GSA Phone Bridge Intergroup Meeting Minutes July 14, 2024

GSA Phone Bridge Intergroup Meeting Minutes
July 14, 2024 3 p.m. ET

Intergroup meeting phone number: 712-432-5229, passcode 4320188#

CJ opened the meeting with the Serenity Prayer after which the 12 Traditions were read.

Attendance: 11

ISR – Marcia M.

GSR – Katie L. Beginner’s meetings

Trustees – CJ H. – Chair, Kris W.- Sec., Joyce S. – Treas., Shaaron M.- Moderator Liaison, Jessica K.- Website Liaison, Joannie G. – A.M. Marathon Liaison

GSAWS Liaison – Debra L.

Listeners – Denise and Mary

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 June minutes was made, seconded and passed.

Motion to accept the May Treasurer’s Report as posted on the www.greysheetmeetings.org website was made, seconded and passed.

Old Business:

Regarding GSAWS request to consider changing our greysheetmeetings.org to another less confusing address. Our address is not clear that it is for the Phone Bridge only which causes problems for GSAWS, www.greysheet.org, and the Phone Bridge.

From our June Meeting:

Lynn made a motion to change our URL to a name that is less confusing, seconded by Kris and passed. Jessica and CJ suggested leaving our website the same but clarifying it by highlighting in bold our statement already on our website: “This website contains information about Phone Bridge meetings only. For information on other GSA meetings (face-to-face, Zoom, or phone meetings not held on the Phone Bridge line), please go to greysheet.org.” and making it a more prominent display. Joyce S., our Treasurer confirmed that if we should vote for these changes, our Treasury can support the $2,500 investment. Debra L., our GSAWS Liaison clarified reasons why some of our suggestions wouldn’t work, for instance, changes to GSAWS website (bypassing their contacts and going directly to a link to our website). Concerns rose as to our GSRs needing to field many inquiries from the GSAWS website. Many ways were discussed as to how our Phone Bridge website could more productively ‘link’ with GSAWS website and vice versa. Pros and Cons were discussed of whether or not to make changes and how to accomplish these changes. CJ requested that all Trustees and GSRs familiarize themselves with both websites. This will be discussed at our July meeting.

The following is reference material for our June meeting and future discussions. This was sent to us in June from our GSAWS Liaison Debra L regarding their request to consider changing our URL:

GSAWS wanted to put forth a request for the Phone Bridge to consider at the upcoming quarterly Intergroup meeting: Please see below:

There are two issues that consistently occur with increasing frequency as a result of the PBIG’s URL, i.e., greysheetmeetings.org:

Trusted servants of GreySheeters Anonymous groups who want to register, renew their registration, or update their group’s meeting list with GSA World Services, go to greysheetmeetings.org looking for the GSA World Services Group Registration form, not understanding the difference between GSAWS and the PBIG.

Additionally, members of GreySheeters Anonymous, especially newcomers or relatively newcomers, looking for in-person, video, and phone meetings that are not affiliated with the PB, go to greysheetmeetings.org looking for those meetings as well.

In both cases, some of those members who do not find what they are looking for call or email GSA World Services for help. It can be confusing and frustrating for new members to find what they need which is why we are proposing a way to clarify both GSAWS and the PBIG URL. We’d like to prevent this from being a possible barrier to recovery and service.
GSA World Services suggests that the PBIG consider using a new URL that references the Phone Bridge, such as greysheetphonebridge.org or GreySheetBridge.org. The name can, of course, be titled something else (with the groups permission) that would help distinguish the two. This could require registering the new URL and redirecting traffic from the old one for a period of time.
We thank you in advance for your consideration of our suggestion and would be happy to discuss it further.
In gratitude & Service
Debra L.

The following information was sent by our webmaster in June regarding considering changing our URL.

Here are some of the particulars and consideration:

Purchasing a new URL- These are some of the available names. We are not recommending these, only showing you some options:

GreysheetPhoneBridge
GSAPhoneBridge
GreysheetPhoneMeetings

New connections and email accounts will need to be created. Any connections to emails accounts will need to be updated. Current email accounts include:

All forms will need to be recreated and updated. New links will need to be sent to current members of the news distribution. This means you will need to login and change the URL link within PayPal and MailChimp. This includes these current forms:

Request Phonebridge Number and Pin
Add New Meeting or Change Current Meeting
Contact the Board of Trustees
Donations
Comments for Service Manual Committee
Request Marathon Coordinator Contact Information

Forwarding emails will need to be re-established. Current safety protocols do not allow forwarding to gmail accounts and soon Yahoo. Trustees will either use different email accounts or we may need to create a manual and/ or training video to support trustees ability to check new website email accounts. Current Trustees with forwarding to gmail and Yahoo accounts include:

All of the links on the website will need to be replaced and updated. This may mean that some of the functionality or layouts of the webpages may change due to moving to a new URL.

We estimate this will take approximately 25 hours to complete at your current additional contract rate of $100 an hour or approximately $2,500. Assuming there are no significant changes that may need to be made to the current website pages.

After reading the notes sent to PhoneBridge by GSA, here are some other considerations:

We do not necessarily agree that changing the PhoneBridge URL is the best solution to clear-up any confusion when searching for GSA Meetings. There are many other options, including making the notice on the current website more prominent. This is the message at the top of your Home Page:

This website contains information about Phone Bridge meetings only. For information on other GSA meetings (face-to-face, Zoom, or phone meetings not held on the Phone Bridge line), please go to greysheet.org.

PhoneBridge is currently serving as an immediate connection for new comers. They do not have to wade through all of the details and many pages on the GSA website. The PhoneBridge will lose the opportunity to serve new comers by changing their established URL.

Jayne is happy to talk further about the details or questions you may have, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are happy to be of service.

From our July 16, 2024 discussion:

We further discussed possible design changes to both the Phone Bridge website that would possibly need GSA to consider changes for their website. It was clarified that Lynn’s motion on the floor to “Change the name of our website to something less confusing“, had not been passed but was in the discussion mode. Suggestions were made to enlarge and prominently emphasize: “This website contains information about Phone Bridge meetings only. For information on other GSA meetings (face-to-face, Zoom, or phone meetings not held on the Phone Bridge line), please go to greysheet.org.” And also add to this the next line “Request the GSA Phone Bridge Number & Pin”. A motion was made regarding these changes that was not considered because we already have a motion open on the floor from June. Lynn had made a motion “To change our URL to a name that is less confusing.” that was seconded and passed.

Katie L. made a motion to table this discussion until the August meeting. It was seconded and passed

Recording Marathon Speakers. GSR feedback was a resounding yes! The discussion that followed was how to address anonymity. Jessica (PM Marathon Liaison) took this situation to Joanie (AM Marathon Liaison) and the proposal is: AM and PM Marathon Coordinators will ask the speaker/leaders if they are willing to be recorded for the GS YouTube Channel. Please note that if the motion passes the PB will need to discuss the specifics with the Southern States Intergroup who are in charge of the channel. To be discussed at the August meeting.

A proposal was made to change our format to read: We do not mention specific foods by name and we only refer to them using generic terms such as sugars, grains, starches and carbohydrates. To be further discussed at our next meeting.

New Business: None.

Announcements:

Thank you all for your persistence and patience with the delay of starting this meeting, You are appreciated!

Meeting representation is needed. The Phone Bridge (PB) and Greysheeters Anonymous World Service (GSAWS) would like to hear our meeting’s voices.

Our next meeting will be August 11, 2024 at 3 p.m.

If you have additional new business, please e-mail us at phonebridgetrustees@greysheetmeetings.org 2 weeks PRIOR to the IG meeting with any new items you would like to discuss. Only items that affect the Phone Bridge are discussed at the Intergroup level.

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