Group Conscience Topics
Weekly Meeting
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Limiting Topic Leaders (10/13)
Decision: The Proposal was Withdrawn.
Proposal: Limit Leader Sign-ups to Once Per QuarterIt is proposed that we consider limiting members to chairing no more than once each quarter in order to encourage participation from many people in the group. The implementation would be to include a statement about this in the message the WLL sends out, and will also be up to the WLL to take this into account when she assigns the schedule.
In order to provide ample opportunity for many members to chair the weekly Grow meetings, members should chair at most once during a quarter, with the quarters being:
- January, February, and March
- April, May, and June
- July, August, and September
- October, November, and December
Two possible outcomes are anticipated; some people will be very disappointed and others will be grateful. Some members volunteer immediately each time the call goes out for leaders, and others who may contact the WLL a day or two after the call are disappointed that they cannot chair.
If this proposal is adopted, a sentence should be included in the Weekly Topic Leader Message as follows: "In order to provide ample opportunity for many members to chair the weekly Grow meetings, members should chair at most once during a quarter."
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Monthly Step Meetings (10/08)
Decision: Because we have not moved toward a common ground in eight days regarding the posting of monthly step meetings, the group appears to agree to disagree. Therefore, this agenda item is retired, and the meeting format will continue as it is currently organized.
Comments: The Chair noted unwavering support for a Step meeting, so discussion continued in the hopes of finding middle ground. No middle ground arose. Some example comments are:
- I think a meeting - first one of the month is cool - should be set aside for a step. With the previous method, it got lost in meeting shuffle, like there were two topics and that can get confusing.
- I understand that this should already be done by someone, though I'm not sure who. If we were to make this a requirement for the first meeting of the month that the chair HAS to put out a topic on a specific step, we might have trouble getting chairs for that meeting.
- I think the format that we currently have covers both the Monthly Step and Tradition Meetings which I have copied below. I feel that if this is sent to the group every month, there would be no need for a 12 Step Monthly Volunteer. We are trying to pare down the jobs - not create new ones.
- I like the concept of keeping it simple. I believe we ended up with a Step and Tradition
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Separating AA Readings (10/08)
Decision: This agenda item to separate the weekly readings from the topic is retired, and the meeting format will continue as it is currently organized.
Comments: This part of the original proposal was discussed extensively during the first four days. The Chair pulled it out, hoping that some common ground might be found. This did not happen. Comments either favored or opposed the proposal. The Chair offers two of the comments here, as examples of how divided the opnion seems:
- When I first came to this group I volunteered to chair, not knowing what I was getting myself in to. The WLL didn't get the meeting format to me in a timely manner (not the current WLL) and I was in a panic because I could not post the topic without the holy grail preceding my topic post. If I was overwhelmed by just that, imagine how someone with little knowledge about computers but a HUGE desire to stop drinking and just wanting to be of service could potentially feel???
- I have never been to a face to face or online meeting that started immediately with the topic. New people need to hear (read) what is happening & regular attendees need the reminder of why they are there. Having The Preamble, How It Works (including the Steps), 12 Traditions, An excerpt from the Big Book on Pages 83-84 (The Promises), Anonymity Statement sent separately is not what an AA meeting is about. "
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Topic Postings (4/12)
Decision: We have consensus on this Proposal and it is APPROVED that we begin posting the meeting on Saturday, no later than Sunday morning. We will "revisit" this topic in our October 2012 Business Meeting to discuss possible modification of our website and literature to reflect this change.
Proposal: Begin posting the meeting on Saturday, no later than Sunday morning, to ensure that ladies in various time zones will receive the meeting on Sunday.
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Topic Postings (10/06)
Decision: Reaffirmed that weekly meeting leads are sent on Sunday, with no time specified. The Weekly Lead Listkeeper may, at her discretion, maintain a list of available leaders she can call on to start the meeting if no lead is posted by Monday morning.
Proposal: Weekly Leader Protocol
Discussion of this topic has reminded us that we have members all over the world, and that Sunday hours are therefore quite different for many of us. Most of us agree that any time on Sunday is good for sending out the lead for the week. Most of us are in favor of having a backup person to give a lead on Monday if no lead is sent on Sunday. Our Weekly Lead Listkeeper may like to have a list of available leaders ready to write if no lead goes out on Sunday.
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Weekly Leader Replacement (10/08)
Decision: No suggestion for a compromise appeared on how to find a replacement for weekly topic leaders who cannot or do not send out the topic on Sunday.
Comments: This was discussed during the first four days with no agreement in sight. The Chair pulled it out, hoping that some common ground might be found. This did not happen. Comments either favored or opposed the proposal.
- I agree with ... in that each member who has volunteered to chair a meeting for us has the responsibility of either showing up on her Sunday to chair, or finding her own replacement. If we were to receive a regularly updated 3-month list of Chairwomen and their e-mail addresses, it shouldn't be a problem to switch with another member.
- There are a few people who are super responsible and will do this, but I believe that in the majority it will not be done, and it will be left to the Weekly Topic Leader to find the replacement.
No suggestion for a compromise came up in the previous discussion, so the Chair proposed a compromise: The chair suggests that the weekly leader listkeeper could encourage the chair volunteers to find their own replacements, and to let her know in a timely fashion. Further, the chair suggests we offer this to the weekly leader listkeeper as a suggestion, rather than codifying it with formal language..."
This was met with a lot of discussion:
- My thought on this is that if there is no mention of it in the WLL's job description and simply just recorded in the minutes of this meeting, future WLL's will not be aware of this 'suggestion'. Also, I would like to add further that since the Topic Chairwomen 'volunteer' and are not 'selected' to chair, it is their responsibility, not the WLL's, to find a replacement. This should be easy to do if the list of Chairwomen is sent to the group on a monthly or quarterly basis.
- I'm not sure this solution is really a solution. One idea might be to include the point about finding replacements in the letters that go to the group both seeking and informing who weekly leaders are. It might also be included in reminders to weekly leaders prior to their lead. Further, all the reminders in the world are not going to eliminate the problem for weekly leaders who simply forget their commitment or have some last-minute emergency. I am in favor of making it clear that weekly leaders are responsible for finding their own replacements as long as we recognize that this is not a cure-all.
- Let's keep this simple. I am against a formal requirement about this. I think it is sufficient that the WLL can request that the chair make arrangements if she finds she will not be able to fulfill her duty, but if that doesn't happen, it seems to me the WLL can simply let the group know that we don't have a chair for that week, and let someone volunteer.
- In my opinion, this may work with some, but won't work with all. People forget, have emergencies, or just won't do it. Human nature. We have, at least in the past, people who sign up as backups to lead the meeting. What if we had the Weekly Leader Listkeeper assign one of those backups to be on watch for a month? That way, if the topic doesn't come out by early evening (US time) on Sunday, the backup topic person could send in a "temporary topic." If the topic still doesn't come out, then temporary becomes topic of the week."
- I just checked the guidelines for Weekly Leader Listkeeper, and this is the reference for replacing the weekly leader, "Replace the topic leader if necessary through general announcement to the group." There is nothing about having a list of backups, so maybe this idea should be incorporated into the WLL description.
Two ideas seemed to arise that had a fair amount of support:
That the letter to the leader volunteers stress that it's their responsibility to find a replacement.
That when the list is published on a group level as to who the volunteers are that we head that with a statement that makes it clear that if the leader cannot, for any reason, fulfill her commitment that she should find her own replacement to put out a topic.
A third idea wasn't directly addressed, but focused on the presence of a list of backups that the WLL maintains. The chair will take these ideas and put forth a proposal to the group,
Based on previous discussion, the chair suggested that we consider:
The letter to the leader volunteers stress that it's their responsibility to find a replacement.
When the list is published on a group level as to who the volunteers are that we head that with a statement that makes it clear that if the leader cannot, for any reason, fulfill her commitment that she should find her own replacement to put out a topic.
Several people favored this proposal. One did not agree and raised the same issue as for the Weekly Leader Listkeeper's position responsibilities:
I am in favor of the WLL maintaining a list of backup volunteers to lead. My opinion remains that one of the backup topic volunteers be available for each month to send out a topic if the topic does not show up by Sunday evening. We can talk this one into the ground, but no system is going to be perfect. We are all perfectly imperfect and human.
Since we will be discussing the WLL's position, we will keep this agenda item open.
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Weekly Leader Sobriety Requirements (10/06)
Decision: Members have 90 days of sobriety and 30 days of GROW membership to lead weekly meetings.
Proposal: Weekly Leader Requirements. We are presently in the discussion phase at this time. We have not yet reached a formal group consensus.
The motion has been made and seconded: "Members have 90 days of sobriety and 30 days of GROW membership to lead weekly meetings."
Comments: Additional clarification from webkeeper: Most of the members who have responded to this item support 90 days of sobriety and 30 days as a member of GROW. Three of those who responded feel that there should be no sobriety or membership requirements.
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Weekly Leader Sobriety Requirements (4/06)
Decision: We established requirements for the length of sobriety and length of GROW membership for weekly meeting leaders to be a minimum of three months GROW membership and a minimum of three months sobriety.
Proposal: A member asked what the requirements are for leading a meeting. The Steering Committee agreed that no prior decision had been made and that it should be taken to the group.
Comments: We need a discussion about the length of sobriety and length of GROW membership for weekly meeting leaders. Jean wrote that she thought it should be three and three (a minimum of three months GROW membership and a minimum of three months sobriety). Of the nine members who responded after Jean, all agreed with her suggestion. There were no objections.
Top of Page
Back to GC Contents
Weekly Meeting > Weekly Meeting Logistics (10/08)
Decision: No decision was reached on this proposal. Recommendations were considered separately. They were:
- a - that the AA readings be posted separately
- b- that the WLL remind the chair 1 week in advance that she will be leading
- c - that the list of upcoming chairwomen be posted monthly
- d - that the scheduled chair should find her own replacement.
- 5.2a Weekly Meeting: readings posted separately
- 5.2b Weekly Meeting: reminding the chair and posting list of chairs
- 5.2c Weekly Meeting: finding replacement