Wanted: Deputy Speakers

During my tenure as Speaker, I have seen the job grow increasingly sophisticated and technical as membership requirements have become more complex. Neither I nor Deputy Speaker SillyString intend to run for Speaker in January, and without training in the tools of the trade, comfort with the content of the Constillobillocode and proficiency in the policies and procedures of the Regional Assembly, a new Speaker would flounder even more than I did on the first week of my tenure.

Accordingly, we would like to provide a training opportunity for potential Speaker candidates, and are therefore accepting applications for one or two positions as Deputy Speaker.

We are looking for members of the Regional Assembly who are willing to stay active, ready to learn, and who might consider a run for Speaker in January. Familiarity with Google Spreadsheets, Microsoft Excel, or similar programs is a plus, but is not by any means required. Any knowledge of javascript, particularly as it is used in Google Drive, is unexpected but awesome. If that sounds like you, and you're interested, send me a PM containing any information about yourself which you think is relevant.

So, are we to hope that Zyvet will run for Speaker in January? You have done a fine job as Speaker. Each Speaker brings something different to the table, like most other positions in Government. Procedures and rules of the Regional Assembly often change when a new Speaker takes over (For example)

In what way has the job become increasingly technical? I ask because I am genuinely curious. There is no longer a need for WA nations to be tracked and the only major difference (as far as I can see) in terms of admission is that the Vice Delegate could block an application if he chose to.

I guess, I don't want new people to be turned off from running because they think the job is too complex for them. You're an example of a success story: new RA member who ran for Speaker and won. Kingborough is another example. Sometimes being thrown in the deep end is a good opportunity for people to flourish and make a name for themselves. RA members are fairly understanding and are willing to give people time to get into the swing of things.

That and we have a lot of government officials already. That law really needs to be looked at

The technical aspect deals primarily with the way we track continuing membership - rather than manual daily checks on nation existence/location and forum login, or having to re-tally every member's voting history with each vote to see if they need to be removed, we have a number of tools that make that easier. Some are scripts that I believe Elu wrote, and others are rather long and confusing formulae within the spreadsheet itself. Any future speaker will have editing power over the document, and it would be relatively easy to break it.

Obviously, if someone ran for Speaker in January without signing up as a deputy first, we would show them how things work and not simply make them jump in with no preparation. But, speaking from my own experience as deputy, it was quite helpful to have a bit of time to get up to speed and have someone always around to check in with and who knew how to fix my mistakes before having to take over as Acting Speaker. Having to learn everything at once and be perfect at it right off the bat would have been exceedingly stressful.