New World Scheduler makes scheduling Public Talks Away simple and fast. The Coordinator of the Body of Elders or the Public Talk Coordinator can use New World Scheduler to schedule congregation elders and ministerial servants to give Away Public Talks at another congregation.
Some congregations have certain requirements when scheduling Public Speakers to visit other congregations, such as only one elder per week is away, or each elder can only travel once per month, etc. The Public Talks Away view allows you to easily schedule according to any such requirements.
To schedule Away Public Talks, click Schedule > Public Talks – Away, or click Schedule > Public Talks > Public Talks Combined
Schedule Public Talks Away
The Public Talks Away schedule will list all of your Public Speakers across the top, and the Weekend dates on the left.
Boxes are colored to indicate the status of that week:
- Dark Blue indicates an Away Public Talk
- Light Blue indicates a Local Public Talk
- Light Grey indicates a Public Speaker is unavailable that week. This is based on either their Away Frequency, or Maximum Away Speakers per Week
- Dark Red indicate the Public Speaker is Away that week
- Purple indicates there is a Congregation Event that week
- Green indicates an Approved and Confirmed Public Speaker Sharing Request
- Orange indicates a Pending Public Speaker Sharing Request
You can adjust the Speakers per page in the bottom-left corner.
The bottom-right corner will show how many of your Public Speakers are away on the selected weekend.
Before you schedule
- Ensure your Public Speakers have Assign – Public Talks Away ticked and are Active
- Enter the Away Talks Can Give and their Away Talk Frequency
- Add some Neighbor Congregations
Schedule an Away Public Talk
- Click Schedule > Public Talks – Away
- Select or Double-click the cell for a Weekend and Public Speaker
- Note: The date shown is for the Weekend. Some congregations have their Weekend meeting on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Therefore a generic Weekend date is shown. The actual date and time of the assignment is set in Neighbor Congregations and Public Speakers
- Select either a Neighbor Congregation or Other Congregation to visit
- Note: You should usually select Neighbor Congregation. You should only choose Other Congregation if this congregation is not in your circuit or a nearby circuit, and is a “once-off” talk. Please see How to Add or Edit Neighbor Congregations and Public Speakers.
- Select which Public Talk Outline the speaker will give
- Note: The Outlines that a speaker can give are set in Person Assign or Public Speakers
- Note: You may optionally select the Public Talk Outline at a later time.
- Optionally, enter any Notes
- Note: These will be shown for the Public Speaker on the NW Publisher App
- Click OK
Pending
The first Column shows “Pending”. This can be used in cases when you have swapped speakers with another congregation, but not yet decided specifically which speaker will visit.
Closer to the date you can clear the “Pending” and assign an actual Public Speaker and Outline.
Maximum Away Speakers per Week
You can adjust the Maximum Away Speakers per Week in Settings.
Once the maximum has been reached, all other boxes for that week will turn Light Grey, indicating Public Speakers are unavailable that week.
Public Talk Reminders and Notifications
Send Reminder or Confirmation to Public Speaker
This is a Quick Step that will send a Public Talk Reminder or Confirmation to the selected Public Speaker,
- Select an Away Public Talk
- Click the Reminder or Confirmation button (up the top, next to the Public Speaker name)
- Choose either Reminder or Confirmation
- Click OK
- Check the Email and click Send
Other Quick Steps
The following other Quick Steps are available:
- Send Upcoming Public Talk Assignments to appointed brothers
- Send Public Talk Reminder
NW Publisher app Reminders
Public Talk schedules and upcoming Public Talk and Weekend Meeting assignments can be displayed on the NW Publisher app, along with phone Notifications and Reminders.
Swap or Cancel an Away Talk
- Click Schedule > Public Talks – Away
- Select or Double-click the cell for the Weekend and Public Speaker you wish to change or cancel.
- Click Clear to remove the assignment for that speaker, click OK
- If needed, re-assign this talk to another speaker
Multiple Away Talks on Same Weekend
As the direction from the organization states speakers should preferably not be assigned to be away from their own congregation more than once a month, it is not possible to schedule a brother to give multiple Public Talks on the same weekend.
Zoom does not change this direction.
If you must assign a brother to multiple talks on the same weekend, do so manually.
Local Public Talk assignments
Local Public Talk assignments will also show on the Away Public Talk Schedule, but will be greyed out and cannot be edited. This is to help prevent scheduling an Away Talk for someone who already has a local talk that weekend.
To edit Local Public Talk Assignments, please see Local Public Talks.
Common Questions and Problems
The date shown on the schedule is the Weekend date.
Some congregations have their Weekend meeting on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Therefore a generic Weekend date is shown.
The actual date and time of the assignment is set in Neighbor Congregations and Public Speakers
This is a known problem, as sometimes the mouse-click does not register, and the name does not change.
Please simply click another name, then re-click the name again, and this should fix it.
The red name up the top is the name of the person who will be scheduled. Please ensure the red name is correct.
We are working to fix this in a future version of NW Scheduler.
Yes, you can send Reminders, Invitations and Confirmation emails to Public Speakers.
For Incoming speakers, please see Incoming Public Talk Reminders and Notifications
For Outgoing speakers, please see Outgoing Public Talk Reminders and Notifications
Boxes are coloured to indicate the status of that week:
- Light Grey indicates a Public Speaker is unavailable that week, based on their Away Frequency
- Dark Red indicate the Public Speaker is Away that week
- Purple indicates there is a Congregation Event that week
- Green and Orange boxes are related to Public Speaker Sharing
Only Active persons who are not Away, not Disfellowshipped and have the correct Assign value set will show in this list.
- Note: Inactive, Disfellowshipped or Moved persons will not appear for scheduling.
Please check the person is:
- Active. See Person > Spiritual
- Not Away during that time. See Person > Information > Away Periods
- Not Disfellowshipped. See Person > Spiritual
- Assigned to that assignment or duty. See Assign Privileges and Duties
- If you are scheduling a Language Group, the person must be in that Language Group (see Groups and Families > Other Groups)
Please do not contact us unless you provide screenshots of all of the above.
For Public Speakers from your Home congregation, see Help > Persons > Assign Privileges and Duties
For Public Speakers from Neighboring Congregations, see Congregation > Neighbor Congregations and Speakers
No. It is very important for publishers to know why an elder is not attending their local meeting.
When elders give an Away Talk, they should make every effort to stay for the entire meeting, including accepting hospitality. It is therefore very unusual for an elder to attend both their local meeting, and the away meeting.
It is also important for publishers to understand the hard work elders do.
As the direction from the organization states speakers should preferably not be assigned to be away from their own congregation more than once a month, it is not possible to schedule a brother to give multiple Public Talks on the same weekend.
Zoom does not change this direction.
If you must assign a brother to multiple talks on the same weekend, do so manually.
Additional Help
- Schedule the Christian Life and Ministry Meeting
- Schedule Local Public Talks
- Schedule Away Public Talks
- Schedule Field Service
- Schedule Public Witnessing Carts
- Schedule Congregation Duties
- Schedule Kingdom Hall Cleaning
- Schedule Lawn & Garden Care
- Schedule Maintenance Tasks (LDC)
- Schedule Circuit Overseer Visit
- Auto-Assign
- Language Groups