Monday 8pm - 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:
Monday 8pm Survival to Recovery
INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to the From Survivors to Recovery Al-Anon Monday night phone Meeting
1. My name is ____________, a grateful Al-Anon member and your secretary for this meeting.
2. 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.
3. 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 a member does not disable their 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 saying “you are now un-muted”. 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 ensures 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 speaker phone 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 or member count--simply press * by itself.
READINGS:
4. Would someone please read Al-Anon’s:
“Welcome” from How Al-Anon Works page 8
SUGGESTED AL-ANON WELCOME
We welcome you to this “From Survival to Recovery” 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. (Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg. 24)
Would someone please read:
a. “Preface” From Survival to Recovery (the page after the table of Contents)
b. Preamble to Al-Anon’s 12 Steps, From Survival to Recovery (the page before the Table of Contents)
c. Al-Anon’s 12 Steps (Please read the Twelve Steps with the introductory paragraph) From Survival to Recovery page 291 or 293 in the newer book
d. Tradition (Please read the Tradition of the month with the introductory paragraph) From Survival to Recovery page 293 or 295 in the newer book
e. Concept of the month (Please read the concept of the month with the introductory paragraph) From Survival to Recovery page 295 or 297 in the newer book
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
5. 7th Tradition: Al-Anon is fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. Although we have no expenses related to this phone bridge, we ask that you send your contributions
a. Directly to Al-Anon’s World Service office stating it is from this phone meetings WSO ID 30508234 or give to Regional offices, area offices or at your local meeting.)
6. Al-Anon literature is available:
World Service Number 757.563.1600
or Al-Anon’s website: www.al-anon.alateen.org
All meeting schedules will be read after the close of the meeting after telephone numbers are given out.
[Business meeting is on the 1st Monday of the month]
Let’s go around the globe and introduce ourselves. Hi, I am ______(Name) from (_______State___)
7. Are there any Al-Anon related announcements?
8. Are there any available Al-Anon sponsors on the line?
9. Do we have any Al-Anon newcomers today? Either new to Al-Anon or to this bridge? Please give us your first name so we may greet you.
10. Do we have a volunteer on the line today that can stay after the phone meeting and greet the newcomers and provide information of the phone etiquette or on Al-Anon?
MEETING TOPIC:
11. By group conscience, this meeting’s format shall be as follows:
1. We will read one story followed by open sharing.
2. If time permits, we will read a second story.
3. The reading will be seamless. Each person reads one paragraph until the reading is completed before we open up for individual shares.
4. May we take a quick count of the number of books available on the line today?
SHARING:
12. 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.
13. We ask those who are members of other anonymous programs not to break their anonymity and to try and identify with the Al-Anon approach for the family illness. Ours is a different experience and calls for a different interpretation.
14. There is a three minute time limit for shares. When the spiritual timekeeper says time it means please wrap-up your share. Do we have a volunteer to be our spiritual timer? Would our spiritual timer like to share first?
15. Fifteen minutes before the meeting closes:
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:
Reading from Survival to Recovery pages 269 - 270
If we willingly surrender ourselves to the spiritual discipline of the Twelve Steps, our lives can be transformed. We can become mature, responsible individuals with a great capacity for joy, fulfillment, and wonder. Though we will never be perfect, continued spiritual progress can reveal to us our enormous potential. Many of us discover what our fellow members already know—that we are both worthy of love and loving. We leant to love others without losing ourselves and we accept love in return. Our sight, once clouded and distorted, can clear enough for us to perceive reality and recognize truth. Courage and fellowship replace fear. It becomes possible for us to risk failure and develop new, previously-hidden talents. Our lives, no matter how battered and degraded, will offer hope to share with others. We begin to feel and know the vastness of our emotions, without being slaves to them. Our secrets no longer have to bind us in shame. As we gain the ability to forgive ourselves, our families, and the world, our choices expand. With dignity, we stand for ourselves, without standing against others. Serenity and peace will have new meaning as we allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with God’s ease, balance, and grace. No longer terrified, we discover that we are free to delight in life’s paradox, mystery, and awe. We laugh more. Faith replaces fear and gratitude comes naturally as we realize that our Higher Power is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Can we really grow to such proportions? As we accept life as a continuing process of maturation and evolution toward wholeness, we gradually begin to notice these changes. We may see them first in those who walk beside us. Sometimes these changes happen slowly or haltingly, and occasionally with great bursts of brilliance. As we work the Steps, we move ever closer toward light, toward health, and toward the Higher Power of our understanding. As we watch others grow, we realize we are also changing.
Will we ever arrive? Will we feel joy all the time? Can we really be free of all cruelty, tragedy, and injustice? Probably not, but we can acquire growing acceptance of our human fallibility, as well as greater love and tolerance for each other. Self-pity, resentment, rage, and depression can fade into memory. A sense of community rather than loneliness defines our lives. We come to know that we belong, we are welcome, we have something to contribute, and that this is enough.
16. Welcome newcomers, thank the readers, spiritual timekeeper and all who read and shared.
17. Al-Anon’s Declaration can be found in Paths to Recovery Roman Numeral page IX (page 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!
Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
(Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual pg. 12)
Names & Telephone Numbers:
Ask for names of members they want phone for and ask those members to stay on the line and give out their phone numbers. The Phone Bridge closes @ 25 minutes after the meeting.
MEETING SCHEDULE
Meeting schedule and phone bridge information can be accessed on the web at www.alanonphonemeetings.org. Format changes, determined by the group conscience of each autonomous meeting, can be emailed to alanonphonemeetings@yahoo.com. As per group conscience, proposals for new meetings and format drafts ideas can be brought to the Group Conscience Meeting on the 4th Saturday of every month at 1:30 EST.
Eastern Time Zones on the same phone and pin number as you dialed in for this meeting.
8am
Saturday and Sunday
9am
Weekdays (Monday thru
Friday)
11am
Sunday
Noon
Monday ----- Saturday
2pm Sunday
4pm
7 days a week
8pm
7 days a week
10pm
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday
12 midnight Thursday
We, now open up a space for people to announce other Al-Anon meetings with different phone numbers and pin numbers. Do we have anyone that would like to announce a different Al-Anon meeting?
Secretary turns the meeting over to the newcomer greeter for approximately 25 minutes after the meetings closes.
FORMAL MEETING IS NOW CLOSED.