Setting up Online meetings
With CDC guidelines recommending all responsible citizens practice “Social Distancing”, Finding places to meet and share our primary purpose has become very challenging. Many of us have found relief attending online meetings, The Suncoast Area strongly encourages this practice and would like to help all Home Groups move into this way of meeting.
Narcotics Anonymous on the whole has no opinion on outside enterprises but suggests all home groups use *GoToMeeting.com to keep things consistent. Gotomeeting.com has ways for people to access their meetings with webcams and smartphones as well as dial-in flip phones or land lines.
How To do it:
open meetings-anyone may attend, (preferred option);
Each group can select a moderator to set up the meeting on the web platform they choose; (*gotomeeting, *zoom, etc.) if the moderator needs assistance, there are trusted servants who have done this and are willing to assist.
The meeting will be be assigned an access code
The access code must be emailed to webservant@suncoastna.org to be published.
The link will be published under the tab “Online Meetings”.
The moderator should plan on being online 15 minutes before the meeting starts to welcome people and instruct the members on the guidelines for an open discussion meeting. Some guidelines to consider are muting microphones when not speaking, not eating or doing anything distracting, in other words behave as if in a regular “in person” meeting.
Private meetings-groups where members safety or anonymity could be placed in jeopardy, (gender specific meetings)
The meeting will be established on a meeting platform and an access code received as described above.
The moderator will contact webservant@suncoastna.org to request a suncoastna.org email address. the email address will be posted on the Online Meetings page. (This is done to protect the anonymity of the moderator and prevent the moderator from having to share their personal information)
Members will click on the link and request the access code from the moderator in order to attend the meeting.
The moderator should plan on being online 15 minutes before the meeting starts to welcome people and instruct the members on the guidelines for an open discussion meeting. Some guidelines to consider are muting microphones when not speaking, not eating or doing anything distracting, in other words behave as if in a regular “in person” meeting.
A note about new meetings online versus established meetings going online
Our policy states that a meeting must attend Area Service for 3 consecutive months in order to be placed on the meeting list. In keeping with this policy only existing meetings will be posted on the Online Meetings page. However, meetings established due to this current crisis can be put on the Announcements page. Obviously these are concerns that will need to be addressed at an Area level when the world returns to normal.
A Note about our 7th Tradition and online meetings
Our 7th tradition states. “Every group ought to be fully self supporting”. We will not be able to “pass the basket” online obviously. It has been suggested that rents will still need to be paid and literature orders will need to be fulfilled eventually. Each Home Group is asked to consider passing a “virtual” basket. This will be decided by the group conscious of each group but perhaps one trusted servant, (treasurer) be able to accept payments through an online service like *Venmo or *Zelle.
In Loving Service, webservant@suncoastna.org
*Narcotics Anonymous and Suncoast Area are not affiliated with gotomeeting, zoom, venom or zelle.
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