mary5alive

So i am looking to try the 90 meetings in 90 days, and wanted to know a few things:

What exactly is the difference between open and closed meetings for AA?

and which meetings do you all prefer? I'm lucky to have access to so many available, but am not sure what the differences are with them all and was looking for some insight.

Thanks!

CAPTAINZING2000

Closed is for people that admit they have a problem with alcohol.
They can be opened if the group votes on it for a special reason.
Open meetings a persons spouce b/f - g/f etc. can attend.
Been to open meetings where a probation officer was there checking on a client.

shockozulu

Early in my recovery I preferred closed meetings in case someone I knew saw me. Silly but true. Also got a lot out of speaker meetings.

matt4x4

I personally dont get much out of speaker meetings. But that is greatly dependant upon who is speaking. Straight stories dont help me much.

I dont pay attention to whether its open or closed. But I have noticed on a few rare occasions someone thought it was an open meeting but its actually closed and "Gong-Show Effect" sometimes happens. Where now the chair person will ask if we want the meeting to now be open. When this happens it can disrupt the members and what they share. There was a time when a few Alanons came to a closed meeting. On another note I have noticed that when women show up to a mens meeting, the chair person will ask the group if its alright and always the men say its alright. Now I have walked into a womens meeting accidentally and of course I got the stare, and asked politely that its a womens meeting and I got the hint and left and just went to another meeting.

shockozulu

It depends on the speaker meeting. There is one in town with great speakers from out of town who have long term (10 plus years). They share where they were, how they got their recovery (the steps) and what it's like now. Another simply has speakers from in town, and I've heard their stories in regular meetings, often with only one or two years. One speaker I remember well haws on step eight!

Two speakers I remember well from that latter meeting I'll never forget. One was a man who killed someone as a consequence of driving under the influence and another was an attorney who had lost everything, had his license suspended for a year only to get sober for ten years and was now suffering from early onset frontal lobe dementia-yet he still was able to share about gratitude.