Who choose the elders to give talks at the Circuit Assembly and District Assembly?

Alfred

The Circuit Overseer picks him based on the following criteria:

amount of money in the envelope collected by the PO from the congo and handed to the CO at the end of his visit
average monthly hours reported by the elders... not actual hours, but hours counted going to donut shops, etc.
speaking ability, (not thinking ability)
number of brothers the elder greets as they enter the hall during the CO's visit (not the number of brothers he normally greets when the CO is not in town)
quality of restaurant CO is invited to by the elder during his visit.
whether of not the congo's finances are in order, not whether or not there are any brothers in financial troubles.

That's about it I think... If I missed anything, please let me know.

dozy

CA & Special Day speakers are chosen by the CO. The assignment is first sent to the COBOE of the congregation with instructions to pass on to the brother if the COBOE feels he qualifies.

The procedure for District Assembly speakers has changed recently. It used to be that individual congregation service committees used to decide who in their congregation qualified to give talks & rated them as to speaking ability etc. This led to many arguments in congregations so it has now been changed and the CO meets with a couple of higher - up elders in the circuit to compose a list. This is then given to the district overseer who assigns speakers ( double checking with the individual COs & in some cases the branch if there are any question marks ).

The system tends to produce "safe" speakers which is why the same speakers generally appear each year. Once on the list , you can be sure of getting a fairly regular assignment.

Often the WTBTS instructions will ask for "an elder - preferably a pioneer" so a serving elder who is a pioneer , even though he is a poor speaker , has a good chance of being assigned.

DesirousOfChange

All this time I thought the Holy Spirit was involved in the selections for those assignments.

stuckinamovement

Dozy is right,

For the SAD and Circuit assembly it is assigned by the CO, who usually picks the brothers who have been used before. The DC system has a new report card ranking that the Service Committee and the TMS overseer complete. Its funny how it all works. The rating committee will ask the brother they are ranking to step out of the room when they discuss. He returns and then the next brother leaves and the brothers rank him. There have been more than a few hurt feelings during this process.

The Branch has pretty specific criteria for DC speakers. If you have ever been divorced or have had kids leave the org you are not permitted to give a talk on family life. The instruction letter pretty much eliminates many brothers. that is why you see many of the same guys over and over again on the programs.

SIAM

pirata

The Circuit Overseer picks him based on the following criteria:

amount of money in the envelope collected by the PO from the congo and handed to the CO at the end of his visit

average monthly hours reported by the elders... not actual hours, but hours counted going to donut shops, etc.

speaking ability, (not thinking ability)

number of brothers the elder greets as they enter the hall during the CO's visit (not the number of brothers he normally greets when the CO is not in town)

quality of restaurant CO is invited to by the elder during his visit.

whether of not the congo's finances are in order, not whether or not there are any brothers in financial troubles.

Alfred, are you being facetious?

Magwitch

quality of restaurant CO is invited to by the elder during his visit.

This is the most important point by far

Band on the Run

If financial success is so crucial, why don't they pass a plate and have a stewardship drive. My church does it one Sunday per year. People don't yap about it. So a KH in a poor area is discriminated.

No Room For George

What Dozy and what Stuck said. From my experiences, though, lot of it depends on the kind of relationship a brother has with the CO. The key way those relationships are built is when the CO visits the congregation. Some brothers a CO may really hit it off well with, not to mention the previous CO will leave notes for the next CO to give him an idea of the congregation makeup, particulary the elder body. The time spent in field service is taken into consideration too. However, never underestimate the power of brown-nosing cuz I know a couple cats that have done assembly parts with less than national average numbers. However their families have one or two theocratic heavyweights in the circuit, or they've brown-nosed the CO during his visit.

Another thing I've noticed about getting selected to do talks at assemblies, is to be part of the stage crew. Back behind the curtain, you interact with the circuit heavyweights, including the CO. You're there on the stage during the "walk through" in the mornnig and afternoon with the CO/DO, and they're making small talk and joking around to keep it lively. You'll meet the special Bethel speaker who flew in the night before. You'll meet the whomever is handling the finances. You'll meet the other speakers from other congregations. Often the head of the stage crew is a brother who has impeccable theocratic credentials whether that be he's a long time JW, pioneer, Ministerial School graduate, etc.. All this time that you're dealing with these guys, you're building a repoire with them, and if you impress them enough, they'll remember you.

One last thing, is every now and then they'll have the COBOE call a quick elder meeting after the meeting and ask all of the body if they felt there was anybody that could be considered to deliver a talk at the assembly. They do that to avoid the appearance of it being the same brothers giving talks over and over again at the assemblies. To be honest, I still see the same brothers doing talks at Circuit Assemblies. It never changes with the exception of what talk they deliver, or who might be the chairman for that session. It's always the same families or individuals doing interviews, demos, and soliloquies.

sabastious

The symposiums were always "riveting". I swear I went through what the talk was about in my head the second I read the title in the program. No need to take notes, this talk was given three years ago with a slightly different title.

It pays to bring old notes it really does.

-Sab