Online/In-Person Hybrid Meetings

The discussion about hybrid meetings is plentiful, broad, and varied. A short summary of this topic cannot address the myriad components of setting up and running hybrid meetings. Setups run from a smartphone passed around the in-person meeting to permanent equipment installations that include high-end cameras, microphones, and large TVs/displays. The more complex a setup and/or the larger the meeting, greater is the number of people needed to run the meeting. Several service organizations have produced documents with their recommendations for setting up and running hybrid meetings.

Members of TIAA Forum began collaboration on a document to summarize this topic. Though incomplete, it includes useful information. CLICK HERE 

Much more information and assistance are available by joining the forum and searching for “hybrid”: CLICK HERE

Meeting Guide / 12 Step Meeting List Plug-in

Support for the Meeting Guide app and the 12 Step Meeting List (TSML) WordPress plug-in is available at the following:
 
• Meeting Guide: CLICK HERE
• TSML: CLICK HERE
 
Discussion about these does occur in the forum. Members of the forum can find these discussions at:
 
• Meeting Guide: CLICK HERE
• TSML: CLICK HERE

Phone Answering Services/Set-ups

Cloud-based phone services appear to be most popular due to ease of management and low costs.

These services allow calls to be forwarded simultaneously to many volunteers’ numbers. Services favorably discussed in the forum:

  • Google Voice
  • Ring Central
  • eVoice
  • CloudPhone
Other solutions in use: (1) forwarding a central office’s number to a volunteer after hours [this can also be via a cloud-based service] (2) purchasing a dedicated cell phone and either physically passing it among volunteers or forwarding it to a volunteer’s number. Forum members can find these discussions here: CLICK HERE

Digital 7th Tradition

Numerous options are in use, including:

  • Venmo
  • Paypal
  • Zelle
  • Cash App
  • Square
The General Service Office offers this FAQ: CLICK HERE Forum discussion on this topic is extensive, and forum members can find it here: CLICK HERE General experience shows setting up these services with a group’s email address, and phone number instead of a member’s makes management and rotation simpler. A strong recommendation is to check privacy settings on all solutions to ensure members’ contributions are not public.

Instructions for completing this form

Name (required):

The name you use here is not verified and only used to control for spam and bot submissions. It will not be tied to your account. You can create and edit a profile disclosing the account name and information you wish to expose to the community (not publicly visible outside the forum) when and after you join.

Email (required):

Email where the invitation to join will be sent. This will also become a default primary way of logging in or recovering your password. We recommend a personal email address (e.g. your_name@example.com) instead of a “positional” email address (e.g. webmaster@your_intergroup.org) unless you intend for you membership to rotate with the person holding the position in the future. This email address can be changed after you join if you wish to change it by editing your profile information.

Affirmation (required):

By the group conscience of the members, this forum is only open to members of AA and those non-members of AA supporting AA services (e.g. Intergroup offices, AA service structure, etc.).

Topic interests (required):

If you are interested in conversations in more than one  technical topic area (e.g. web sites, answering services, virtual meetings, etc.) or have a general curiosity about AA discussions in general (e.g. topics above and beyond technology like committees and group dynamics), you would probably want to select the default “General” option.

If your primary interest is in Archives only, you probably want to select the “Archives” option. Note that with either option, you will still have access to all topics on the forum but with the “Archives” option, your “home screen” will automatically place you in the “Archives” category where most of those conversations happen.