[Businessmtg] Item #1: Newcomer Committee

[Jerry Hunter]

Biz-Pals,


[I have been asked to introduce some of the ideas I brought up in past Business Meetings to kick this Business Meeting off. Imperfect memory requires that I ask others who were in former meetings to add to and correct my summary as they deem fitting.]


Topic:

"That a temporary committee be formed, answerable to the Business
Committee, to reassess ASP's newcomer-related materials and how ASP could
better serve newcomer needs."

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While working in committee over the past six months it became clear to me that ASP's communications with newcomers [The Welcome Letter, The List Administrator's Letter, the newcomers' section of our web page, the instructions page, and etc.] didn't present information in as simple and clear a manner as it could be - especially considering the mental and emotional state of newcomers with little or no Al-Anon experience.


Because I had spend my professional career in written and visual communications I thought a thorough review of all our newcomer documents (as a set) would allow us to interact with newcomers more effectively. My thought was that a small committee of skilled communicators could work through our current documents and propose a coordinated presentation of the information necessary for beginners so they could quickly begin to participate in ASP with confidence rather than in uncertainty or worrying about "breaking the rules."


>From these initial thoughts expressed in committee other ideas began to emerge. A "Newcomers' Corner." A First Step Meeting. A selection of rotating First Step shares from members which newcomers could easily access. An Alateen info section. ASP history. How to share. + more.... The brainstorming which could come from further study may bring up other options.

 

The idea of laying out all our newcomer introductory info side by side and editing or rewriting where beneficial to create a simple, clear, and uniform set of introductory documents (all in one place?!) just made a lot of sense to me. Since quite a few members seemed to agree to one degree or another I thought forming a committee to focus on finding out where we could improve in this area would be a great idea.


Because ASP does NOT have permission to use Al-Anon CAL except in limited form we are obliged to create our own materials. Having our literature set forth the necessary information newcomers need in a fashion more easily understood and used will help ASP's primary spiritual aim: to help friends and families of alcoholics.


Getting newcomers "into a seat" and comfortable in sharing is a large part of that goal. I'd like to see us take a stab at improving how ASP helps newcomers join in the wonderful recovery experience we have to offer.


Biz-Hugs,

Jerry

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This idea is not new to me. Many years ago I started a file of First Step stories which were shared by ASP members. My nascent thoughts were that perhaps some day ASP would create a First Step page or beginners' meeting which would benefit from such a collection. More recently there have been business discussions and rewrites of some of ASP's introductory letters and materials. During those discussions it occurred to me that, rather than putting potential newcomers at ease, we were layering details and instructions which added to what I though should be a very simple process of bring newcomers into our meetings.


ASP identifies itself as much like a face-to-face