desypete

i am interested in the format of aa meetings, in the uk we dont have as many different types of format as i have read in many posts from our usa cousins seem to have

for example there are just 2 secular aa meetings in the whole of england, i dont think there are gay only meetings nor women only meetings but i might be wrong but as far as i can tell i have never heard of one in the uk

but this got me thinking about all the different formats of meetings

so here is a typical uk meeting format

the meeting open with someone starting the meetting off with a 20 min or so share of there life there experince strength and hope
then the meeting is thrown open for all to share back

if there is a new comer in the room we try to focus our shares on our own war storys of what we were like in drink etc as its the only way we can offer out identification for the new comer, as its the first time new comers will have ever heard these things in there life, the honesty from others in the room etc,

at the end of the meeting people will give the new comer there phone numbers, offer them lifts, or if the new comer is really down on there luck feed them or give them somewhere to sleep etc

thats the basics behind the meetings i attend in the uk is this the same out in the usa ?

edit
we do have book meetings in our area but the format there is to read a chapter of the book and open it out for shares on how we see that part of the book applies to us etc but if a new comer comes into the meeting we revert the shares back to our war storys to help the new comers etc

CAPTAINZING2000

Moment of silence and the serenity prayer.
Preamble
Reminder of anonymity
How it works
Daily reflections
24 hour a day
More about alcoholism
New business -AA events
Topic,big book study, 12 step study or a grapevine meeting.
Some meetings have the promises
And close with the Lord's Prayer

desypete

so doesnt anyone give out a personal story at all in your meetings ?

i forgot to include the opening would be a reading from the book (optional on the speakers choice if any) also the aa premble

in closing there would be thanks for the service people aa busniess news the yellow card and the serenity prayer

tomsteve

around here we have open speaker meetings where a member (or guest speaker as its sometimes called) will share their story. it will be the only one talking and at the end of the talk, there is usually a chance for q&a witht he speaker.
sometimes this happens after a potluck dinner.
some meetings can be very large and split up into different tables- might have a table that the topic is the daily reflection, a 1st step table,12 th step table,etc.

I have been to meetings where the chair shares a lil something after each person shares.

ive also been to meetings as you describe.

Tamerua

Depends on the meeting, but my home group has two formats. I belong to a gay home group but we welcome all. Also! I'm in a tourist town so the members are very few during the summer but lots and lots of visitors.

Serenity Prayer opening
Preamble
How it works
Introductions (new people, visitors, then around the room)
Tuesdays- book reading (BB,12&12, As Bill Sees It or Living Sober). Share whenever something jumps out at you.
Saturday- open discussion. Someone proposes a topic or a burning desire.
Burning desire
Announcements
Chips
Close with the "we" version of the Serenity Prayer.

I get to travel for work and I go to meetings wherever I go and every meeting I go to is different... In Wisconsin they were very huggy. In Orlando, not so much.

One thing that kind of cracks me up about the format, here in Florida, there are very few people from Florida. Most people start their share with, "the way we did it in...."

Joe Nerv

My home group has a step meeting, an open discussion, and a feelings meeting. Each has a different format.

The step we read from the step book, a person tells their story in regard to the step, and we share with it being clear that we like to remain focused on the step. We announce that in the beginning, and ask that anyone needing to share something else either speak with someone after the meeting, or stay for the 2nd meeting which is the open discussion.

The open discussion is usually an anniversary meeting. If not, it's just a general qualification, and then going around the room with a show of hands.

The feelings meeting, a person tells their story, and then we break down into individual tables (around 6 of them), and each table has a "group therapy" type of sharing their feelings.

I go to the step meeting. Rarely pop up at the other 2.

If I had MY way, which I might actually as I'm considering starting a meeting in a church across the street from my house, this would be the format.

Step, and/or Bigbook meeting. Preamble, followed by an incredibly short welcome which would explain the meeting format to newcomers, and ask that people keep their focus on the reading. Read from the book, and then start the sharing with a volunteer to open it up, and then start going around the room in whichever direction the first speaker chooses.

I might follow that meeting, if we could have the church for 2 meetings, with a beginners meeting. Actually, would probably put the beginners meeting first, to urge newcomers to stay for the second. The beginners meeting would include a very organized and well written introduction to AA that was approved by the group conscience (and I would actually take it here, too for approval), and then would have a person qualify, and would go around the room asking people to share starting with brand new people, people under 30, 60, 90 days... the last 15 minutes however, I would open it up to everyone. I would also do my best to have the beginners meeting be a meeting where we didn't close with a prayer. That would meet with resistance for sure, and I would accept what ever the group conscience decided, but I would give my absolute best arguments ever to have a the prayer at the end omitted. It's not a requirement for AA meetings, and it's not a written tradition. I think beginners meetings would be much better off without it. My opinion.

Just got a bit more motivated to actually make this happen. Might take a walk over to a church this afternoon .

Grungehead

*Open with the serenity prayer.
*Preamble
*How it works
*Traditions
*Daily Reflections
*Chair will ask if there is anyone there for their first meeting or visiting and would like to introduce themselves

If it is a speaker meeting the chair will introduce them and they will speak for the entire meeting (approximately 40-45 minutes).

If it is a discussion meeting the chair will ask if anyone is having a problem staying away from a drink or has a topic for discussion. If not the chair will bring up a topic. If there is a newcomer in the meeting the chair will often suggest the topic be on the first 3 steps.

If it is a BB meeting the chair will tell the group where we left off in the book at the last meeting. We go around the room taking turns reading until we get to a good stopping point to start the discussion -- or someone wants to share about what has been read up to that point.

If it is a step meeting the chair will announce what step we will be discussing and we go around the room taking turns reading from the 12 & 12. After completing the reading for that step we open it up for discussion. Most step meetings in our area will read and discuss one of the traditions every 4th week.

If it is a grapevine meeting it follows the same basic premise as the other literature meetings.

At around 5-10 minutes before the designated time to end the meeting the chair will wrap things up and the baskets are passed around. The chair will ask a volunteer to give out chips. Some meetings read the 9th step promises before the meeting closes. The chair will read the 12th tradition on anonymity and most (but not all) close with the Lord's prayer.

There are several more formats besides these but this is the general format at most meetings. I go to one that has a different format each day. Monday is discussion, Tuesday is BB, Wednesday is step/tradition, Thursday is As Bill Sees It, Friday is speaker. M-Th a beginners meeting breaks off into a separate room after the preamble. They also end with the 3rd step declaration instead of the Lord's Prayer.

CAPTAINZING2000

I forgot to mention coins after reminder of anonimity.
And our there any new comers or people here for their first meeting
Our speaker meetings still follow the same format

Joe Nerv

Hey cap'n. This is OT, but in a response to a post you made yesterday that I read but couldn't respond to at the time. About leaving your ego out of posts.

Just wanted to say kudos for being someone I look up to for your ability to not get involved in drama here. I noticed that on lots of occasions, and your mention of the ego stuff made me want to comment. Don't remember where ya stated it though. Anyhoo... thanks for being a great example of how to communicate without getting into a bunch of sheeeiiit. I'm working on that, but have a bit of a wayz to go.

LBrain

meetings in my neck of the woods. all start the same as mentioned. all end with lord's prayer. one group is a book study every week. one group is a beginners meeting - chair suggests topic
some are rotating, BB, step, tradition, open discussion, round robin, 24 hours, daily reflections etc
one meeting is a speaker meeting every week. there are so many meetings within 20-30 minutes I can pick whatever I want on any given day. on any given day it is possible to go to 4 different meetings here. there are many back to back meetings too.
we have a lot of drunks around these parts I guess.

adee

Most of the ones I go to have a similar format.
Open silence & Serenity Prayer
Preamble, How it Works, 12 traditions
Coins & Secretary stuff, Reminder of anonymity
Read daily meditation
The chair for the week speaks for 10 - 15 minutes
Rest of the meeting is discussion (either the chair calls on people or it's open) on topic provided by chair.
Last part open/burning desires.
End with Serenity Prayer (one meeting does LP).

Most meetings I go to are women's discussion meetings. Smallest is usually 5 isn people, largest is 100+, most are 15 - 25 people. They are 1 to 1 hour and 15. My home group is 90 minutes.

Step or BB study is the same but instead of chair sharing, it is a reading out of BB.

desypete

thanks for the replys all
as i have said our uk meetings are run in a format that is quite basic really compared to some of the meetings i can see that are on offer in the usa

can someone explain to me what a open / burning desires is ?
thanks

Kaneda8888

Hey Despete

Just saw this and thought I'd chime in with what we do down under

In my home town we literally have hundreds of meetings every week. Bit of a sad indictment re alcoholism in this city I guess From what I can recall, the types of meetings we have are ID, step, Big Book, 7 day reflection, meditation (Step 11), "As Bill Sees It". There are open, women only, men only, LGBT, young members type meetings.

In my home group, the format has changed and it has become a standard ID meeting:

+ Intro
+ Preamble
+ ID shares
+ Q&A
+ 7th tradition
+ Announcements
+ literature availability
+ Serenity prayer

Seems to be fairly similar to others though what strikes me as being very dominant throughout all of the rooms here is an emphasis on being secular. Whilst some individual members may have a strong Christian faith, the rooms usually are keen to stress that it is a God of your understanding.

Cheers !

Gottalife

Just a couple of very different formats I have been to.

One was a meditation meeting. It didn't really have to be exclusively for alcoholics.
Preamble
We all introduced ourselves
40 minutes of silent meditation
Then we shared briefly on any inspiration that might have come.

I only went the once due to timing, but it was really good. It was a big help having that external discipline of the group to help me meditate.

The other is one I have read about, but never seen in practice. I have now attended the first two sessions.
This is the Back to Basics beginners classes which were run in the forties when there weren't enough sober people to work one on one with the newcomer. They were very successful at the time. Also see Little red Book which is now back in circulation.

Two volunteers lead the class and read from a prepared guide and the Big Book.

Each newcomer is accompanied through the four meetings by a sharing partner who helps him with his step work. The idea is that we take the steps together in four one hour sessions, with work in between, then we help someone else through the next series.

I am working with someone who was what you might call a serial relapser. He always disappears when the forth step looms. In our first two sessions we have covered steps one to five. He has nailed his fourth and fifth and seems to be feeling pretty good about it. Tomorrow we take steps 6-9.

It's early days but it had quite an effect on me especially round the fourth step. It actually prompted me to do another for myself and share it with my partner. It felt quite powerful, the class that is, perhaps because I am very open to learning anything that will help with recovery.

GracieLou

Some discussion meetings open with the question if someone has a burning desire. That means that if someone has a desire to drink or a topic they really need help on at that moment then all is put aside for the sake of that person. If they need help then it allows them to open up and get this out on the table for people to comment on and lend a helping hand to that person.

Your format sounds like a lot like a mini-lead in my neck of the woods. One person telling their story or a part of it (15/20 minutes) and then offering a topic for open discussion.

My personal meetings are, full lead, big book, topic/discussion. I prefer my BB meeting and the topic/discussion meetings.

What is read at the start can differ but they all have the AA preamble, the serenity prayer and followed at the end with The Lord's Prayer.

NoelleR

In the meeting format that adee provided...........:
Most of the ones I go to have a similar format.
Open silence & Serenity Prayer
Preamble, How it Works, 12 traditions
Coins & Secretary stuff, Reminder of anonymity
Read daily meditation
The chair for the week speaks for 10 - 15 minutes
Rest of the meeting is discussion (either the chair calls on people or it's open) on topic provided by chair.
Last part open/burning desires.
End with Serenity Prayer (one meeting does LP).

I believe the line 'Last part open/burning desires.' refers to shortly before the end of the meeting the chairperson may 'open' the floor to all and ask if there is anyone who has a 'burning desire' to say something; to get something off his/her chest. I've heard this phrase often in the meeting I've attended in CA, TX, LA, OK, MS and even at international conventions.

(o:
NoelleR

desypete

there was a group who started a back to basics thing were the steps could be done in no time i have no issues with that at all as if you do the steps and are honest then they will only need to be taken once. then you have the rest of your life to work them into your life

b careful about step 4 and your partner as i had a mate who did his step 4 and had his notes read by his ex partner without him knowing and there was a lot of personal stuff in it about things he had done that she didnt know

it ended there relationship so please be careful my friend

desypete

i am glad to hear the burning desires is for anyone who has something killing them as that to me is one of the most important things the fellowship provides
i get sick of meetings that focus all about them and ignore someone who is suffering,