We formed a Public Information Committee after CER’s Dec. 2013 decision to allocate budgeted funds to PI initiatives, specifically 600 Euros per quarter. Members include: Michael K., Public Information Officer, Joel B., Alternate Delegate, Roger C., Nordic Intergroup Alternate Region Rep, Dorien B., Netherlands IG Region Rep, and Ron D., ArenA Editor – and with special contributions by Nigel P., Vice Chair/RECLO and Laura W., Treasurer. Thanks to all for their service. The PI Committee met online via WebEx twice in the quarter, in April and May to discuss initiatives including sponsor adverts and advertorials around the region, attending mental health conferences, and conducting online PI workshops.
Publicity advertorial campaign
Roger and Joel teamed up to initiate an ad and advertorial campaign in The Local, an online news provider with national editions in seven different European countries. They worked with Nigel P. to create ‘landing pages’ so that we could track the performance of each ad by being able to measure the ‘click-through rate’. Roger negotiated the terms while Joel focused on the metrics, each applying his area of expertise in private life to AA service.
We thought we were good to go with a one-month trial – the committee in April approved €400 for the effort and in May unanimously increased the amount to €500 to account for VAT. Unfortunately, following our May meeting we were informed there had been a misunderstanding on the rates, with the quote being for only one national edition, not all seven. We have no budget for such a campaign. On the plus side, this initiative grew out of one by the Nordic IG – and they are ready to pay for a trial run in the Sweden and Norway editions of The Local. They are building on our work and in future we may be able to build on theirs.
[Editors Note: The Nordic Intergroup has placed a three month trial in the Swedish edition of The Local at the beginning of May 2014. It’s effectiveness has not yet been measured.]
Mental Health Conferences
Dorien presented her proposal to exhibit at the 2nd European Mental Health Conference in Estonia in September. The conference organisers are eager to have AA participate and offered a generous package, including discounted registration, a display table next to the registration desk, etc. CER would participate together with members of the English-speaking AA group in Talinn. Dorien estimated that the cost of participating would be around €1,700, but said it may be possible to lower the expense.
Prior to our May meeting, CER Treasurer Laura W. sent a note on CER finances, advising the committee that our total funds after Zurich will be about €2,000 – well under our prudent reserve. Given the tight finances, the PI Committee voted to wait until July to make any decision on participating in the mental health conference in Estonia. As Treasurer Laura said, our budget is a hopeful forecast, not a bank statement, so when the contributions from region fail to materialise we have no choice but to work with what we have. Right now we don’t have much in the way of cash.
Online Regional Public Information Workshops
These two incidences of budgetary limits inspired focus on what we can do without extra cost, such as run regional PI workshops on our WebEx account. Dorien quickly supplied the template of a PI workshop run in April by the Netherlands Intergroup. The PI Committee will organise this workshop after our June meeting in Zurich.
Despite the lack of funds at CER, I am heartened by the continual service of our regional website – www.alcoholics-anonymous.eu. In my home group in Istanbul we get a steady stream of visitors who find us via the meeting information hosted on CER’s website. In the first week of May, we made a 12th step call to a man who got our number from the website. As it turned out, he used our visit to manipulate his wife into buying him beer, telling her that we had advised him of the dangers in stopping drinking too suddenly. Nonetheless, the 12th step call kept me and my AA buddy sober that day. We may have planted a seed. The point is that CER’s main tool for public information does work.
Michael K.
Public Information Officer
Editor’s note: this article has been published in accordance with our ArenA Editorial Policy.