just to share a different perspective...
Ray Harrell mentioned in a note on this list about a year ago his distress
concerning the use of spiritual symbols (talking sticks) in secular
settings. I was influenced to change from using a "talking stick" to
using a "microphone." I still use a stick, or pen or any object (John
Dicus had some great suggestions of artifacts that you might use), but I
call it a "microphone" and let people know that only the person with the
microphone has the power of speech (I've used this process to set up
dialog circles and at the end of open space meetings when we're closing
the space).
Doc
--"Richard C. Holloway" <learnshops@thresholds.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>