English

Noun

floor manager ‎(plural floor managers)

1. A manager who works on the shop floor and may directly interact with customers.
   • 1919 November 1, Factory: The Magazine of Management, volume 23, page 1044:

     The floor manager will then make a thorough inspection together with the foreman to see that all containers, whether of parts or chain, are properly labeled.

   • 2007, Labor Arbitration Information System, volume 2, page 142:

     The 16th matter occurred when an Assistant Floor Manager was walking past Area 3 on the casino floor.

   • 2012, Joe Kertzman, Greatest Loveless Knife Designs:

     The floor manager looked at Bob's recent edged creation and liked it well enough to order four more just like it.

2. One who manages the floor of a dance, club, or other gathering of people.
   • 1850 June 1, The Spectator, volume 23, page 521:

     Don Pablo do la Guerra, with his handsome aristocratic features, was the floor manager, and gallantly discharged his office.

   • 2004, Ronald H. Bayor, The Columbia Documentary History of Race and Ethnicity in America, page 547:

     At the Municipal Pier, for example, an investigator learned that when Negro couples went on the dancing pavilion floor the floor manager informed them that they were not dancing properly and took them to one side to acquaint them with the approved style of dancing; no matter how well they danced, they were to be prevented from going on the floor by the manager's judgment of their dancing.

   • 2011, Eric Redman, The Dance of Legislation, page 155:

     As Chairman of the relevant committee, Yarborough would ordinarily have been the bill's Floor Manager during the Senate debate; Magnuson might indeed have replaced him, but ironically, Magnuson had not yet returned from a weekend trip to Seattle.

3. (television, broadcasting) A manager of a television show, responsible for communication between the director and the crew.
   • 2004, Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book: A Thursday Next Novel:

     The floor manager came on the set and announced that the unseen director of the show had called cut.

   • 2011, James Whale, Almost a Celebrity: A Lifetime of Night-Time:

     The floor manager counted me in and The James Whale Radio Show took to the air on Yorkshire Television in its usual slot.

   • 2012, Colin Hart, Television Program Making: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started, page 154:

     The floor manager will be positioned somewhere out of shot but in JOHN'S eyeline and will hold up a hand with four fingers extended.

Related terms

• floorman
• floorperson