Tech Forum

I have been a clerk for many years off and on for multiple bishops. I have always counted sacrament during the intermediate hymn. This way I do not interrupt someone who is speaking and possibly fluster them.

I have not found any written guidance in the HBOI. So I am curious what the common practice is among the other saints in Zion.

We count right after the Sacrament.

Our ward also counts after the Sacrament, but not "right after." When I was clerk, I instructed the assistant clerks (and followed the same practice myself) to try to start the count between speakers to minimize the disruption. The actual timing was left up to who was counting that week. We did not do this during any hymns, at the request of our Stake Presidency.

We do it completely wrong probably. When I was called as bishop, I told our ward clerk to do a count of both the sacrament cups used and physically and compare them for a couple of months. He then came up with a number he needs to add to the sacrament cup count. My Teachers Quorum president now gives him a sacrament cup count each week, and he adds his number.

He does a spot check a couple of times a year to see if the number needs adjusting.

I figure it is within the margin of error for a physical count...

TinMan wrote:We do it completely wrong probably.

I figure it is within the margin of error for a physical count...

Well, that process is certainly not disruptive. And if you get an accurate attendance count . . .

Not that I would condone doing it that way, but I am curious as to how much variation there was in the "add factor" when you physically counted. I suppose if the variation was only one or two or three, I might be okay with it. But if it was plus or minus 10 or something, I am not so sure I would want to do it that way.

(I am not speaking of the actual number you add, but of the variation in that number as you sampled the actual attendance.)

I think the current number is 14, but we know we have 8 babies...
And I know a couple on sacrament restrictions.

I figure if we are within 4 or 5 in 290 average, we are close enough.

In fact, I can almost guess from the stand now.

When I was called as bishop (a number of years ago in another state) my Stake President instructed me on his idea of the Sacrament Cup method (count the sacrement cups used and then add 10%) to be used if it was not possible to do the count on a particular Sunday.

We never had to resort to that, though.

I've counted sacrament cups, but only so I can calculate when I need to order more.

Whenever you count, it's going to be a bit disruptive. We always wait until after the sacrament is over. I've found I can count most heads standing in the back by the doors, but I'm fairly tall...

Almost seems like you could keep a ward list, tick off any member of the family in attendance and just count the rest....

JohnShaw wrote:Almost seems like you could keep a ward list, tick off any member of the family in attendance and just count the rest....

In our ward, we can't make the assumption that if one family member is present, all the rest of the family members are present. (yes, I saw the smiley, but just to clarify...)

I think each ward needs to come up with a system that works for them and keeps disruption to a minimum. Since the numbers are averaged, a small error will usually not affect the average enough to be significant.