They get a big chair right at the front of parliament, and what they say in the chamber goes.
But according to David Wilson, who is the clerk of New Zealand's Parliament, being the Speaker is a lonely job.
"You don't have any other colleagues doing the same work," he said.
"In order for us to get professional development, to share ideas with people who have similar experiences, it's a useful thing for us to get together."
Tetangi Matapo, a member of the Cook Islands Democratic Party. Photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana
So on a blustery winter's week, dozens of speakers and clerks from parliaments across the region - from Federated States of Micronesia, to Australia, to Solomon Islands, to Tonga - gathered in Wellington.
They sat through speeches, workshops, seminars and lunches, gathering over tea and biscuits to share experiences in a bid to glean fresh ideas to take home.
One of the delegates was Tetangi Matapo, an MP from the Cook Islands, whose floral 'ei brightened the cream and brown of the windowless corridors of New Zealand's parliament.
"As a member of parliament, I have always viewed speakers and clerks as just people sitting in the front keeping our parliament in order," she said. "It has been eye opening."
For Ms Matapo, how a parliament communicates what it actually does so that people care about what's going on was of particular interest for her.
Ms Matapo, who is the MP for Mangaia, said the Cook Islands parliament needed to work harder to get communities involved in politics - particularly women, the youth and those in the isolated outer islands.
"If you are from an isolated outer island in the North or the South, not everybody has television or radio," she said.
"So to bridge that gap we need to come up with some ways of connecting to the people, because some people just see us as people who make a lot of noise in parliament."
The theme of this year's gathering was inclusiveness: How do the region's parliaments become more accessible, representative and family-friendly?
While it's a firm aim for New Zealand's speaker, Trevor Mallard, there is a lot of work to be done in the Pacific, delegates said.
In many countries, women's representation is poor, and parliaments do not have the resources to broadcast sessions on television or to build highly interactive websites and apps, let alone Virtual Reality tours.
Then there's the precarious juggle of tradition and the imposed Westminster system of parliament.
The clerk of NZ's parliament, David Wilson. Photo: RNZ / Jamie Tahana
David Wilson said the gathering was not about New Zealand and Australia trying to preach about how a parliament should be run.
"We've certainly learned of challenges and we've shared ideas," said Mr Wilson.
"[But] we're also aware that there's a huge variation in the size of some of these institutions and in the resources available to them, and I think that's why people need to find solutions that work for their own countries."
The acting clerk of Vanuatu's parliament, Leon Teter, said it was an opportunity to learn about rules and practices - and how a parliament can run smoothly.
He said while Vanuatu had seen decades of reform in the public service, the parliament in Port Vila had largely gone untouched.
Mr Teter said this allowed pressure to build ahead of the 2016 political crisis, when parliament was dissolved after half a government was jailed.
"It was sad that [the] parliament of Vanuatu has gone through this scandal, but currently we have some discussions to carry out for, I would say, a little reform concerning parliament," Mr Teter said.
"I have heard that the government will bring constitutional amendment this year."
For Leon Teter, he said the knowledge gained from other parliaments would prove valuable when the time did come for those reforms.
