We have a microphone and speaker so it's easy to get everyone quiet. One loud Attention Please works great. The system is cheap, portable, wireless microphone, speaker, and hands free lapel for wearing.

Our biggest problem now is cell phones. We announce that all phone be set to silent but at every meeting someone will forget or not do it, the phone rings a silly ring tone, they search in their purse to find it and then they answer it! Say Hello and continue to talk while walking out the room or worse yet the older ones will stay put and talk. No one wants to seem mean to the old lady so what do you do?

Have everyone hush and eavesdrop shamelessly???

"Our biggest problem now is cell phones."

I'm guilty about not always remembering to turn my ringer off and equally bad about remembering to put it back on again. When reminded however, I turn it off promptly -- once I find it anyway. Very few people have my cell number, I get more junk calls and calls for the previous owner than I do for myself but lately I've been getting the IRS or whatever call during my Tuesday small group.

Maybe not the nicest way to handle it but I remember one teacher who would stop dead and stare silently at the person until they turned off the phone/stopped talking. Only took a couple of times before everyone got the lesson, but some people learn faster than others! Maybe a handout given to everyone with general information such as the name of the group, the time, the address, etc., plus a paragraph on cell phone etiquette.

I understand that life happens but when you are in a group you are not just wasting 5 minutes of your time, but 5 minutes of the time for everyone who is there. That's half an hour for a group of 6.

If there is the potential for a real and true emergency, set your phone to vibrate and tell people to text you. Keep the phone handy and in easy reach to discretely look at the message. Notify your instructor/group in advance that "Jack had to take the cat to the vet, I might have to take a call" or whatever it may be. Someone wondering about what's for dinner is not an emergency.

I think it would be useful/helpful/considerate - if someone is waiting for an emergency type call - to tell the group ahead of time.

It would also be helpful for the person to have her/his phone handy - I tend to not be able to find my phone on a timely basis!

I think most people would be understanding for situations like that.

I did a search on "free cell phone free zone" signs.

Among others, here's one of them:
https://www.hooverwebdesign.com/free...zone-sign.html

**s*n*i*c*k*e*r**

:) You just made my day! :)



Sadly .... for some people gentle will never succeed ..... and you really do need to find an alternative method!!!! Paint ball, anyone? :)

cell phones can be muted. put on vibrate. most everyone knows that, so they have no excuse. if someone does start talking on their phone, simply tell them to leave the room and shut the door when they do! simple. people must learn at times. never too old to do that.

Perhaps an announcement could be made at the start of each meeting - "please find your cell phones and put them on vibrate or turn them off"

But the odds are that it will be people coming in late that will miss the announcement and it will be their phones going off.

:D :D :D Even my husband laughed at that!

Sadly, some people don't get hints. At my quilt guild, the leader asks everyone to mute of turn off their phones at the beginning of the meeting. This group is pretty good and I've never heard anyone's phone go off and talking is at a minimum. The doors auto-lock at 7:00 so there are never any late comers.