opinions

♦ serving as an instructor

♦ applying the ethical and business practices of a professional parliamentarian

PRP status must be renewed every six years. This is accomplished by attaining 200 or more points within the professional development point system. Successful completion of the Professional Development Course (PDC) must comprise 50 of the required 200 points. The PDC emphasizes the furtherance of expertise in the same skill areas listed above for the PQC.

The professional development committee makes arrangements for both the PQC and the PDC to be held at the biennial convention and the NTC. The courses are also held at other times when requested and a minimum of five members register. All course offerings are posted on the NAP Web site in the events section.

Both the PQC and the PDC are evaluation courses. Course participants are expected to know correct parliamentary language and how to manage any situation that might arise in a meeting. Both courses are comprised of five categories worth 60 points each. Successful completion of either course requires the participant to achieve at least 240 points of the maximum 300 points and score not less than 42 points in any one category.

The committee has developed rubrics for each course. The rubrics are distributed to the participants when they register. They help the participants figure out how their performance will be evaluated and also allow for a more objective evaluation from the instructors.

The 2007-09 professional development committee members are Chris Dickey, chairman (MO), Vera Chernecki (MB), Gloria Cofer (GA), Gayla Stone (CO), Janet Wilson (WI), and Connie Deford, ex officio (MI). Please contact the committee if you have any questions or comments.

Chris Dickey

Chairman

Preparation Tips and Resources

#1 - Practice parliamentary research for short answer questions and parliamentary opinions. Take your old "National Parliamentarian" quarterly magazines from NAP and go through the Questions and Answers for practice in this fashion: Read only the question, then write out your answer, and then review both (Q and your Ans) and edit your answer as needed. Treat it as an open book test; you can use RONR and quote from it, and from TSC and Demeter and Parliamentary Law if relevant. Then compare your answer to the one in the NP. Don't worry if you don't have the exact same answer, but think about whether you missed some angle you shouldn't have.

In addition to NAP's old NP's, you can order from the NAP bookstore "Questions and Answers IV (1997-2009)" for $35.

You can also use Jim Slaughter's "brainteasers".

Don't expect the exact same questions to come up at the PQC, but by practicing on 10-20 of these "research questions," you will have greater confidence in your abilities.

#2 - You might also practice writing some parliamentary opinions.

#3 - Review NAP's Code of Ethics for Parliamentarians: www.parliamentarians.org/documents/#Governing

#4 - See various forms and documents under the Professional Registered Parliamentarian heading on the NAP Documents web page.