GSR WORKSHOP-Part Three-Assemblies
In this, the final installment of the GSR workshop. I will be talking about the three most important the Three Most Important Assemblies, which in my humble opinion are:
Delegate’s Day of Sharing, Pre- Conference Assembly and Post Conference Assembly. There is one more that occurs biyearly and that is the Election Assembly.
You will at times feel pulled in all directions with all that needs to be done in terms of your duties, but remember this,” It is with Dignity and Honor that we GET to serve.” We have been given a great Responsibility as trusted servants of our groups.
Now that you been given the links, that you need to find the information that makes you a better trusted servant and have heard an explanation of how this all works, let’s jump into the three most important assemblies. I use this term loosely because all assemblies are important, it is just that these are the powerhouse Assemblies in terms of the information flow that makes AA work.
If you have ever had to opportunity to attend a NERAASA, you find a similar experience as the Delegate’s Day of Sharing. At the Delegate’s Day of Sharing and at NERAASA several agenda items are picked to be discussed in a pro and con presentation that helps you to formulate an answer with some advanced knowledge. It is an opportunity to gather information to present to your group in a brief report, in order that they are better able to form a well-informed group conscience.
Prior to the Delegate’s Day of Sharing, you will receive the questionnaire with the agenda items from the Conference Agenda that the Delegate feels may be of interest to the area or may wish to get the area’s consensus of opinion on. It will usually be 5-8 questions. It is your trusted duty to bring it to your group in order to get their group conscience for the answers, this can be done by circulating limited copies, virtually, screen sharing at a business meeting or posting it to a secure portal for the members of the group to read and post their answers.
- Delegate’s Day of Sharing:
Historically, in SENY the Delegate has selected a few questions from the many that they will deal with at the Conference and presented them to the Area in order to form an amalgamated consensus of the AREA’S opinions on these questions. Here, at this Assembly, you will hear the background material for the questions that appear on the Delegate’s Questionnaire. The Questions that the Delegate has chosen come directly from the Conference agenda, and are more usually from the committee agenda items that the Delegate has been assigned to for the Conference. At this Assembly you will be presented all the background materials that you may share with your group in order to achieve a group conscience about the answers that you will bring back to the Delegate at the Pre-Conference Assembly.
- Pre- Conference Assembly:
At this Assembly, historically it is when the questionnaires are due back with your group’s answers. With the advent of technology, this is often done in advance by sending your group’s answers to the questionnaire, through a link, usually posted on the SENY website, directly to the Delegate. Like other Assemblies you will be able to take to the microphone to express your groups answers to the entire body and by doing so you are exercising Concept Four-“Right of Participation”.
It is very important for the Delegate to hear directly from the body present in order for them to formulate the group conscience of the Area. As a Trusted Servant, they then take this informed group conscience with them to the Conference where it will be
added to the group conscience of AA as a whole.
- Post Conference Assembly:
At this very important Assembly the Delegate will present the results of the Conference to the questions that were presented to the body prior of the conference. The answers and actions of the Conference will be explained. It will then be your job to bring these results back to your group, so that they stay informed as to what occurred at the Conference. The final results of the Conference as a whole will be available in a fully illustrated and scrubbed Document a month or two after the Conference. This is a truly rich and enlightening document that is more than worth your time to read, or at the very least to skim the highlights. When I say “Scrubbed”, I am referring to the anonymity aspect of this public document (Tradition 11). In the final version of the Conference Report only the Class A Trustees are mentioned by their full name, all other Class B Trustees and such are referred to by their First Name Last initial.
Let me explain that the SENY Calendar is heavily front loaded because of the position of the General Service Conference, which takes place in the spring, usually April. Our schedule lightens as the Summer approaches, as a matter of fact we are off during the Summer months and then the Assemblies start again in the Fall. The Assembly schedule allows us to transact the Area AA business on a regular schedule and to prepare any Amendments or possible Agenda items that the Area feels may need to be brought to the Conference. The Conference Agenda for the General Service Conference is usually set sometime in December in order for all to prepare their proper background information and for it to be sent to the Delegates in time for the actual Conference.
- Election Assembly:
At the end of the Current Delegate’s term which for our Area is the Two-year period that ends in an even year, i.e.; in the current case 2022, we will gather for our Fall Assembly in November of that year and elect our next Delegate. The General Service Conference election cycle is divided on a biyearly basis. In SENY, as well as half the Conference, we elect on the Even years and the other Areas select on the Odd years, thus ensuring that half of the Conference is rotating out as the new half of Delegates come in. At this writing, all those who were seated at the past November Assembly are members of Panel 71.
Elected officer panels are referred to by this numbering system. This is uniform throughout AA and it tells those who see it what years the person in question served and in what position, i.e.; Delegate Panel 69. In the example shown the Delegate served from Jan.1,2019 thru Dec. 31,2020, passing the baton to the incoming Delegate, who officially begins their term on Jan. 1st.
There you have it, the links, the how it works and the assemblies of “GSRdom”. This workshop is but a brief nutshell presentation of all the things needed to be a good GSR. I hope you have found this a valuable use of your time. As we say more will be revealed and my hope is that I have given you a few tools to use in your exploration of your trusted servantship role. Don’t forget to check out the AA Service Manual and SENY Handbook and to make all due effort to get a Service Sponsor. The role of Service Sponsor is a most important one because it is that person that helps guide you through the maze-like structure of AA. They serve as a beacon of light in the dark night to guide you.
GOOD LUCK- PANEL 71- CLASS OF 2022 WITH THE FULLFILMENT OF YOUR DUTIES AS TRUSTED SERVANTS AND MESSANGERS OF THE MESSAGE.
If you have any questions you can email me at GSR.SUNRISENYACK@GMAIL.COM or at my service email for this panel RCGSSECRETARY@AAROCKLAND.ORG
THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME SERVE YOU!