Regional Meeting

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At the General Service Conference the delegates (total of 93) for each region meet twice with each other and their regional trustee. These meetings are typically not used to discuss conference agenda items, but to take care of any matters for the region or specific areas that need discussion. We discussed items such as the March West Central Region Service Conference final report and updates on the next conference, and dates for the upcoming Regional Forums. It was also a time to ask any questions of our trustee regarding the General Service Conference procedures, and go through the upcoming agenda for the week.

Regional Breakdowns include:

A Regional Map is provided with breakdowns of the various regions in the U.S. and Canada.

I attended both regional meetings - a lunch meeting held on Sunday, April 27 from 12:00 noon-1:30 p.m. and another on Wednesday, April 30 during the same time frame. Those in attendance were: Ted S., West Central Region Trustee; Mike L., Area 24, Iowa; Tim C., Area 35, Northern Minnesota; Brenda L., Area 36, Southern Minnesota; Earl F., Area 40, Montana; Curt M., Area 41, Nebraska; Eric B., Area 52, North Dakota; John E., Area 63, South Dakota; Bill G., Area 76, Wyoming.

Discussion at our first regional meeting included Ted giving us an overview of the conference and answering a few questions we had regarding procedure. He also invited us all out for the traditional regional ice cream fellowship on Thursday evening (the trustee buys).

We had discussions on changes to the West Central Regional Host Planning Guide. There were several changes made to the meeting format based on the comments from the Regional Service Conference evaluation forms and comments from the floor. We also had discussion on how other regions conduct their regional conference, the cost of our conference, and an overall report from Tim C. on the conference held in Bemidji, MN in March.

Some brief statistics from the conference in Bemidji you might find interesting include:

  1. 1. A total of 371 people attended the conference (in spite of the below zero temperatures and snow). Attendance broke down as follows:
    2. Iowa, Area 24 <-> 22
    Montana, Area 40 <-> 18
    Nebraska, Area 41 <-> 25
    North Dakota, Area 52 <-> 26
    South Dakota, Area 63 <-> 10
    Wyoming, Area 76 <-> 6
    Southern Minnesota, Area 36 <-> 107
    Northern Minnesota, Area 35 <-> 157
  2. Seventy-one members turned in evaluation forms. There were many good comments with several suggestions to expand the General Service Conference Agenda Items discussion and change the time in which these meetings are held. It was pointed out that discussing the agenda items late at night allows for only a limited attendance.

At the second conference meeting I distributed copies of a draft for the resurrected Regional Reporter newsletter produced by a past delegate from Southern Minnesota, Dennis B. We discussed the guidelines for the newsletter and decided to table making a decision to distribute until further discussion at the regional forum held in Minot on September 5-7, 2003. The delegates will meet early at the forum to discuss any unfinished items and new things that have come up between now and then.

We also had discussion on rotation and the fact that our areas would be electing candidates this year for a new regional trustee. Ted talked a little about the election process, both in our areas and at the conference, and encouraged all of us to attend and observe the conference elections this year for a new northeast regional trustee, southwest regional trustee, and trustee-at-large/Canada.

Joanie M., staff coordinator for Treatment Facilities and Loners/Internationalists, as well as the regional correspondence person for the West Central Region, joined us at our second meeting on Wednesday. Joanie had a few announcements and information needed for our upcoming forum in Minot, ND in September. We also had the opportunity to thank Joanie for her many years of service to A.A. Joanie will be retiring from the G.S.O. staff in June/July of this year. Thank you Joanie!

It was nice to have these regional meetings during the Conference. I felt it helped unify us as a region. I also felt relief knowing that I had fellow delegates and my regional trustee to go to if I needed to talk something through. I did need to do that a couple of times during the week, because things just didn't always go as my area or I had hoped.

Yours in Service
Brenda L.
Panel 53, Area 36