….from the Chair (June 2014): CER Regional Assembly Summary in Zürich

In the weekend of March 31-June 1, 2014, CER had its regular quarterly meeting in Zürich in Switzerland, on behalf of an invitation from the Zürich Intergroup. Here is my perception of this weekend.

The excitement of meeting friends in Service
I believe that for any AA-entity, be it a group, an Intergroup or a Region, it is crucial to be as connected with AA as possible. This CER meeting was an excellent illustration: It was inspiring and exciting for everybody involved in this weekend to meet other people that are active in Service.

During the Welcome to Region Workshop on Saturday morning, participants were encouraged to meet their counterparts (e.g., Intergroup PI Chair meeting the CER PI Chair). I believe lots of experience strength and hope was exchanged during the breaks and around the meetings.

A few words from Mr. Parkinson
Parkinson’s Law goes something like: “Any job will accommodate the available resources”. This means that if there are four hours available for a certain job, it will take four hours to get it done. On the other hand, if only half an hour is available, the same job will get done in half an hour.

During the months leading up to the meeting in Zürich, I was aware that there weren’t many items for the agenda related to CER’s primary purpose. As a consequence, a substantial part of the weekend was dedicated to housekeeping issues.

And here’s the good news: Both during the meeting, as well as during breaks, suggestions were made on how to improve this in the future.  They both seem to boil down to the same principle: Trust the trusted servants:

• Keep the housekeeping issues off the agenda. If they need to be addressed at all, have it done through the Steering Committee or an ad-hoc committee
• If there are no relevant agenda items, end the meeting earlier.

Both face-to-face and online
After two online meetings, this meeting was a first-of-its-kind in yet another way: It was a face-to-face meeting where through WebEx, participants could join online. Our RECLO, Nigel P., and our Zürich Intergroup Representative, Joel B., had built an impressive rig including five video cameras and at least three microphones. We had a couple of online participants over the weekend who were also included during voting procedures.

Rotation, the heartbeat of Service

• Thank you, Jay G., for your service over the last years as YPLO (Young Person’s Liaison Officer) and for the last three months as Acting YPLO.
• Thank you, Joe F., for your service as Acting Delegate to Conference for 2014, and welcome as Delegate.
• Welcome, Kendra K., as our new YPLO.
• Thank you, Brian K., Carina H., Jay G., and Monica C. for your willingness to be of service in any of the available vacancies.

Upcoming CER meetings in 2014 and 2015

• Sep. 2014: Online via WebEx
• Dec. 2014: Milan, Italy
• March 2015: Online via WebEx
• June 2015: Eindhoven, The Netherlands
• Sep. 2015: Online via WebEx
• Dec. 2015: Face-to-face, no location decided yet

Upcoming online meetings: One day with a maximum of five hours
We decided that from beginning in September 2014, online CER meetings will be limited to only five hours, rather than two days. Do you see the link with Parkinson’s Law?

European Mental Health Conference
In December 2014, we decided that about 25% of CER’s budget would be allocated for PI (Public Information) activities. One of the activities under study by the PI Committee,  is participation at the Third Annual European Conference of Mental Health, to be held in Talinn, Estonia, in September 2014. This initiative was initially put on hold because of CER’s financial situation; however, our financial situation has since improved and our Treasurer signed off concerning this expenditure. Several people made suggestions on how to further improve this initiative and how to move forward with it.

For me, this was God in action, the high point of the weekend, and a great way to end the meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Thank you Zürich Intergroup
In closing, I want to thank Zürich Intergroup for their hospitality and arrangements.

Jeroen S.

Editor’s note: this article has been published in accordance with our ArenA Editorial Policy.