The importance of a steering committee and how it relates to the group conscience
The Beginners meetings have a highly structured format. To the best of our knowledge, everything is in full accordance with the Traditions. However, it is quite likely that the way the meetings are run will be unusual in their locality. When any meeting is different from those around it, there is a tendency for the differences to be eroded steadily through successive group consciences and business meetings until it resembles all the other meetings in the area. There are a number of things that a group can do to stop this process and protect the integrity of its message, while at the same time allowing for some process of change and adaptation as the group develops:
� Have a steering committee of group officers in whom the group conscience has placed their trust to deal with the run-of-the-mill weekly affairs of the group. This is described in The AA Group pamphlet.
� Have a clearly defined group membership so that everyone knows how they can join the group to become a voting member of the group conscience. The group members are the pool from whom all those who do service at the group are drawn.
� Have regular but well run and structured group meetings to discuss group business and group conscience matters. While a structured format for the group conscience meetings might seem like a restriction on freedom, in fact when it is done properly it sets down the means for an orderly meeting that allows the proper group conscience to emerge.
Each of these items is discussed in more detail below.
Group Membership
Group membership should be open to any AA member who wishes to make the meeting a home group. Having a list of regularly attending members ensures that the group as a whole knows who wishes to be considered for group service and helps to prevent the quieter members from being forgotten. If pariticipation and voting at business meetings is limited to group members it helps to ensure that the decisions taken really are representative of the conscience of all those who are committed to the group, and prevents discussion being dominated by well meaning but forceful visitors or inexperienced newcomers at the expense of the oldtimers of the group and the quieter, less forceful members. Group members are admitted at their own request at the first business meeting they attend. Group membership is the last item on the agenda of any business meeting so no one can vote or participate at their first business meeting as they do not become group members until the end of the meeting. They can only be admitted as group members if they are present at the business meeting. They are free to participate fully after that � at the second business meeting they attend. This process is deliberately set up so that those who have demonstrated a very basic level of commitment to the group are the ones who have a say in its running. It is the responsibility of the GSR to ensure that the membership list is kept up to date.
Steering Committee
This is a committee of senior service officers in whom the group has placed their trust to handle the week-to-week running of the meeting. This means that the group as whole does not need to be consulted on many matters eg paying the rent, dealing with the landlords, organising speakers. The Steering Committee will make a report describing any activities that it feel the group ought to be aware of and on occasion wil refer to the group as whole for guidance. For most matters however, if steering committee members informally consult the oldtimers of the meeting for guidance, in accordance with Tradition 2, things go smoothly. For a small AA group, the steering committee is likely to consist of GSR, Treasurer and Secretary. At a larger group, it might be enlarged to include those who last held each of these positions as well. Sometimes this steering committee has seperate meetings to discuss what they need to do, but usually this is not necessary. It is a small enough working group so that they can talk to each other informally before and after the meeting, and during the week on the phone and by e-mail, and reach consensus on an informal basis. It is this regular informal communication that ensures the cooperative spirit that will allowit to run smoothly. The Steering Committee members are proposed, seconded and elected by the group membership as a whole, usually one of the regular business meetings. There will be other service positions � serving refreshments, clearing away, setting up, washing, ashtrays. For these less responsible positions, the Steering Committee recommends a single person to the group, selected from the list of group members, and a quick vote is taken under the weekly group announcements. Usually the group will just accept the Steering Committee recomendation without fuss.
Running the Business/Group Conscience Meeting
Typically meetings are at regular intervals ranging from monthly to quarterly.
Items discussed at the regular meetings will be:
� Group business including election of steering committee members, brief steering committee report, GSR report.
� Group conscience matters. These are items that might arise as a result of the general question, �How could we better carry the AA message at our meeting? or by consulting the list of questions in The AA Group pamphlet. These questions are not read out at the business meeting itself. Members are encouraged to consider them individually before the meeting and before submitting items for discussion.
In the weeks running up to the group conscience/business meeting the GSR announces the date of the meeting and invites members to submit items for discussion up to two weeks in advance. He refers people to the AA Group pamphlet. The GSR explains that the process of consulting the group conscience is not just what happens at the meeting, but process of informal discussion and consultation of oldtimers and sponsors in the weeks beforehand. The requirement for proposal and seconding encourages members to consider carefully each item before introducing them.
All items to be discussed are submitted in advance, proposed and seconded by voting members of the group. The agenda is posted up and announced by the GSR the week before so that everyone has a chance to think about it and consult sponsors and group oldtimers. This helps to ensure that the group conscience is an informed one. Unless something has to be done urgently, all additional items that arise which are not on the agenda are not discussed at that meeting, but are considered as items for the agenda for the next meeting, subject to proposal and seconding in the usual way. This helps to stop decision being made on the fly which are not properly considered.
How to chair a group conscience
The meeting is chaired by the GSR.
He makes sure that everyone has a copy of the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.
Makes sure that everyone knows that while visitors are invited to attend, they do not vote and only speak by invitation. To ensure that the meeting gets through the agenda, he indicates before each item how long will be allotted and at the end of that time, there will be a show of hands, without debate, on whether to make a decision now, or delay until another time. He explains that people must restrict themselves to two minutes each and he will cut them short after that. And that nobody can speak twice unless everyone who wishes to has spoken once. These are base upon guidelines for discussions at conference issued by AA World Services (which are based on traditional debating rules called Robert�s Rules).
A typical agenda might be:
Agenda for Group Conscience/Business Meeting
1. Welcome and Reading of Traditions
2. Introduction by GSR and explanation of who can vote and participate.
3. Steering Committee Report by group secretary.
4. GSR intergroup/ district report
5. Item XXX , proposed and seconded
6. Item YYYY, proposed and seconded.
7. Election of new Treasurer
8. Any other urgent business, items for next agenda
9. Admission of new group members (must be present)
10. Close with Serenity Prayer.
If say 3/4 of an hour is the full time allotted, it means that the GSR must decide how long will be allotted to each individual item and at that point cut short debate and offer either a vote or postponement of further discussion until another time.