Open mind

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Posts by Open mind

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  27

  Talk Coordinator: A pretty sucky job

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i got this "privilege" thrust upon me for about 6 months many years ago.

  i was a hubby, father of young children, service committee member, working 2 jobs and then this.

  it truly is a thankless task.

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  Open mind

  Towards the end of my very short TC career, I came up with a partial solution to the problem of "no shows".

  When either the incoming speaker or his TC would give me a last-minute call to cancel, I would ask if he had a replacement available. Amazingly, about 50% of the time, just asking this kind of gave them a virtual smack upside the head and made them realize how they were leaving our congo in the lurch. And THEY would do the scrambling to get a replacement. If he was a "D" quality speaker I really didn't care at that point.

  If the TC said "no you'll have to find a replacement yourself" then this was my reply:

  OM: "OK, that's fine. I'll just make a note of it in my file that your congregation handles cancellations by having the hall RECEIVING the speaker arrange for a replacement, is that right?"

  (Long pause.)

  Other TC: "Uhhhh, welllll, ummmmm. "

  (After enough time has passed for a certain amount of discomfort to build.)

  OM: "Hey, it's no big deal, I just want to make sure we're on the same page as to how cancellations should be handled. So in the future, if one of our speakers has to cancel, we'll be sure to let you know ASAP so that you can arrange a replacement. No problem."

  Of those who let it go this far, about half decided to do the scramble themselves, and about half said "Yeah, OK, that's how we'll handle it." I made sure to let my successor know of these convos.

  Good times.

  om
• 
  27

  Talk Coordinator: A pretty sucky job

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i got this "privilege" thrust upon me for about 6 months many years ago.

  i was a hubby, father of young children, service committee member, working 2 jobs and then this.

  it truly is a thankless task.

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  Open mind

  PaintedToeNail: Thank you for the reminder that there are lots of really decent JWs out there, just trying to live a somewhat healthy, "normal" life, even though it really can't be normal inside Watchtower walls.

  JRK: "Did you get stuck arranging the "hospitality" crap too?"

  No. Well, not as part of being Talk Coordinator. The Talk Coordinator just entered the name of a Book Study Group on the line for hospitality. As Book Study Overseer, I had the responsibility to make sure it was covered whenever it was our group's turn to cover hospitality. So, at least 50% of the time, when it was our "groups" turn, we ended up taking care of hospitality.

  00dad: "I just felt this all-too-familiar unpleasant dread until I saw them actually in the hall and ready to go! "

  Yeah, I always had a couple of outlines that my family was sick and tired of that I could give in my sleep if there was a no-show.

  dozy: "The previous holder had made a total mess of it & I literally was given it on a Thursday & there wasn't anyone scheduled to give a talk the next Sunday ( or any Sunday after that. )"

  Exactly. Our previous TC got all his "privileges" removed in one fell swoop and so this particular piece of shrapnel landed in my lap.

  snakes: Sounds like your aptitudes and personal situation made you an ideal Talk Coordinator.

  zoiks: "I remember getting cornered at the CA by the other coordinators - they had all brought their scheduling materials and wanted to meet during lunch to swap speakers the way you might swap baseball cards."

  A couple years after my time as TC, they started doing a once-a-year swap meet for speakers in our area. If your TC missed that "meet" your congo was screwed for the next 12 months.

  Let's face it, the JWs definitely don't want speakers who are good critical thinkers and can convey that in a talk. But there are plenty of other aspects of public speaking that made the difference between boring and at least somewhat attention-keeping. Hence the "A", "B", "C" grades given by PaintedToeNail's hubby.

  Here's where it gets really tough for a Talk Coordinator if he's from a KH with only 3 or 4 speakers who are approved to give talks in other Congos. That was the case for me for my short tenure as TC. We had one "A" speaker, one "B" speaker and the other 2 were definite "D"s as far as boredom goes. Good luck getting another TC to send a speaker if all you can offer is a "D" or maybe even no speaker at all since our body count was so low.

  om
• 
  27

  Talk Coordinator: A pretty sucky job

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i got this "privilege" thrust upon me for about 6 months many years ago.

  i was a hubby, father of young children, service committee member, working 2 jobs and then this.

  it truly is a thankless task.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Open mind

  I got this "privilege" thrust upon me for about 6 months many years ago.
  
  I was a hubby, father of young children, Service Committee member, working 2 jobs and then this. It truly is a thankless task. It sucks up TONS of family "prime time" (evenings) since that's usually the only time you can semi-effectively try reaching other elders on the phone. As soon as we got a couple more elders, I bailed from this job. Had to threaten stepping aside all together to make it stick. Sheesh. The P.O. at that time was a master manipulator.

  There's more to the suckiness of this job, but for now, I'll ask if anyone has any Talk Coordinator anecdotes to share, whether you were one or not.
  
  om
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  41

  Anyone going to a Pride Parade this weekend?

  by Open mind in

  1. social
  2. entertainment
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  Open mind

  Son got slightly sunburnt. Got quite a few good photos. Had a good time.

  Didn't turn gay though. Phew!

  om
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  61

  Flipper Jr. & Flipper Sr. Leave Child Abuse News Releases at Kingdom Halls

  by flipper in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  of course everyone knows about the news of the candace conti child abuse case which has gone viral , ( one would have to live in a cave, under a rock, or another planet not to know about it ).

  that being said - it may very well be that those jehovah's witnesses who do not use the internet, or read newspapers, or in simple english are neanderthal's, still living in the 19th century or before , out of fear of negative reprisal from wt authorities may have not even heard about this case because they are in the habit of not watching the news or using the internet.. so- with those particular type of people in mind my son flipper jr. & myself decided to print up about 20 copies of the candace conti child abuse lawsuit from the england daily mail issue , here's the link : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160605/candance-conti-molested-jehovahs-witnesses-member-age-nine-wins-28milion.html?ito=feeds-newsxml .. so what we did is since we are doing some out of town jobs in several counties we figured we'd leave these child abuse news releases under jw car windshields at kingdom halls while they are out in field service.

  we left about 15 so far at 3 different kingdom halls under car windshields .

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  Open mind

  That's why more and more KHalls are securing their parking lots even during meetings these days. Automatic gates requiring either a security code, or the guy running the sound to buzz you in after seeing who you are on the security camera.

  Having said that.........Good Job!!!

  om
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  41

  Anyone going to a Pride Parade this weekend?

  by Open mind in

  1. social
  2. entertainment
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  Open mind

  Para: "I am a lesbian."

  Me too. I am only attracted to women.

  Do you think we can get a couple of Harleys and ride with Dykes on Bikes?

  om
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  60

  Do you try to "shape up" for Summer?

  by Open mind in

  1. social
  2. physical

  a while ago* i set a goal to lose 10 pounds before summer.

  today's the day.

  i didn't make it.. .

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  Open mind

  cofty: "World Champions? Isn't the USA the only place that weird game is played?"

  "(Cofty puts on body armour)"

  No need, my point exactly.

  If aliens were to visit planet Earth they would find 150 nations playing a game called "football" and using a round ball and one nation playing "football" using an oblong ball and using totally different rules. And the team from the nation with "odd" ball calls itself "World Champions".

  Can somebody find me an inter-galactic face palm?

  om
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  60

  Do you try to "shape up" for Summer?

  by Open mind in

  1. social
  2. physical

  a while ago* i set a goal to lose 10 pounds before summer.

  today's the day.

  i didn't make it.. .

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  Open mind

  pam's girl: "The best "diet" is the one you dont know you're on..."

  om
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  60

  Do you try to "shape up" for Summer?

  by Open mind in

  1. social
  2. physical

  a while ago* i set a goal to lose 10 pounds before summer.

  today's the day.

  i didn't make it.. .

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  Open mind

  cofty: So what do you think of the New York Giants 2012 Super Bowl "World Champions" football ring?

  

  There are many things about the USA that I admire, but this is a classic "AMERICA! F*CK YEAH!!!" moment. (Open Mind goes into corner to perform a face palm.)

  om
• 
  60

  Do you try to "shape up" for Summer?

  by Open mind in

  1. social
  2. physical

  a while ago* i set a goal to lose 10 pounds before summer.

  today's the day.

  i didn't make it.. .

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  Open mind

  Good stuff cofty! BTW, what do you coach?

  @ lovesholiday: It's an honor to have your first post on my thread. Welcome to JWN!

  om