Holiday Format - Technical Information

For the Secretary/Chair to read before leading a phone bridge meeting

 As the Secretary/Chair for this meeting you will be given a “leader code” that will give you more features on the key pad than other members.

          Here is some information that will help before dialing into the meeting once you have been given the leader code.

1. Dial the phone number and then use the regular pin number followed by the # sign that everyone else uses.

2. There will be a voice prompt after entering the regular pin # that says “IF YOU ARE THE MODERATOR PLEASE PRESS 1.”

3. Follow the prompt and Press 1. The word “moderator” and “leader” mean the same thing.

4. The voice prompt will again say “PLEASE ENTER THE MODERATOR PIN (Leader Code) number FOLLOWED BY THE # SIGN”.

5. You will join the phone meeting muted after entering the leader code and # sign.  Press *1 to unmute yourself and then introduce yourself as the Secretary/Chair of the meeting. Press *0 for a menu of all features.

Probably one of the most important services you can give as the Secretary/Chair is to have the highest sound quality on the phone bridge system.  This means without background noise and weak sound quality. “Sound” is all we have for the phone meeting to work.

Background noise can be taken as disrespectful or interruptive while members are speaking.  As a trusted servant you can guide the meeting without background noise or interruptions to the best of your ability.

Along with your own skills; here are a few tips and a few pieces of information to help you: 

1. Technically the phone bridge system is built for “only” one person to be unmuted at a time.  This of course would include, You (the Secretary/Chair) as well as the Timekeeper to stay muted by using the *1 keys.  The timekeeper only unmutes to say “time”. The Secretary/Chair unmutes a few seconds before the member is done sharing to welcome the next share.  You can remind the timekeeper to please stay muted except to say “time”. (Only one line unmuted at a time).

2. As the Secretary/Chair (with the leader code) you are encouraged to use the *5   to clear the line to address the noise.  This ensures that members will be able to speak so their share can be heard.  Then the member can press the *1 keys to continue sharing without the previous background noise.  We call this “Cycling Through”. (Most of the time people forget to mute and don’t know they are not muted). This can be done by saying “Excuse the interruption, I’m going to clear the line” and then press *5 keys. You then could say, “Whoever was sharing please press *1 and begin again,” or “Whoever would now like to share please press *1 to unmute yourself.”

3. Some meetings have multiple readers. The extra unmuted lines will cause the reading to be heard by some but not by other members.

Here are some suggestions.

1. Organize the readers so they know the order they will be reading.

2. Then tell the rest of the readers to mute until a few seconds before it is their turn to read.

3. After each member reads remind them to mute again.

4. (AS A Rule of Thumb), just because you can hear does not mean that other members can.  These phones meetings have global coverage. Not all phones have equal sound. Only one line unmuted at a time will keep a clear worldwide phone line for everyone during the meeting.

These 4 technical points can promote safety, warmth and recovery similar to face to face meetings. This was written to assist you to know and understand the phone bridge technical features.

Thank you for taking the time to read these suggestions. If you need help, just ask.   Congratulations on doing service and beginning the flow that opens our heart to what it already knows---that we all need each other. 

Sincerely,

Your Web Coordinator

The Meeting Format Starts Now

(This is the part you read out loud)

FORMAT:

Holiday Format

INTRODUCTION:

1.    Hi, my name is ____________________, a grateful Al-Anon member and your secretary for this holiday marathon meeting.

2. This meeting will at the stop at five minutes after the top of hour for members to share their telephone numbers. 

PHONE ETIQUETTE:

a. Prior to joining the meeting, we ask members to temporarily disable their call waiting by dialing *70 before calling the number to the phone bridge (example *70-1-712-432-8733). If you do not disable your call waiting we may hear your conversation or beeping.

b. When you dial in, you will start the conference being muted.

c. Stay muted at all times unless you are sharing. You can un-mute by pressing your *1 keys. You will hear a voice say “you are now unmuted”.  Some phones do not have a long enough beep for the muting and un-muting to happen. You may have to press *1 several times for this function to work. When the voice comes on you will know that the *1 keys have worked. 

d. We ask members to use the *1 keys to mute even if they have a mute function on their individual phones. The *1 keys ensure the greatest sound strength for the entire phone line and provides the greatest service to all members of the phone bridge during the meeting.

e. Please do not use a speakerphone for sharing or we will all hear an echo.  Some speaker phones will not mute even when pressing your *1 keys.

f. To hear a menu of all the features--such as volume control and member count--simply press * by itself.

Let’s open with a moment of silence for those family members still suffering inside and outside of these rooms, followed by the Serenity Prayer.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

(Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg. 10)

SECRETARY READS:

SUGGESTED AL-ANON WELCOME

We welcome you to this Topic Meeting of the Al-Anon Family Group and hope you will find in this fellowship the help and friendship we have been privileged to enjoy.

We who live or have lived with the problem of alcoholism understand as perhaps few others can.  We, too, were lonely and frustrated, but in Al-Anon we discover that no situation is really hopeless and that it is possible for us to find contentment and even happiness, whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not.

We urge you to try our program.  It has helped many of us find solutions that lead to serenity.  So much depends on our own attitudes, and as we learn to place our problem in its true perspective, we find it loses its power to dominate our thoughts and our lives.

The family situation is bound to improve as we apply the Al-Anon ideas.  Without such spiritual help, living with an alcoholic is too much for most of us.  Our thinking becomes distorted by trying to force solutions, and we become irritable and unreasonable without knowing it.

          The Al-Anon program is based on the Twelve Steps (adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous), which we try, little by little, one day at a time, to apply to our lives, along with our slogans and the Serenity Prayer. The loving interchange of help among members and daily reading of Al-Anon literature thus make us ready to receive the priceless gift of serenity.

Anonymity is an important principle of the Al-Anon program.  Everything that is said here, in the group meeting and member to member, must be held in confidence.  Only in this way can we feel free to say what is in our minds and hearts, for this is how we help one another in Al-Anon. (Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg.10)

SECRETARY ASKS VOLUNTEERS TO READ:

Preamble to Al-Anon’s 12 Steps (2 Pages before January 1 in all 3 mediation books)

Al-Anon’s 12 Steps (one page after December 31 in all three mediations books)

One Tradition & One Concept of the month (1 and 2 pages after the 12 Steps in all 3 meditation books)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

3. According to the 7th Tradition, Al-Anon is fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.  We invite you to send contributions to WSO stating that it is from the Al-Anon Phone Meetings.

Contributions can also be sent to:

Al-Anon Phone Meetings

P.O. Box 313

Allamuchy, New Jersey 07820

Or electronically at www.alanonphonemeetings.org on the “Contributions” page. Donations can also be made at your face-to-face meetings.

4. Do we have any available Al-Anon sponsors? 

5. Do we have a volunteer who will stay of the line after the meetings to answer questions about Al-Anon and to explain the phone etiquette?  

6. Are there any newcomers on the phone bridge today? You can press your *1 keys to un-mute and state your name so we may greet you.  We reserve the last fifteen minutes of the meeting especially for newcomers to share or for members who normally are quiet so that everyone on the phone bridge has an opportunity to share.

7. Are there any Al-Anon related announcements?

8. Let’s go around the globe and introduce ourselves. 

Hi, I am ______(Name)_____  from (_______State___)

 MEETING TOPIC:

9. This meeting is a speaker meeting and last for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  The speaker will speak for approximately 15 minutes on a topic or step of their choice.

If the speaker is not present, ask for a volunteer. If no one steps up then select a topic from a piece of Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature(CAL).

 After our speaker is finished we will open up the meeting for 3 minutes shares on a topic picked by the speaker.  With great pleasure, I introduce and turn over the floor to our speaker _____.  Would you like a 5 minutes heads up?

 After speaker is done …

Thank you _____________ (speaker) for your share and all the people that read.  Would you (the speaker) like to give out your phone #?

11.           Anonyminity Statement -In Al-Anon, this is a gentle reminder that we speak from our own experience and ours is derived from living with the effects of alcoholism.  We ask those who are members of other anonymous programs not to break their anonymity and to try to identify with the Al-Anon approach for the family illness.  Ours is a different experience and calls for a different interpretation.

12.          We have three minute shares. Do we have a volunteer to be our spiritual timekeeper? Would the spiritual timekeeper like to share first? We ask the timekeeper to stay muted except to come in to gently say time at three minutes. And we ask those who share to acknowledge that they have heard the timekeeper, and wrap up their share.

13.         (Five minutes before the top of the hour- Meeting is 1 hour and 10 minutes) We are now at fifteen minutes before the close of the meeting; we will now open up the sharing for newcomers or for those members who do not regularly share.

CLOSING (Five minutes after the top of the hour):

Suggested Al-Anon Closing

In closing, I would like to say that the opinions expressed here were strictly those of the person who gave them.  Take what you liked and leave the rest.

The things you heard were spoken in confidence and should be treated as confidential.  Keep them within the walls of this room and the confines of your mind.

A few special words to those of you who haven’t been with us long:  Whatever your problems, there are those among us who have had them too.  If you try to keep an open mind you will find help.  You will come to realize that there is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened.

We aren’t perfect.  The welcome we give you may not show the warmth we have in our hearts for you.  After a while, you’ll discover that though you may not like all of us, you’ll love us in a very special way – the same way we already love you. Talk to each other, reason things out with someone else, but let there be no gossip or criticism of one another.  Instead, let the understanding, love and peace of the program grow in you one day at a time. (Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg.22)

The Al-Anon Declaration: Can be found in Paths to Recovery Roman Numeral page IV (9)

Let It Begin With Me

When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help,

let the hand of Al-Anon and Alateen

always be there, and---Let It Begin With Me.

 (Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg.22)

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change,

                   Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference.

(Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg. 10)

14.   Names & Telephone Numbers: Ask for members to call out names of individuals they want telephone numbers from and ask those members to stay on the line and give out their phone numbers. 

Holiday and Meeting Schedules can be accessed on the web at www.alanonphonemeetings.org

Holiday Meeting Schedule All in EST –

Sunday January 1st

2am

6am

6pm

10pm

Midnight

Monday January 2^nd

2am

Regular Meetings - EST Zones on the number and pin you dialed in for this meeting.

8am                     Saturday and Sunday

9am                     Weekdays (Monday ----- Friday)

11am                  Sunday

Noon                  Monday ----- Saturday

2pm                    Sunday

4pm                    7 days a week

8pm                    7 days a week

10pm                   Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday

12 midnight       Thursday

Chair passes off to the volunteer (say name) able/willing to serve as newcomer greeter.

MEETING IS NOW FORMALLY CLOSED.