Minutes

Monthly EC Teleconference

November, 5th, 2016

14:00 p.m. CET

Please notify the secretary at [email protected] with changes, additions, or motions for this meeting.

 

A.  Call to Order:  Please be sure that any background noises in your area are eliminated since the sounds make it difficult for participants to hear.  When speaking, please say your name first. This will help us record your name with your input.  Thank you.

1)  Open with the Serenity Prayer

2)  Tradition Ten: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion. We maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, film, tv, and other public media.

 

B.  Roll Call of European Countries:  Majbrit, Denmark, WSO Vice Chair/European Chair; 

Jeffrey, Prague, Czech Republic, EU Finance and Literature

Sub-Committee Chair/WSO Board Trustee (Jeffrey joined toward the end of the meeting)

                                                           

C.  Quorum Not Established

 

D. Guests:Roderick, Czech Republic

Michael, Ireland

Kadri Liisa, Estonia

Marti, Holland

Alexia, Germany

Linda, Latvia

Iune, Spain

Non-committee members are welcome to listen to this teleconference but are requested to remain silent unless asked to participate. We respectfully request that guests hold their comments until the end of the meeting. If someone needs to talk further, they may do so after the end of the meeting.

 

E. Announcements

Majbrit announced that the Italian fellowship is hosting a seminar from the 2nd of December to the 4th of December in Bologna. The announcement is being translated. It’s the third national seminar for the Italian fellowship. It will have workshops and a business meeting. Majbrit will be in attendance to help them organize their BRB translation effort. The seminar is at a castle. It costs 76 Euro for a room or 58 Euro for a double. This includes meals. 

Majbrit informed Michael that she heard excellent feedback about the meetings in Ireland. A friend of hers told her that she preferred the meetings in Ireland.

Trifolds are free to download in electronic format on the adultchildren.org website. All the A4 Format trifolds in English should be available now. Translations of Trifolds will be released as they are translated. The WSO asks for groups to make a voluntary, one-time EUR10 contribution if they decide to use this service.

If you wish to translate a free trifold, contact Robin in the states to sign a translation agreement. She will put the translated trifold on the WSO webpage.

F. Guest Speaker – Roderick (WSO EC Website Plan)

Majbrit introduced Roderick to the meeting. He explained the current plans for the EC Website which is outlined below:

  1. Website Purpose

The ACA EC website will allow individuals living in Europe & Russia to stay apprised of EC work, find links to ACA literature, learn how to start translation projects and best practices for ACA meetings, communicate with country representatives regarding ACA meetings, and ultimately feel connected with the ACA fellowship as a whole.
 

  1. Proposed Domain Names:
    www.adultchildren-europe.org
    www.adultchildren-ec.org
    www.aca-ec.org
    www.acawsoec.org

Acawsoec.org/net/com

  1. Proposed Web Hosting Services:
    GoDaddy

Pros:
- Popularity of service makes it more familiar to the majority of people in a position to manage it.
- Easy to use and install popular website software
- adultchildren.org and acawso already use godaddy for their domain meaning the EC website will be hosted on the same suite of products

-Free domain name registration with purchase of a plan with fees not starting until after the initial purchase term concluding

-Cheaper plans still have quite a few features

-Database backups/restore

-Can use a domain registered from elsewhere

Cons:
-Additional email packages need to be purchased

-Cheapest plans lack SSL for https

Domain.com
 Pros:
 -Cheapest option includes 100 email addresses

-SSL Support is included in all options

-Supports popular website software

-Cheaper plans still have a number of features.

Cons:

-Domain registration is not automatic unless hosting is purchased during a “special” sale.

-Website backup isn’t inherently advertised. Appears to be additional costs associated

Hostgator –everything in one place (let Jeffrey know). Create a PayPal account associated with the main WSO account

Proposed content management system:

WordPress: Proposed due to the ease of management and customization with a growing library of supported plugins and themes for website layout and analytics. WordPress provides non-technical individuals the means to add, change, and delete site content without manipulating any HTML or scripting code. This includes formatted text, hyper-links, digital pictures, and documents.

  • Proposed framework: Genesis Framework (www.studiopress.com)

Used by aca-arizona.org in combination with the now defunct corporate theme. This paid framework supports a number of themes that are designed to be SEO friendly, sleek, responsive, secure, and easily customizable.

  1. Website reporting

In order to ensure that the website is maximizing its outreach potential and serving as a European ACA community portal and information hub, analytics are necessary to review and optimize traffic flow. WordPress includes analytics as part of its platform with additional plugins available. Below is a sampling of some useful metrics to record

  • Countries accessing the website
  • Page view counts
  • Redirected traffic (for example: Visitors leaving to visit the adultchildren.org page)
  • Peak use times (to time the release of new information)

Google analytics is the recommended thing to use. Main ACA website uses it.

  1. Video/Audio Streaming/Downloading

The website should include the capability to stream/download audio for items deemed “of interest”, such as EC conference calls, guest speakers at EC arranged events, and anything else that is determined to increase the quality of the European ACA experience and the ACA fellowship as a whole.

  1. Website Appearance

The website should try to minimize the usage of moving elements. The design should favor a static presentation to increase the responsiveness of the website on older computers and mobile platforms. The website coda.org provides an example of the design choices we would like to avoid. Aca-arizona.org and saa-recovery.org are much better representations of the design choice we prefer with saa-recovery.org being the gold standard.

  1. Website Elements:

Additional items may need to be added to increase the functionality and usability of the website to better serve the needs of its users. Some items may need to be removed. This should be taken as overview of what the website hopes to accomplish and the things it needs at a minimum to serve its users.

The site is being built by a fellow traveler, Jim, in the States.

Majbrit thanked Roderick for his explanation of the plan and offered additional comments. She stated that a big problem is that groups are not registering their meetings at the main ACA website. Linking to their official website in their country is an option, but it requires further discussion. Informing the WSO of meetings is important because it helps distribute money accordingly and track statistics that the WSO and EC can use to help grow the ACA fellowship.

Roderick stated that one idea is for the country representatives to add the meeting information to the actual ACA website. Majbrit concurred that it would be a very good start. Some fellowships may not be able to afford their own web page, so having them register in our page and a link to an information website would be a step in the right direction. The details are still negotiable.

G. Guest Questions

Concerns were raised over the possibility of phone numbers being a requirement for the website. Roderick clarified that phone numbers would not be a requirement for registering or using the website. Individuals who wish to provide a phone number would be free to do so and those who do not want to provide a phone number will not be restricted from using the site.

The forum, sponsorship, and translation support ideas were supported by the guests in the call as great additions. Majbrit stressed that for meeting consistency, it is important to get an email address that is connected to the meeting instead of using personal email addresses. Trusted servants can vary and a stable email address assures that whoever is in a position to view the account can provide the support they need.

Majbrit recounted that when phone numbers were used in her meeting, people would call and not show up. She supports a phone list for members in meetings over having an official phone number for the meeting.

Member safety was brought up as a concern. Majbrit stated that there will be a section on the website dealing with best practices for safety.

Iune offered to help with the website since she has WordPress experience.

Alexia informed the group that when she was in an online meeting, someone asked if they could change the 12traditions. The traditions do not mention that we are adult children of alcoholics and dysfunctional families. It only mentions adult children of alcoholics. After looking at the English twelve traditions, it does not mention we are from dysfunctional families. She wanted to know if someone is working to change this or if it will stay this way.

Majbrit said the usual procedure is for a group to present the idea, the idea to go to the board, and then the ABC votes on it. While it sounds easy, it needs a 2/3rd majority of the fellowship at the ABC to change it. She offered to take the proposal forward to the board if Alexia emails her the details.

Kadri Liisa informed the group that the Estonian fellowship celebrated their fourteenth birthday. 

H. Meeting Closed

Majbrit motioned to close the meeting and it was seconded. The meeting was closed with the Serenity Prayer.

A complete listing of local access teleconference phone numbers and playback numbers for repeat listening is sent out to the EC WSO mailing list prior to each call and is also available at https://www.acawso.org/europe-connection/729-eu-call-details. 

Please refer to this email or web page for information regarding your country’s specific access number.

You can also attend the Teleconference using your computer. For more information, please visit https://www.acawso.org/teleconferences/78-wso-board/162-teleconference-flash-phone