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One of my f2f meetings ahs voted me in to chair the meetings for next 6 months has anyone got any tips for chairing a good meeting, any ground rules etc
I have never been to a meeting where a chairperson is selected for 5months it sounds like a great oportunity to me . I loved chairing meetings in early yrs because i could choose topics that we giving me a problem I choose and every one in the room solves it for me , gotta love it , with out giving me advice , as they shared what worked for them I would come away with so many great ideas to practice in my home to make our lives easier . I heard someone yrs ago say take your problem to your sponsor or a meeting and come home with a solution I love it and have done that for yrs . Perhaps you can borrow a service manual from your group and read up on how to chair a meeting . In the index of our books are so many great topics to choose from i am sure u won't h ave a problem at all . You could choose a piece of literature that has helped you , read it and take the topic from there . you can use any pamphlet for a meeting , I love the Just for today there are so many suggestions to choose from . Our forum magazine always offers a topic suggestion with guides on how to proceed . Your gonna do just fine , enjoy . I think this 5 m onths commitment is a good thing as it keeps U comming back . pretty smart idea actually hehe ---- Louise
Yess, I agree with abby the reference lit has a lot of great topics and when I chair online, I do always pick something I am either working on or want to learn more about.
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Light, Love, Peace, Blessings & Healing to Us All. God's Will Be Done. Amen.
Aloha Tracy...that is a great opportunity for growth in all areas of your recovery. Adding to Abbyal and Kitty it also gave me a good look at my power and control problems. "You're not the president fer gads sake" was one of the reminders I had to rehearse, "The membership runs the meeting as long as they use conference approved literature." Secretarying a meeting gave me great opportunities to listen, listen, listen as was said before. You can learn, learn learn from it. For me sticking to the usual format and not "changing things" helped me to keep it simple and overcoming fear by asking for help in front of the group was great! It is a service position and I learned how to look at it as a guide to helping others and myself to recovery from the effects of alcoholism.
You'll do fine as long as you stay humble and open.
When I used to be able to go to them here. I really appreciated a chairperson who had the confidence to make sure shares were not too long.
I have heard so many times how one person will take over where they can.
Not allowing interruptions, if kids are there, work on eveyone putting in a buck to pay a sitter for the hour or however long in the next room or even outside the door in the hallway if there is one. If not, maybe make one corner with toys etc.
Being friendly of course is important. I KNOW you can do that one easily.
Hugs and thank you for the humble service you will be doing! love,debilyn
There are no rules in Al-Anon but we do try to stick to our steps and traditions. I have been to a lot of different f2f meetings and almost all of them start off with a moment of silence followed by the serenity prayer, the reading of the preamble, then everyone introduces themselves first name only.
You can add in after the introductions to have each person read one step or one person read them all; the same with the traditions.
I usually pick a topic from the index of either the odat or CTC. Sometimes we do a lengthy study on detachment. Sometimes we do a lengthy step study.
One really interesting twist is to write out a bunch of character attributes either good or bad. Fold them up and place in a basket. Have each person draw out a slip of paper and when it is their time to share they talk about the one they drew. Sharing their ESH on the subject.
Chairing a meeting doesn't mean you have to have all of the answers. You pretty much just do the preliminary's, announce your subject, give them the first reading and off they go.
I usually try to watch closely that I don't have dead air at a meeting. That can be uncomfortable to some people and tends to make people think that we don't know what we are doing. Granted we sometimes don't but we don't like to advertise it either.
I also watch for newcomers and address them personally at the beginning of the meeting letting them know that they may be hearing a lot of greek but to keep coming back, give us six meetings before they decide it isn't for them. I also tell them that we will set aside ten minutes at the end of the meeting for any questions or sharings they may have.
Hope some of this helps.
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Everything I have ever let go of has claw marks all over it.
I choose and every one in the room solves it for me , gotta love it , with out giving me advice , as they shared what worked for them I would come away with so many great ideas to practice in my home to make our lives easier . 