Originally Posted by Lena1952
Over the past few years I have noticed a tendency toward rudeness during our meetings. Members talk during a speaker, during the general meeting and not quietly. Several times I have had difficulty hearing what is being said due to the person behind me holding a conversation. As the new Prez of this guild, I need help finding a way to politely handle this situation. Me, I am normally a fairly blunt no nonsense kind of gal but realize tack it needed for this, so please help me tame these beasties nicely.
Our new president ran into this problem when she took over as well and she gently informed the group that due to the size of the chapter, we all need to be polite and considerate of others around us. When someone is speaking even if we're not interested we need to be polite and remain quiet so those interested can hear. Also we all need to exercise patients and wait our turn to address the group or speaker with questions. She asks to complete the meeting portion in a timely fashion and then opens up to the floor for questions. Members raise their hands, are called upon to address their questions. If there are too many, the group is referred to a meeting area off in a corner or to the side of the room where they can further discuss - this is for projects that only a few are participating in and the rest of us don't need our time taken up while they hash things out. It's working very well although she does periodically have to interrupt the group and remind them to be polite and courteous to others so we can have the meeting in a timely fashion and get on with our evening activities. It seems to be common with dealing with women.