While the presidents begin the outlook go-around, the order of presentations is otherwise set through what I call the "wink" system. When a Committee member wants to make his presentation, he winks at the deputy secretary, who then puts the member on the list, in the order of the winks.
I also learned that FOMC meetings are more about structured presentations than discussions and exchanges. This surprised me. Each member spoke for about five minutes, then gave way to the next speaker. Many read from a prepared text or spoke from a de tailed outline, diverging only occasionally to include a comment on what was said earlier in the meeting. To my surprise, what evolved was not a spontaneous discussion, but a series of formal, self-contained presentations. (11)
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Note 11: I am told that the presentations used to be more spontaneous and interactive. But this changed once the decision was taken to release the transcripts after five years. Committee members apparently want to make sure that their remarks, when read five years later, will be coherent and graceful. So most would write them down and read them. I quickly fell into the practice of doing the same.