Conch noun
Remote Control. From the shell in Lord of the Flies, the person holding it having the authority to speak at council meetings.
I may be pushing the envelope in my own usage (I'm happy to say "I have the conch" simply to (re)assert my right to speak and be heard in any discussion context, not just "council meetings"). But for no particular reason I just wanted to convey that without the somewhat literary reference. I couldn't think of an alternative metaphoric usage.
Did we have a generic term for such a symbolic "talisman/totem" before conch?