Delegate’s Report to Area Assembly, September 8, 2019

Here’s this month’s news for me to pass along, in no particular order.

The Meeting Guide App 3.0 is now available from wherever you download apps. It continues to show where meetings are held, but now it’s searchable, has the Daily Reflections, news, a better interface, etc. In the future it will have the Big Book and you’ll be able to make donations from there. The app is free.

Signup for the International Convention opened on September 9th. It will be held in Detroit, July 3-5, 2020. If you are at all able – GO! Also, I received from GSO a second request for suggestions for non-AA speakers at the convention. These would be friends of AA we might deal with in CPC – people from religious institutions, corrections, treatment, legal, education, other recovery programs, etc. They have planned on up to 21 such people attending and speaking. They won’t get paid but we do cover their travel, lodging and meals. The deadline is Sept 25^th, so if you have any ideas, let me know and we can fill out the forms.

Also, our Regional Trustee is putting out feelers to see if the various Areas in the North East region would want to go in together to host a hospitality room at the International Convention. We did an informal show of hands to ask who would be in favor of financially supporting it, who would go to it if they were in Detroit, and who would volunteer to help staff it. About 75% of people raised their hands.

I shared some highlights from the July 25^thAA World Services board meeting. (not to be confused with the July General Service Board meeting I shared on last month) Diff bds – AAWS, GV & GSB)

• The GSO staff member on the CPC assignment will be attending an exhibit at the National Association of Black Professionals Conference, staffed by A.A. members, and will also attend an exhibit booth at the American Corrections Conference, along with a Class A trustee and AA the Grapevine Publisher.
• The P.I. assignment has been working with Publishing to develop draft “postcard style” service pieces with brief excerpted content about A.A., from A.A. literature such as “A Brief Guide to A.A.,” “A Newcomer Asks,” and “Frequently Asked Questions.” Meeting Guide app and prominent aa.org information will also be included.
• Audio books of the Big Book, the Twelve and Twelve, Living Sober, and the 12 Concepts are being finalized in English, Spanish and French and videos of the Big Book and the Twelve and Twelve in ASL are being developed.
• The board reviewed an updated draft of a proposed service piece on safety being developed by G.S.O. staff.

I also received a call from my General Service Conference committee’s assigned trustee before the July board meeting, soliciting my input on the action items we had for them. She also called me after the board weekend to let me know what had happened. So I am most appreciative of her communication efforts! She also reported that starting next year, there will be a standard header in the Final Conference Reports for votes that have a simple majority but not 2/3rds – whether or not anything falls under that category.

I received an open call for suggestions for the 2021 General Service Conference Theme, Presentations, and Workshops. Every year at Conference they choose the topics for the following year, and they choose from these submitted suggestions. If interested I have the forms – due Dec 15^th. I also have a list of what all the past topics have been. FYI, next year the theme is 2020: A Clear Vision For You; the 3 part presentation will be Recovery – Who Is Missing In Our Rooms, Unity – Practicing Our Principals, and Service – Keeping AA Relevant; the workshop will be Attraction Through Action. I mention this because it’s a good reminder that you or anyone in the fellowship can provide direct input on what is discussed at the conference.

The Final Conference Reports are out! I have more hard copies I’ll bring in October, including some in Spanish. A PDF is available on our website here:http://test.aacny.org/documents_2019/GSC/69th_GSC_Final_Report_Anonymity_Protected_8-1-19.pdf. If you need a PDF in Spanish or French, let me know.

This year’s DCM Summit will be Saturday, Nov 2^ndin Geneva, NY. Any AA member can attend but it’s aimed at supporting the DCMs with their jobs.

Since last time, I attended a STCYPAA event, ESCYPAA, and led a young person’s group through a group inventory. They were all great and I felt like an honorary young person for the month!

Filed in: AA General Service, From Our Delegate