Is the information the same at all assemblies?

by I quit! 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  I quit!

  The anti-school rhetoric was VERY strong, stronger than I've seen it in a decade. One particularly galling interview took place with this 19-year-old girl who went against her parents' wishes for her to go to college, spurning the money that they'd saved for her out of their want--they were not a rich family but scrimped and saved enough to send their daughter to school anyways, obviously foregoing pleasures and comforts for her. She "prayed to Jehovah for a month." Then she told her parents that she wasn't going to college, she was going to pioneer instead.

  I copied the above from Under_believers post about the Portland assembly. I had relatives over last night that went assembly in Long Beach, CA yesterday and stopped by after it for dinner. While talking to my nephew he mentioned that he had decided to go back to school to get a degree so he could better support his family. Naturally I encouraged him to do so. He is a smart guy and it would be a waste for him to spend his life doing menial labor as encouraged by the WT Society. If you went to an assembly or the one in Long Beach let me know if the same garbage was presented.
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  deaconbluez

  All assigned speakers are given the same outline by the Society, which is followed during the program by the Program Overseer. In preperation for the part, the outline will say something like, "Arrange to interview a local publisher in good standing who didn't go to college after high school, but chose to work toward more spiritual goals." So the speaker will find whoever he knows in his city/circuit that fits that description.

  So whether you attend a convention on the East coast or on the West coast, the basic message will be the same, but will differ slightly according to the speaker. But since all convention parts are manuscripts that the speaker is supposed to read word-for-word from, you will hear the exact same words at every convention. But the interviews will differ from convention to convention.
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  Nulite

  Depending on the part some hardliners can push the no--college agenda more. Some progressives will recommend supplemental education to like minded witnesses. As long as you are not dealing with a cookie cutter outline you always have some room for personal agenda. All conventions have outlines and some not--so outlines

  NL
• 

  stillajwexelder

  But since all convention parts are manuscripts that the speaker is supposed to read word-for-word from,

  Actually that is not quite true -they ar eactually using less and less manuscripts. The reason is taht they do not come over as natural. However, if you do not stick closely to the outline you will not get invited to speak again. So the yall stick closely to the outline
• 

  deaconbluez

  stillajwexelder,

  I gotcha. I was basing what I said on how it worked up until about 2004. Up until then, I worked in administration at district conventions, so I knew about manuscripts. So if they've moved away from doing that in the last couple of years, I wouldn't have known.
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  WTWizard

  I think it's very close to the same. The exact wording can vary slightly, but if the speaker goes too far off the outline, they will harshly correct it even if it means removing the speaker from the platform in front of the audience. This threat of embarrassment, plus the judicial hearing that's sure to follow, is usually enough to keep those talks pretty close to spot-on.
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  Seeker4

  It has been pretty much the same for years: most talks are outlines and give the speakers a little leeway as to how it will be presented.
  
  Other talks are manuscripts, and they will usually be printed later as WT study articles.
  
  In either case, someone from the Chairman's office will be following along very closely to make sure no one strays too far from the party line.
  
  Interviews and experiences will vary from convention to convention, but will be based on a recomendation in the outline as to what the experience should entail.
  
  S4
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  jeanV

  in the past a few parts were manuscript (such as new releases, symposium on minor prophets on Sunday morning and possibly others), these then became WT study articles.

  Now very few, if any, are manuscript.

  About strict adherence to the outline, it all depends who you are and where you are.
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  NewYork44M

  I always suspected that the only ones that deviated from assigned parts were D.O.s and some C.O.s. Some of the deviation may be from giving the same part so many times that the have to change a little, otherwise they will die of boredom. This may be more reflective of Circuit Assemblies as compared to District conventions.

  As a general rule, elders that are assigned parts are there because they can be counted on to toe the company line.
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  Room 215

  Re: Leeway on the part of the Society toward speakers at assemblies. Some years ago, they instituted the practice of appointing ``watchdogs" who sit in the wings with copies of the Society's outlines and monitor adherence thereto.