[Businessmtg] End of the Month Note from BM Chair

[List Administrator]

Biz-Pals, 

Very near the end of the November Business Meeting. 

While the archiving topic is ringing with input from some quarters, we
are nowhere near any points of unanimity. On top of that fewer than 50%
of Business Meeting members have noted a position one way or the other.
Others have suggested continuing this topic.  

You will note that nobody submitted resumes for the ASP Secretary
position. 

A topic regarding posting the Warranties has not been gotten to. Believe
it or not there are copyright issues when they are republished. I've had
one phone conversation with the WSO; a letter requesting specific
permission to post the Warranties on our website has not been answered
yet. We do have other options. Bumping this topic to a future Business
Meeting for now. 

Please remember that any ASP member can suggest BM agenda topics. Just
email your suggestions to the Steering Committee at
steering_committee at asp-afg.org or to any member of the SC. 

A few folks aren't happy with the way I chaired this month's meeting.
Complaints and applause are welcome in my LA mailbox - la at asp-afg.org.
Please don't use my personal email address.  

- - - - - - - 

Earlier this month Sue Perez, Associate Director, Group Services of the
WSO hosted a video conference for representatives of "electronic
meetings." As ASP's WSO contact I attended finding it interesting to
hear input from other email and telephone groups. Some members joined
via video, others by phone. Many of us had never done such a conference
before so it took a while to get up to speed. I've copied the agenda and
my notes below. There will be future such conferences. If anybody has
questions let me know... 

Virtual Meeting CMA Participants 

Agenda for November 12, 2018 9:00 PM via WebEx 

	* 

Welcome 
	* 

Purpose of Call: To provide a forum for electronic meeting contacts to
share E, S ad H in order to support each other. The call is not to
address meeting problems. We want to foster better communication among
the meetings on the various platforms. What does your meeting need in
the short term? Long term? 
	* 

What are we to call ourselves? Electronic? Virtual? 
	* 

Review of the revised electronic meeting registration form and
instructions. 
	* 

Would various meeting platforms (i.e. email, Skype) be interested in
participating in a WebEx business meeting similar to what is in place
with phone meeting CMAs in order to discuss issues that may be specific
to online meetings? 
	* 

Next Steps and Announcements 
	* 

Close with the Al-Anon Declaration - - - - - -  

The meeting was chaired by Sue Perez, the WSO's Associate Director -
Group Services and lasted for about 1-1/2 hours. In attendance were
members of the WSO's Electronic Workgroup - which includes Trustees &
etc. - and approximately 15 or so CMA's from various electronic meetings
by phone or video. 

As this was the initial meeting it seemed formatted as much to open
communications as it was to address any matters in earnest. I'll touch
upon each agenda item as I recollect content. [The meeting was recorded,
but there's no assurance that I'll get a copy.] 

1. Welcome 

    Introduction of those attending 

2. Purpose of the Call 

    Telephone meetings wanted the WSO to solve issues [non-Al-Anon talk,
especially in what they call their "After Meetings"] with some guidance
from above. It seems the telephone meeting have serious problems with
crosstalk and outside entity talk. 

    Availability of certain CAL for use in meetings [Beginner Packet was
mentioned by one CMA][The idea of braille CAL was brought up.] 

3. What to call ourselves. 

    Nobody liked the suggestions. Most thought calling the different
formats by what they are [phone meetings, email meetings, Skype
meetings, etc. made the most sense. Then someone came up with "Remote
Meetings" which got a good reception as a general title with the
specific types having their own categories. 

4. WSO is about to approve a revised electronic meeting registration
form and instructions. 

5. Many expressed interest in future meetings for the different meeting
types. Email, phone, etc. Nothing scheduled. 

6. WSO does what WSO does. We'll have to wait and see... 

7. Close with the Al-Anon Declaration. 

The part of the conversation which caught my attention most was the
input from the Trustees and Workgroup members. Principle among these was
the emphasis on electronic meetings being "outreach efforts" not Al-Anon
"groups." There was talk about the service structure not including
electronic meeting representation - which brought out that Sue Perez is
considered the [sole?] representative for all electronic meetings to the
[WSC?/WSO?]. No talk about her being appointed, not elected by the
groups, nor any evidence that she is involved in any of the electronic
meetings personally. The WSO continues its hard line that we aren't
groups in the same way f2f groups are - that our members are effectively
represented through the structure of the various Areas in which each
member lives. I can't think of the last time my Area gave one thought to
members of electronic meetings let alone represented our interests.  

We'll just have to see what this PR effort results in. 

Points I made [not in order and paraphrased]: 

~ I'd like to think that the WSO would seek out to the long experience
of many leaders from electronic meetings for their input and suggestions
as the WSO moves forward with setting policy and procedures. 

~ In some cases online meetings are as large as some Areas, yet we're
without any representation. 

~ Communications is moving more and more toward electronic media. The
WSO would do well to study future trends in this area because as a whole
we're growing by leaps and bounds - younger folks use tablets and phones
as their primary communications tools. 

~ A willingness to continue participating in future meetings - general
and email specific. 

~ The new European regulations which affect electronic communications
and user protections - about which I know little but which now affect
any group with international exposure. 

All I can think of for now. We had one of our ASP members representing
another electronic group at this conference. I invite that person to
share their experience if they would like - Just keep in mind that at
midnight Friday the Business Meeting goes onto full moderation status so
email traffic is halted until the January meeting opens. 

In service, 

Jerry H., BM Chair 

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