GSA Phone Bridge Intergroup Meeting AGENDA
May 7, 2023
3-4 pm EST
Printable Agenda
Intergroup meeting phone number: 712-432-5229, passcode 4320188#
Cathy B. opened the meeting with the “We” version of the Serenity Prayer and a reading of the 12 Traditions.
Attendance:
GSRs:
Trustees:
Listeners:
Carrying Group’s vote:
Meeting attendees identify themselves and give their service position: Trustee, GSR, listener, or person who is carrying their group’s vote.
Motion to accept the March 2023 Treasurer’s report as posted on the www.greysheetmeetings.org website.
Motion to accept the minutes from the March 5, 2023 PB IG meeting as posted on the www.greysheetmeetings.org website.
Announcements:
- Additional announcement regarding sponsors voted on at the March IG meeting. Update not yet made to formats. The next format update will be in May/June. We are looking for abstinent PB members who are comfortable with Word to help us with updating formats.
- Phone Bridge IG needs an ISR. Please email the PB Trustees with questions or if you are interested.
Old Business:
- Voting in trusted servants: here is the response of the GSAWS Board on whether group volunteers should be voted in: Any group certainly has the option of slowing down the process of allowing a service member with a history of problems by instituting formal votes.
- Getting more people to volunteer to be PB GSRs: additional info on GSR duties. Follow up on GSR position and duties, as listed on greysheetmeetings.org under Intergroup/Service Positions. They are as follows: Represent their group at Intergroup meetings; Conducts Group Conscience business meetings as needed, typically once a month; Ensure our primary purpose is carried out when facilitating a Group Conscience; Conducts Group Conscience meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order; Represents only one group; Attends WSC as a voting delegate; Subscribes to Service Matters on the Greysheet.org website, reads each issue and conveys the information to their group to inform them what is happening in GSA World Service; Joins one or two WSC committees and supports the work of that committee, usually on a monthly basis between conferences. Committees include: Literature, Structure, Communications, Archives, and so on. Discussion?
- Update on Phone Bridge GSR Tool Kit: Are any GSRs or group representatives willing to help Trustees review and to make these updates?
- Who can present topics and make motions at an IG meeting? GSAWS indicates that this is up to the IG to decide. There are no guidelines in our IG Bylaws regarding this; however, agenda topics should be submitted to Trustees at least a week before the IG meeting in order to be placed on the agenda.
Items Tabled from the last meeting
- More effort to address hecklers? A Disruption Policy in addition to the Safety Statement?
- Wording added to the format to discourage PB members from addressing hecklers?
New Business
- Disruptions in meetings involving the meeting leader: If there are problems within a meeting that involve the leader (e.g.the leader is the source of the problem) then it is OK for a member of members of the group to courteously ask for the leader to stick to the format. If the leader does not comply, OK for the group to hold immediate Group Conscience on how to proceed.
- Groups who would like to be represented at IG meetings but who do not have a GSR, may appoint a meeting member with 90 days of back-to-back GS abstinence to carry their vote to the next IG meeting (can be a different meeting member each time). This means that someone looks at the agenda and reports any topics to be discussed or to be voted on at that next IG meeting.
- Announcements portion of meetings: Concern from members that there are too many announcements during the meetings. Takes too much time, and some of these announcements are not specific to PB IG. At this May IG meeting, we will open to discussion the topic of reducing the number of announcements during meetings and how to make sure our members are getting all needed information about GSA happenings.
One way to reduce announcements: The Phone Bridge website is to be upgraded to include a function to update the website on a weekly basis with announcements. Announcements from individual members could be sent to the Phone Bridge Board of Trustees for vetting (is it for the good of GSA and PB). The Website Liaison will then communicate the week’s announcements to the webmaster.
Suggestions: Phone bridge announcements can be made in short form during a meeting (for example: “There is a PB marathon on Christmas. For more info, go to our website greysheetmeetings.org.” )The details would then appear in full on our website. As far as announcements concerning Zoom or in-person meetings or other events, a brief reference would appear on our website to the GSAWS website where details appear or to the contact person for the in-person meeting.
- GSA Census: This information comes from GSAWS. Included here for GSRs’ and others’ information. It is lengthy; therefore, rather than reading it during a meeting, suggest GSRs/reps let your group know that the Census is being done and to go to greysheet.org, the GSAWS website, for more information and to fill out the census form.
Census Announcement
In April, GreySheeters Anonymous launched the 2023 census, which will be open until early August. The Resolution that GSA will conduct an every 5-year census was approved by the World Service Conference in 2022. The last census was in 2018. You will find the link to the 2023 Census on the GreySheet.org website. Here is the link, https://www.greysheet.org/world-services/greysheet-counts-census/survey. Please get counted! GreySheeters Anonymous has grown since 2018, and we want to know where we’re expanding, how people found GreySheet, and how much abstinence we have around the globe. Please also consider signing up for the phone list, the area contact list, and the Service Matters newsletter! There is a confirmation email sent which lets you know that your Census Survey was successfully submitted. Some people receive this in their spam or trash email folders. Some of these confirmatory emails ask you to verify by clicking a link, but other people simply got a confirmatory notice with no link to be clicked. Please do not accidentally hit “Unsubscribe” unless you want to unsubscribe from the Service Matters Newsletter, the phone list, and the area contact list.
- A few members have suggested recording marathon speakers and making these recordings available. Our website does not have this capability; GSAWS posts its speaker recordings on YouTube. How would it work? Should marathon speakers be recorded (if they agree to it)? Cathy to consult with GSAWS regarding PB using the GSAWS YouTube account and how to go about posting them there.
If you have additional new business for our next meeting, please email us at phonebridgetrustees@greysheetmeetings.org at least one week PRIOR to the next IG meeting with any new items you would like to discuss at the IG level. Only items that affect the Phone Bridge are discussed at the IG level.
The next Intergroup meeting is scheduled for Sunday, July 9, 2023, at 3:00 pm EST.
Close with the Responsibility Pledge & the “We” version of the Serenity Prayer.
Responsibility Pledge
“When anyone, anywhere, realizes they have a problem with food, I want them to think of the GreySheet solution. For that, I am responsible.”
Serenity Prayer
