World Service Business Conference Reports
On April 25-30, 2011 I had the privilege to represent our intergroup at the WSBC (world service business conference) in Albuquerque New Mexico. I was one of nearly 200 delegates from all over the world. The feelings were definitely present the entire week, but gratefully I was able to move through the hard ones, and stay in the good ones.
I can say that I had some fear when I first stepped into the meeting room. With some of the votes too I was overwhelmed, but I had great mentors who kept me present and of course God gave me the willingness to hang in there.
I voted not for what is best for me, but as a member of OA and I feel I took the what’s best for OA into consideration with my voting. Here are some of the results of both the literature and business motions. A full list will be available soon online, and I will be bringing more information to the next Intergroup meeting in June.
Proposal A-A
Adopt the Revised Recovery Checklist. Changed the words from you to I to make it more personal.
Adopted *unanimously*
Proposal A-B
Remove the Conference seal to “if god spoke to OA”
Defeated
Yes 101 No 67 (needed 2/3 vote to pass)
Proposal A-C
Grant conference seal to “A Common solution”
Adopted
Yes
Proposal A-D
Grant conference seal to the tools of recovery-revised for the new tool “action plan”
Adopted
Yes 148 No 33
needed 2/3 vote to pass
Proposal K
Bestow the founder title to Rozanne
Adopted
121 yes 56 No 4 Abstain
Proposal L
amending the statement of abstinence and recovering by adding the following, while maintaining or working toward a healthy body weight
Adopted
Yes 118 No 60 3 Abstain
**an amendment was made to this proposal to strike the word weight, to read maintain healthy body, but that motion was defeated.
Proposal D
Rescind the 9th Tool Action Plan
Defeated
**was explained that policy motions require a majority therefore the vote was valid even if it was a small margin**
Proposal M
Change the wording from “action plan” to “plan of action”
Defeated
Proposal E-2
Original motion was written wrong so the amendment corrected the wording.
To remove AA literature from the list of “approved OA” literature with an exception of AA Big Book and the 12&12
Defeated
Yes 70 No 111
Proposal C
Add tools to the policy manual
Adopted
Proposal J
Statement on public media
Reworded and added social networking to the list of ways to protect the 11th tradition
Adopted
Motion F
To simultaneously webcast the 2012 WSBC
Defeated
12-step within committee:
I had the pleasure to serve on the 12-step within committee. I also serve on this committee at region level so I thought that keeping things consistent would be better. We met 2 times during the conference, once to meet and break into sub-committees and also see the progress of the goals from last year. My HP guided me to work on the workshop subcommittee that is working on a 6 week workshop that focuses on recovery from relapse. It was a great experience and we have almost completed the workshop to be handed over to the board…stay tuned.
Workshops:
There were many workshops held throughout the week. I attended a few of them. There was one that was titled all about conference and you know I am grateful that I went. This explained everything, what was going to happen, what to expect, how to conduct yourself in the meetings. It was very well presented and I learned a lot from it. There was a forum meeting called celebrating recovery. It was an interactive workshop that explained the “3 legged stool of recovery” Spiritual, Emotional and physical. We broke into small groups and brainstormed ideas about how we work our program and how we were different than before. It was great. It was really the first time I talked to people comfortably. What I liked is they had one trustee from every region at each table so it made them less intimidating when they sat up on the dais. There also was a catch song that the region chairs wrote that I can give you the words to if you promise to sing along. I was also encouraged to go to the workshop parliamentary procedure. Not the most exciting workshop but you know it made the business meetings a lot more understandable. There is a lot of work and order that goes into the meetings and so knowing a little of what I was getting into was helpful. I also attended a literature workshop that explained all the literature that was being presented either for approval or removal. The comments of the literature from the fellows really made me think twice about what was being presented, I even went back to the room and spent a few hours reading it over again…I’m glad for the gentle suggestion to attend this as well. The only workshop that I didn’t really enjoy was the unity with diversity workshop. I felt there was so much diversity in the group of 200 that they could have had speakers speak to true diversity, but that is my opinion and I was kind of tired at the time of the workshop. They did put on a cute skit that I had a few laughs with.
I only attended one of the daily meetings that they had. It was suggested that I attend the meeting on Sunday to ease re-entry. You spend a week in a very safe place surrounded by positive energy, love and acceptance and as we all know the world doesn’t always behave that way. It was a small meeting but it was nice to be in a meeting, and it definitely helped bring some things full circle for me.
Perhaps the most fun I had during the week was growing. It was sometimes painful, character defects were definitely in the front sometimes, but I conquered them and I met some amazing people and built some strong relationships. The final event on Saturday night was a dinner, entertainment and dance. I wasn’t really looking forward to the dance. As soon as the music started there was no hesitation from most to get on the floor and boogie. Again fighting with my defects I took a little longer to get there, but once I got on the floor I did not stop until everyone was done…which was a long time haha. It was the most fun I have had in a long time.
I want to thank you for giving me the encouragement to do this service. I really am so grateful that I did this. I learned so much about myself and how really truly lucky I am to come from an area with such strong recovery. Learning how things work and how this program was developed was so amazing to be a part of. I voted for changes and growth in this program that changed my life and that is an honor. For years to come this program will have changes as the world changes, and to have a part in this process was wonderful. It is truly an honor to be a member of this fellowship and I look forward to doing service next year.
Thank you,
Katie G.
Mid-Peninsula IG Delegate