I went to a Missionary homecoming Sunday. When you combine a stack of new 11 year-old deacons with an overflowing capacity crowd, it makes for a disastrous Sacrament portion of the meeting. Seriously, by the time they got done there were only 20 minutes left for the speakers.
Next a sister gets up and says something along the lines of "The RM told me I could take all of the time. But I'm not going to do that - we want to hear what he has to say too!" Only, she then proceeds to speak for 15 of the 20 minutes remaining. Next comes a musical number (Come Thou Font, sung by members of the RM's family, accompanied by the RM) and by the time the RM gets up to speak, we've got 2 minutes left of meeting.
The kid did a good job of condensing his 15 minute talk into 5 minutes, and with one verse of the closing hymn we were done about 6-7 minutes late.
Pro-tip to anyone in a Bishopric out there - if you're doing a missionary homecoming or farewell, have the missionary speak first. Let them say whatever they need to say (even if some of it leads to a future post like Dwight's). Also - if you've got a Auxiliary Presidency speaking, let the president go first! No one wants to hear for Counselors for the whole meeting, leaving 2-3 minutes for the president to just give a testimony to wrap up. Put the most important speakers first!
Next a sister gets up and says something along the lines of "The RM told me I could take all of the time. But I'm not going to do that - we want to hear what he has to say too!" Only, she then proceeds to speak for 15 of the 20 minutes remaining. Next comes a musical number (Come Thou Font, sung by members of the RM's family, accompanied by the RM) and by the time the RM gets up to speak, we've got 2 minutes left of meeting.
The kid did a good job of condensing his 15 minute talk into 5 minutes, and with one verse of the closing hymn we were done about 6-7 minutes late.
Pro-tip to anyone in a Bishopric out there - if you're doing a missionary homecoming or farewell, have the missionary speak first. Let them say whatever they need to say (even if some of it leads to a future post like Dwight's). Also - if you've got a Auxiliary Presidency speaking, let the president go first! No one wants to hear for Counselors for the whole meeting, leaving 2-3 minutes for the president to just give a testimony to wrap up. Put the most important speakers first!
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