European Committee Minutes Jan. 2017

Minutes

Monthly EC Teleconference

7 January, 2017

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 One: Our common welfare should come first. Personal recovery depends on ACA unity.

 

B.  Roll Call of European Countries:

Jeffrey, Prague, Czech Republic, EU Finance and Literature Sub-Committee Chair/WSO Board Trustee;

Majbrit, Denmark, WSO Vice Chair/European Chair

C.  Quorum Established

 

D. Guests:Michael, Ireland

Hannah, Finland

Linda, Latvia

Mihai, Romania

Veronica, Switzerland

Kadri Liisa, Estonia

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

• New European Committee Website
  Jeffrey talked about the plans for the EC website that went live in December. The website is currently a work in progress with plans for content to be added on a regular basis. The website features country pages for each country in Europe with known ACA fellowships. The country pages are not meant to compete with local country websites, but they can be used to link to the website. The main purpose is to provide a brief overview to the states and other countries about what the fellowship looks like in a particular country. Special email accounts are being set up for Country Representatives to use as a point of contact for people seeking to find out more information about the fellowship.

Questions, Comments, and Answers

• • Michael complimented the website and suggested that the country pages have links to the WSO page for meeting information. They feature could connect to the WSO database and allow users to search for meetings within a given country. Jeffrey agreed that it was a good idea and set an action item to connect with the database administrators for the WSO site. Michael also commented that he preferred the usage of email over phone number.
  • Jeffrey stated that there would be no phone numbers involved. Country pages will have an email set up for each representative with a forward to an email of their choice.
  • Linda commented that it would be great to have the history of each country’s fellowship should be on the country page. Jeffrey agreed.
  • Majbrit reiterated that if a local country has an official ACA page, that the country pages should contain links to that local country page. For example, the Denmark country page should have a link to the official Denmark ACA page.
  • Majbrit suggested that countries without an official ACA page could have their meeting information on our page until they have their own. Jeffrey agreed and suggested the small, but growing Romanian fellowship as a great test case. As the fellowship grows and they get their own website, we would then take that information down and provide links to the local website. The goal of the country pages is not to compete with local websites.
  • Jeffrey reiterated that EC page is going to be in English but that does not mean other languages are not permitted on the website. It’s meant to be an international global portal. Because of that, special mention of English language meetings in country pages would be very welcome.
  • Majbrit reminded the call about the ability to sign up for the EC newsletter through the contacts page on the website. http://acawsoec.com/contact/
• Sponsorship
  Majbrit is requesting that any individuals who can speak Italian and are interested in sponsoring someone in Italy to contact her. She can be contacted through [email protected]. Majbrit also received an email from an ACA in California who is seeking to sponsor someone in Europe. Her name is Colbie. Please contact Majbrit for more information. Majbrit endorsed the power of sponsoring someone who is not from your country. “This journey of having a sponsee who is not in your own native speaking language, but is outside your own country is an extremely [powerful] gift to have because you get a whole set of different perspectives on the recovery process.”

Questions, Comments, and Answers

• • Hannah offered to put Majbrit in contact with a friend in ACA who speaks Italian and can possibly help Majbrit with the Italian sponsorship request.
• Website Forum
  Jeffrey elaborated on plans to host a forum on the EC website. This is something that will have to wait until much later in the year. Fleshing out other aspects of the website, such as the contacts, the mailing list, and country pages has a higher priority.
• Mailing List
  Jeffrey elaborated on the newsletter signup on the EC website. He prefers people not use it at this time as a first name and an email address is not as useful considering how much an email address can differ from a person’s name. At some point, last names and countries will be collected for internal use. This information will not be shared or distributed and is purely to facilitate smoother communication. Going forward, all emails will be sent out through this newsletter. When it’s ready, he’ll let everyone know.
• Best Practices
  Majbrit requested that anyone who has best practices for meetings to contact her.
• Donations
  The EC has a 7^th tradition donation page set up to support the work of the EC. http://acawsoec.com/donations/

G. Open Discussion

• Kadri Liisa asked why the teleconference number was changed. Jeffrey responded that the new number allows people to dial in through the internet without needing to have a local number. The change was due to individuals mentioning problems with trying to dial in. Kadri Liisa stated that the new number is not compatible with her tablet. Veronica, who is also on a tablet, suggested that the problem might be due to Adobe Flash not being installed on the tablet. Jeffrey suggested that he speak with her further after the call regarding any issues she is having.
• Michael agreed with the idea of collecting best practices to add to the website.
• Jeffrey put forward the idea of having a short phone call with anyone looking to be a sponsor so that they can tell a bit about themselves, etc. These short phone calls can be recorded and used to introduce potential sponsors to people through the EC website.
• Veronica expressed her concerns regarding the recordings, but believes that it, or something similar is a really good idea. She believes that it would need to be handled carefully.
• Jeffrey acknowledged Veronica’s concerns and added that another idea would be for potential sponsors to write something about themselves and it could remain anonymous.
• Majbrit added that while she agrees with having information about sponsors, this information should be on a member’s only page and that we should not record them. There is no way to know if that sponsor has been taken within 10 minutes of the recording being put up there. It has the potential to be very hard to maintain. Instead, she suggests that on the sponsorship portal we heavily recommend that you have a phone call with the person as communication and approaching a potential sponsor is an important part of the sponsorship process. She reiterated the importance of maintaining anonymity.
• Veronica suggested the website have a list of people who are willing to be guest speakers about their recovery process to increase local meeting attendance. Majbrit agreed with the idea and shared her experience as a speaker for meetings through skype.
• Mihai offered his heartfelt thanks for the hard work and service of everyone in the EC.
• Jeffrey asked Mihai if the literature he provided has been well received in Mihai’s meetings. Mihai said that the local members were very enthusiastic and overjoyed with the literature and that they are dividing the translation work amongst themselves.

F. Meeting Closed

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

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