Day 2 – the business meetings

business meeting I 8:30-11:30 am

opened with the serenity prayer in german and english– beautiful!

we learned that there are 165 delegates here. Lots of reports from regions, chairs of committees etc.

11:45 – 12:45 optioned to sit in on the reference committee meeting. re sending electronic reports out vs paper. Packed my lunch and munched happily away while the debate simmered on.

business meeting II 1-5pm

heard from prospective trustees– very impressive! We vote on them tomorrow. Also started to vote on literature. The unity with diversity pamphlet was voted down in a very close contest– we had a counted standing vote because it was so close. I voted no because this otherwise wonderful pamphlet had a story on bariatric surgery– an outside issue to OA.

5-7pm went for a run, called my family and some oa members, ate dinner alone in blessed quiet in my room.

7:30-10pm more reference committee meeting. very heated discussion on the term ‘compulsive eater’ vs. ‘compulsive overeater’. spoke up as a delegate in favor for the plan of movement but recommended the committee come up with a new name so it encompasses more than just exercise. the committee debated and came up with ‘ the tool of an action plan’

bedtime!! I deserve it!

We are not a glum lot, day 2– in which we find the WS chair has a sense of humor:

~when the member reading the 12 concepts could not find the correct reading in binder for the 12 concepts, the chair leaned into the mike and said dryly “ it starts with the number ‘one’ ”

~when answering question about foreign currency collecting for 7th tradition, the chair said, make checks payable to OA world service,or k-a-y-l-a….”

~ upon waiting for staff to get materials ready, “of all the traditions, we do nine the best: we ought never be organized….”

wed 4/28

long and beautiful day today! Started at 7 am with an OA meeting– theme: how do you practice abstinent,spiritual, mindful eating?

8-10:30am forum entitled “service– how does it serve us?”

This was so good I’m going to order the recording! Many ideas about why and how we use the tool of service. My table discussed the traditions and how they apply to service.

10:45-12 committee meetings– I’m doing 12step within because I’m unaware that our IG is doing a lot in that area right now. Maybe I can bring back some ideas? The committee broke into smaller sub-committees, and I’m working with a member from australia on promoting the oa website.

12pm lunch

1:30-4:30p more committee meetings

5-7p region 5 dinner. All folks from region 5 break bread and talk region business

7:15-9:15pm literature Q&A. One of my favorite meetings because we discuss prospective literature and revamping existing material.

thursday will be the first day of the actual business meeting!

‘we are not a glum lot’
at the forum, comments are recorded in live time by being typed in and projected on a giant screen.
~While one member quoted from the BB, these words appeared in giant letters: ‘what page is this on???’
~when the projector skipped for a minute: there are ghosts in the machine: Boooooooooo!
~ after typing in the suggestion of tricking someone into IG service, recorder wrote: “then take step 10”
~when one member sang the line of a song: ” hire her, Las Vegas! ”