Rhetorical question but ... "a desire to stop drinking."
I do find it interesting how meetings vary - my questions were coming from someone who's home group does things a little differently with our short preamble, "we do not read the steps, traditions or promises but we do practice them" and a couple other things, but we meet all the requirements to be listed formally as a meeting. It just struck me that the meeting described above might not have those things.
We had a group conscious recently to decide on some things - a big one was going back to the Lord's Prayer at the end of the meeting (that got voted in after some REALLY harsh words about the proposal to a couple of people) - and that kind of thing (whether held as needed or on a regular basis like once a month or quarter like some of the big clubhouses do) is how things work around here.
It's really good to go to different meetings and there are plenty around!