Its first role is to be aware of the gifts and interests of all the meeting s attendees. For the monthly meeting, the roster of the participants in its life should be annotated with such information. Representatives in quarterly and yearly meetings need to bring the same information with them. Nominations should not be limited to the names of people who turn up at these meetings. The nominating committee is clear on what is expected for service in every office and committee.
Many meetings rely on clerks of committees to be chosen from within the committees.
The committee recognizes that one of its duties is to nurture the future leadership within the meeting. Frequently the same names are just cycled between offices and committee clerkships. Nominating is not a process of filling in the blanks-although I must admit to that desire myself when I am constricting the roster for the next year. Sometimes the inability to find names is telling us something. One clerk of a yearly meeting nominating committee said that when she couldn't fill in the blanks, she recommended laying down several committees.