Saturday 10 PM 
Step of the month meeting

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 un-mute 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 un-muted 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 un-mutes to say “time,” The Secretary/Chair un-mutes 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 un-muted 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 un-mute yourself.”

3. Some meetings have multiple readers. The extra un-muted 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 un-muted 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 format coordinator

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The Meeting Format Starts Now

FORMAT:

The Saturday Night "Step of the Month" Meeting

Chair reads: Hi, my name is _____________________. I am a grateful Al-Anon member and Chair for this meeting, which is a "Step of the Month" meeting.

1.Chairperson reads or asks a volunteer to read:
SUGGESTED AL-ANON WELCOME: (which is found in How Al-Anon Works page 8, or page 10 of Al-Anon Alateen Groups at Work.)

2. And now, some information about the Phone Bridge: We ask that you:

a. Prior to joining the meeting, temporarily disable your call waiting by dialing *70 before calling the number to the phone bridge (example *70-1-712-432-8818). 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 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 ensure the greatest sound strength for the entire phone line and provide 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.

3. Readings of our Steps, Traditions and selected Concepts

We now need volunteers to read from Al-Anon’s three legacies, our Steps, Traditions, and Concepts. Can I get three volunteers?:

a. One to read our 12 Steps, which can be found on page 381 of How Al-Anon Works, or page 13 of Al-Anon Alateen Groups at Work.

b. Another to read Tradition number ___ (same number as the month) from our 12 Traditions, which can be found on page 382 of How Al-Anon Works, or page 15 of Al-Anon Alateen Groups at Work.

c. And another read Concepts 4 and 5, on page 383 of How Al-Anon Works, directly following the Traditions, or page 19 of Al-Anon Alateen Groups at Work. Thanks.

(Although How Al-Anon Works does not include introductory remarks for the Steps and Traditions, members are free to read the introductory remarks to the Steps and the Traditions if the text they are reading from includes them.)

4. ANNOUNCEMENTS:

a. According to the Seventh Tradition, Al-Anon is fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. We invite you to send contributions to WSO stating that it is from the Step of the Month Meeting WSO ID #    - pending -

WSO's mailing address is:

Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc.

1600 Corporate Landing Parkway

Virginia Beach, VA 23454-5617

Also, donations can be made at your face-to-face meetings.

b. Our business meetings take place on the fourth Saturday of the month directly after the close of the 10 p.m. meeting.

c. Are there any (other) Al-Anon related announcements?

d. Do we have any newcomers today — either new to Al-Anon or to this phone bridge? We invite you to press *1 to un-mute yourself and introduce yourselves so we may greet you.

e. Is someone willing to stay on the line after the meeting to greet our newcomers, answer questions about Al-Anon, and/or explain the phone etiquette?

f. Also, after the meeting, people are welcome to stay on the line for fellowship.

5. INTRODUCTIONS:

We now go around the globe and introduce ourselves by first name only. And, if you want, please mention where you are from. Please press * 1 to un-mute to introduce yourselves, and then *1 again to re-mute so that we can have a clear line. I'll start: "Hi, I’m ____ (name), calling from ____ (state)."

6. FORMAT AND READING:

Each week, we read from our Conference-approved literature:

Week 1: How Al-Anon Works

Week 2: Paths to Recovery

Week 3: Daily Meditation Books (One Day at a Time in Al-Anon, Courage to Change, and Hope for Today)

Week 4: Al-Anon's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Week 5: The Forum magazine

After the reading is complete, we will open for sharing.

Today we're on Step __ (same number as the month). In the interest of bringing as many people to service, I ask that members read one or two paragraphs — and pass. People who usually don't read are warmly encouraged to participate. Tonight we’ll need (2, 3, or 4) readers (Chair determines how many readers). Can I get some volunteers? (Chair can start or go right to first reader.)

7. SHARES and TIMEKEEPING:

Before sharing, we offer a gentle reminder that we speak from our own experience. In this Al-Anon meeting, we ask that you resist the desire to comment on or respond to another person's share. Also, 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 to the family illness. Ours is a different experience and calls for a different interpretation — one of which is suggested in How Al-Anon Works.

We have 3-minute shares; and, 10 minutes before closing, we open up the sharing especially to newcomers as well as regular members of the bridge who often don't get to share. We use this format as a way to ensure as much participation as possible. We begin to close the meeting at 3-4 minutes before the top of the hour.

Can we have a volunteer to be our timekeeper? For those who have never served as a timekeeper, please note that this position requires you to let the person sharing know when three minutes have passed by saying "Time." This is a very important service. Do we have a volunteer? -- Great! The timekeeper is invited, but not required, to go first.

SHARING BEGINS … and goes continuously until 10 minutes before the top of the hour.

It is now 10 minutes before the hour: and, in accordance with principles guiding our recovery and, in particular, the 4th concept, which reminds us that participation is the key to harmony, we now invite shares from newcomers and those who do not regularly share on the phone bridge. There are currently ___ (number of people) people on the bridge.

8. CLOSING (which begins 3-4 minutes before the top of the hour).

a) We now begin the closing. First, I'd like to thank everyone who did service: our timekeeper, our readers, all those who shared and all who dialed in to listen.

b) Chairperson reads or asks a volunteer to read: From Survival to Recovery pages 269 and 270 (or pages 267 and 268 depending on your edition), starting with, "If we willingly surrender ourselves...” and reading through to the end of that section.

The Promises of Al-Anon

This reading is from pages 269-270, of the Al-Anon book, From Survival to Recovery:

If we willingly surrender ourselves to the spiritual discipline of the Twelve Steps, our lives will be transformed.

We will become mature, responsible individuals with a great capacity for joy, fulfillment, and wonder.

Though we may never be perfect, continued spiritual progress will reveal to us our enormous potential.

We will discover that we are both worthy of love and loving. We will love others without losing ourselves and will learn to accept love in return.

Our sight, once clouded and confused, will clear and we will be able to perceive reality and recognize truth.

Courage and fellowship will replace fear.

We will be able to risk failure to develop new, hidden talents.

Our lives, no matter how battered and degraded, will yield hope to share with others.

We will begin to feel and will come to know the vastness of our emotions, but we will not be slaves to them.

Our secrets will no longer bind us in shame.

As we gain the ability to forgive ourselves, our families, and the world, our choices will expand.

With dignity we will stand for ourselves, but not against our fellows.

Serenity and peace will have meaning for us, 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 will discover we are free to delight in life's paradox, mystery, and awe.

We will laugh more.

Fear will be replaced by faith, and gratitude will come 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? Only if we accept life as a continuing process of maturation and evolution toward wholeness. Then we suddenly being to notice these gifts appearing. We see them in those who walk beside us. Sometimes slowly or haltingly, occasionally in great bursts of brilliance, those who work the Steps change and grow toward light, toward health, and toward their Higher Power. Watching others, we realize this is also possible for us.

Will we ever arrive? Feel joyful all the time? Have no cruelty, tragedy, or injustice to face? Probably not, but we will acquire growing acceptance of our human fallibility, as well as greater love and tolerance for each other. Self-pity, resentment, martyrdom, rage, and depression will fade into memory. Community rather than loneliness will define our lives. We will know that we belong, we are welcome, we have something to contribute -- and that this is enough.

c) And now I would like to invite members to call out the names of members whose telephone numbers they would like to have. We will request those numbers directly after the close of the meeting.

d) SERENITY PRAYER

And now, would all who care to, please press *1 to un-mute and join me in saying the Serenity Prayer (which can be found on p. 80 of How Al-Anon Works and on pg. 10 of the Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual)

THE 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.

CHAIR STATES: KEEP COMING BACK, IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT!

9. Post-meeting details:

a) We now collect phone numbers.