Thursday 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:
Al-Anon’s Thursday 8pm Paths to Recovery Meeting
Chair: Please be conscious of time. The longer you take to go over the format and reading – the less time we have for individual shares.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Hi, my name is ____________________, a grateful Al-Anon member and your secretary for this meeting.
2. This meeting will close five minutes before the top of the hour for members to share their telephone numbers.
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 *1keys 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.
4. 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. 12)
READINGS:
5. Would someone please read Al-Anon’s Welcome: Suggestion: If the secretary reads the Welcome it will save time. Most members don’t have it.
Al-Anon’s Welcome (from How Al-Anon Works page 8)
We welcome you to this Paths 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.12)
WE NOW NEED THREE VOLUNTEERS TO READ (From Paths to Recovery Book)
a. Preamble to Al-Anon’s 12 Steps, page Roman Numeral Page V
b. Al-Anon’s 12 Steps page 3
c. Tradition of the month Page 131 and Concept of the month Page 245
6. 7th Tradition: Al-Anon is fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. Please send your contributions to World Service and state that it is from the Thursday 8pm Meeting Path’s to Recovery Meeting, WSO ID 30521773 or donate at your face to face meetings.
7. Also at the close of the meeting, we will ask for Al-Anon sponsors and state the meeting schedule.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
8. Are there any Al-Anon related announcements?
[Business Meeting is held the 1st Thursday of the Month]
9. Do we have any Al-Anon newcomers today? Either newcomer to Al-Anon or to this phone 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 newcomers and provide information on the phone etiquette or on Al-Anon?
MEETING TOPIC:
11. Let’s go around the globe and introduce ourselves. Hi, I am ______(Name)_____ from (_______State___)
12. The format for this today is we read the entire, all the pages for the step or tradition or concept. (Pick only one to read: A, B, C, D, or E. Remember: Save time.)
a. First Thursday: Corresponding “Step” of the month from Paths to Recovery
b. Second Thursday: Corresponding “Tradition” of the month from Paths to Recovery
c. Third Thursday: Corresponding “Concept” of the month from Paths to Recovery
d. Fourth Thursday: We read the corresponding page for today out of Al-Anon’s three meditation books (also known as the three daily readers) before we begin our three minute timed shares.
Will someone please read out of;
One Day at a Time
Courage to Chang
Hope for Today
e. Fifth Thursday: Speaker selects the topic and speaks for 15 to 20 minutes
13. ANONMITY 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 and identify with the Al-Anon approach for the family illness. Ours is a different experience and calls for a different interpretation.
14. TIME KEEPING: We have three minute shares. Do we have a volunteer to be our spiritual timer? Would the spiritual timer like to share first?
15. Thank you all for the shares and those who read.
16. Do we have any Al-Anon sponsors on the line?
17. Please call out the name of people you would like to get a telephone number. After the Al-Anon closing would those people please stay on the line and give their phone numbers.
18. CLOSING (Five minutes before 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.24)
19. Before we close are there any available Al-Anon sponsors on the line? Would you like to give your phone number now?
20. Please call out the names of members you would like telephone numbers from after we close the meeting, after the Al-Anon declaration.
21. Al-Anon’s Declaration Paths to Recovery Roman Numeral IX (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.24
After the Closing:
22. Telephone Numbers: Hello is __________ still on the line? Would you like to give out your phone number? What is your time zone? When is the best time to reach you? Is it safe to leave a message if you are not home?
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 need to be brought to the Group Conscience Meeting on the 4th Saturday of every month at 1:30 EST.
All Eastern Time Zones on the same number and pin 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
23. 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?
Does anyone want the more detailed (books read and type of format) version of the meeting schedule?
Secretary/Chair turns the meeting over to the member who is staying on the line to answer questions about the Al-Anon phone meetings or to explain the phone etiquette.
All Eastern Time Zones
8:00am
Sunday, Early morning Rise & Shine Step Study
Saturday Early Morning Speaker Meeting
9:00am
Monday 3 Daily Meditation Books ODAT/Courage to Change/Hope for Today
Tuesday Step 1 How Al-Anon Works/12 and 12/ Paths to Recovery/ 3 Meditation Books
Wednesday Step 2 How Al-Anon Works/12 and 12/ Paths to Recovery/ 3 Meditation Books
Thursday Gratitude 3 Meditation Books
Friday Step 3 How Al-Anon Works/12 and 12/ Paths to Recovery/ 3 Meditation Books
11:00am
Sunday Step/Tradition/Concept/3 Mediations Paths to Recovery
12:00 Noon
Monday Day A Topic from the 3 Meditation Books
Tuesday Al-Anon 12 & 12
Wednesday From Survival to Recovery
Thursday Al-Anon’s 3 meditation Books
Friday Speaker Meeting
Saturday Hope for Today Meditation Book
4:00pm
Monday Beginners Meeting 3 Meditation Books/How Al-Anon Works/Beginners Pamphlet
Tuesday 10th Step How Al-Anon Works/12 and 12/ Paths to Recovery/ 3 Meditation Books
Wednesday 11th step Guided Mediation Paths to Recovery/ How Al-Anon Works/3 Med
Thursday Slogans How Al-Anon Works/3 Mediation Books
Friday 12th step
8:00pm
Monday From Survival to Recovery
Tuesday Topic discussion from 3 meditation books
Wednesday Beginner’s meeting How Al-Anon works
Thursday Step/Tradition/Concept/3 Mediations Paths to Recovery
Friday How Al-Anon Works
Saturday Speaker meeting
Sunday Steps and Traditions How Al-Anon works
10:00pm
Monday 4th Step WRITING Workshop Blue Print for Progress
Tuesday LGBTO Discovering Choices
Thursday 4th Step WRITING Workshop Blue Print for Progress
Saturday Traditions Meeting How Al-Anon Works/Paths to Recovery
12 midnight
Thursday 3 Daily Readers 3 Mediations Books