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Posted: 8/5/2014 10:00:58 AM EDT
Tonight is step up night for our Lodge and I will be sitting in the East.  I have springboarded from being raised to SD, to SW, to tonight sitting in the East.  After practice last night I have one sticky spot at closing, everything else went well.  Any advice from PMs for tonight or for the coming year?
Link Posted: 8/5/2014 10:37:49 AM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 8/5/2014 6:02:58 PM EDT
[#2]
Do your best.  Take good advice.  Ignore bad advice.  Remember all the PM's were in the same boat you are now then.  It's your turn, do it your way.  Get your officers to buy-in and roll with it.  Don't make the same mistake twice.
Link Posted: 8/5/2014 6:27:04 PM EDT
[#3]
One more thing.  Find the most obnoxious, pain in the ass PM and make him the Tyler.  
Link Posted: 8/5/2014 6:30:06 PM EDT
[#4]
Link Posted: 8/6/2014 10:13:44 AM EDT
[#5]
Post mortem of the evening....

I survived and the Lodge is still standing!

I selected one prompter for the evening and asked the brethren to refrain from calling out from the sidelines.

I had one bobble while opening on the first degree, the JD hit the SW in the head opening on the second degree, we all got a little work on things we don't normally do including a partial closing and having brethren retire and return to the Lodge.

At practice and even up to opening I had been struggling mightily with the closing charge.  I worked with two PMs after supper and it was still rough, but it was show time.  We finished business, the hour was late, and I knew the closing charge was coming up.  I don't know where it came from because it certainly wasn't there before supper, but the charge came rolling out and with a prompt or two I got it.  At the last sound of the gavel there was much rejoicing.

We have a number of practices coming up for degrees so I'll have plenty of opportunity to work on the rough spots.  I have jumped through the chairs faster than I would have liked, but I am ready to serve the Lodge and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
Link Posted: 8/6/2014 10:14:56 AM EDT
[#6]
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Quoted:
Confidence in everything you do.

Short of that, keep your cipher book handy, and plenty of our older brethren will gladly correct you. Lol
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Funny you should mention the cipher book.  I forgot it on my way to work Monday.  Not much of an issue.....except for the closing charge.  That is going to be my white whale.
Link Posted: 8/6/2014 12:05:02 PM EDT
[#7]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Post mortem of the evening....

I survived and the Lodge is still standing!

I selected one prompter for the evening and asked the brethren to refrain from calling out from the sidelines.

I had one bobble while opening on the first degree, the JD hit the SW in the head opening on the second degree, we all got a little work on things we don't normally do including a partial closing and having brethren retire and return to the Lodge.

At practice and even up to opening I had been struggling mightily with the closing charge.  I worked with two PMs after supper and it was still rough, but it was show time.  We finished business, the hour was late, and I knew the closing charge was coming up.  I don't know where it came from because it certainly wasn't there before supper, but the charge came rolling out and with a prompt or two I got it.  At the last sound of the gavel there was much rejoicing.

We have a number of practices coming up for degrees so I'll have plenty of opportunity to work on the rough spots.  I have jumped through the chairs faster than I would have liked, but I am ready to serve the Lodge and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
View Quote


So last night you and the officers went through everything; opening, EA, FC, MM, all the ancillary stuff and closing?  I gotta ask:  why?
Link Posted: 8/6/2014 12:33:27 PM EDT
[#8]
I tell all the guys this, " it doesn't matter what you say, just mean it". If you say it convincingly most brethren will never notice the mistake.
Link Posted: 8/6/2014 3:23:10 PM EDT
[#9]
So last night you and the officers went through everything; opening, EA, FC, MM, all the ancillary stuff and closing? I gotta ask: why?
View Quote


In short the would be new officers have to show the Lodge that they know the work.  Because we had and EA and FC there we didn't want to be excluded from our stated meeting so we did a partial closing.  We also had a late arrival that we were not expecting.
Link Posted: 8/6/2014 4:25:33 PM EDT
[#10]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


In short the would be new officers have to show the Lodge that they know the work.  Because we had and EA and FC there we didn't want to be excluded from our stated meeting so we did a partial closing.  We also had a late arrival that we were not expecting.
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
So last night you and the officers went through everything; opening, EA, FC, MM, all the ancillary stuff and closing? I gotta ask: why?


In short the would be new officers have to show the Lodge that they know the work.  Because we had and EA and FC there we didn't want to be excluded from our stated meeting so we did a partial closing.  We also had a late arrival that we were not expecting.


Hum, having new officers show proficiency is an interesting concept.  I love the little differences, idiosyncrasies and oddities between jurisdictions.  Perhaps part of this is from officers entering different places without having been in lower chairs.  That's something that's just not done here.  In fact, you cannot be Master without first being a Warden.  I've never seen someone jump into the line.  If a vacancy opens up, the line moves up and the bottom is filled by appointment.

Here we're charged to, at a minimum, do specific portions of the work based on your station.  Stewards start by learning and giving the charges, Deacons the lectures, the Junior Warden confers the EA, the Senior the FC and the Master the MM.  The other stuff you do based in the chair you're sitting.  While progressing through the line you're learning the next station.

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