Friends,
In crafting an introductory script and message to introduce the After-meeting, your thoughts and feelings are being sought.
To begin with, do you have a suggestion as to the names of the After-meeting spaces that have been established? Newcomer Session and Parking Lot come to mind… would you care to suggest something else? And for that matter, what would be the title of the person who leads the After-meeting?… Host… Facilitator? If you have any suggestions, please offer them, if not, you can skip to the next questions.
Thank you.
And now, a survey asking to identify the purpose of the after-meeting and it’s underlying values is offered here:
The After-meeting has some customary practices. A newcomer to the after-meeting will not be familiar with these practices and may even bring with them some assumptions formed in their other recovery meetings. In order to have everyone informed and in agreement, a comprehensive document is being assembled and will find a home on our website. It will be there for easy reference.
We would like to clarify the rules and guidelines of the After-meeting that create the foundation of supportive and respectful member interactions. A survey to help develop these rules and guidelines is offered below.
Consider this – if you were to explain to a Newcomer about the etiquette of the After-meeting, which of these points might you refer to?
- Sharing
- Crosstalk
- Allowing comments and reference to a share
- Timing of shares
- Raised hands
- The order of calling on participants
- Hosting
- Host comments
- Host training
- Appropriate/inappropriate topics for sharing
- Triggers
- Triggered responses
- Using the chat
- Resources and links to materials and meetings/workshops
- Giving advice
- Giving experience, strength and hope
- Sharing that becomes conversational
- Leeway for newcomer
- Closing the meeting
- Other points
Finally, there has been various words used to describe the agreed upon boundaries for the meeting, such as ‘rules’, ‘guidelines’, ‘customs’ and ‘practices’ as well as combinations of these words. As we attempt to identify our preferred description, would you like to make any suggestions to consider?
Thank you for your participation.
Once the responses and suggestions have been compiled, the results will be brought back to the group for tailoring and editing. Ultimately the finished product will be brought back to the group for adoption. Updates throughout the process will be announced and posted, most likely through the monthly business meeting minutes.
Please feel free to comment below, to everyone, your thoughts about the survey. Or you may reach out to Jim R with comments or questions.