God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can and Wisdom to know the difference. Thanks for this meeting, good night guys! – I click on the red telephone icon on my computer screen. The screen turns black. I close down the Skype application and close the lid on my laptop. It is 22.35 on the first Monday of the month. We have just concluded our monthly Intergroup meeting via Skype.
The Nordic English Intergroup (NEIG) uses Skype to conduct their monthly intergroup meetings. Since the Intergroup consists of approximately 20 AA groups in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark and, due to the extreme size of our Intergroup across these 4 countries, it is very difficult to organize frequent face-to-face meetings. That is one of the reasons why we have chosen to conduct our Intergroup meetings in a modern format – by making use of the technological possibilities at our disposal. The need for a computer and Internet connection has not been a problem for any of the members.
The groups that have joined this intergroup are mostly English speaking, whilst some of them have bi-lingual formats. They all want to belong to the English service structure, although some of them have very good contact with the local and national AA structure.
In principle, all English speaking groups in the Nordic countries can join but, in practice, not all of them participate. We keep an updated list of active AA groups and regularly try to get in touch with those groups that don’t join the NEIG meeting in order to invite them to our meetings.
There is a definite need that we fill. In our recent 4th step group inventory, it became clear that we provide a much-appreciated link to small, remote AA groups which helps them to keep perspective on AA as a whole. If the English speaking AA group is not actively involved with the local structure, they really thrive on the monthly ’lifeline’ that NEIG offers.
Our meeting format is quite ordinary. We meet once a month and the core-group (the chairperson, secretary and treasurer) prepare the meeting agenda about a week in advance, via mail and telephone contact. All groups are informed of the planned meetings, a few days in advance, and are requested to submit their reports. In this way, it is possible for the attendants to read each other’s report before the meeting. After the opening roll call, we have a round of group reports. We continue with CER and AA General business information, our economy and a recap of remaining old business from last meetings. After announcements and miscellaneous issues, we close with a simultaneous, unanimous reciting of the Serenity Prayer. All of our reports, minutes and meeting agendas are sent out and made available via a “closed community” Yahoo-site, accessible only to those members that are registered with our meeting secretary. It provides an automatic repository of all our important documents.
We believe we have an active and productive group, with enthusiastic attendants. Our rotation works well, both within the Intergroup service positions as well as the member groups.
If you are interested in experiencing one of our Intergroup meetings via Skype, you are welcome to join us. Just drop us a line or send an email to neig_aa@ymail.com.
Editor’s note: this article has been published in accordance with our ArenA Editorial Policy.