Second Quarter 2008 Volume 18, Number 2    Page 2 of 2 What's New From WSO Hosting Professional Outreach Events Qualifies for Reduced-Cost Literature Calling All Intergroups and Other Service Bodies Tell Your Story! Web Links A Little Reminder Dateminder What’s New From WSO Web-Site Development Guidelines Expanded The Web-Site Development Guidelines now include a section on “Being Attractive to Newcomers.” If your group or service body is planning a Web site, this document can answer many of your questions about how to avoid Tradition problems when creating your site. Available as part of the OA Guidelines Packet, item #570, US$5.00, plus shipping*; and as a free download. Suggested Meeting Format Revised To emphasize OA’s unity Tradition, #3 in the Suggested Meeting Format now includes an additional statement to remind us to keep in mind OA’s “unity with diversity” policy as we conduct our meetings. Item #512, US$.50, plus shipping*; or free download. * US Shipping: $3 for orders up to $18. Orders $18.01 to $100, 17% of total. Above $100, 12% of order. Email to info@oa.org for shipping charges outside the US. Top Hosting Professional Outreach Events Qualifies for Reduced-Cost Literature Intergroup Public Information and Professional Outreach Committees may purchase literature through members of the Board of Trustees at a reduced cost when hosting health fairs or professional exhibits or when coordinating a targeted outreach project. The reduced-cost calculation is the higher of either the actual cost of the literature or 50 percent of the retail price. The WSO will ship the literature and add the real cost of shipping to the order. Groups may download applications for reduced-cost literature online. The intergroup’s Public Information and Professional Outreach Committees choose the literature. Your trustee can be a valuable resource in determining the best pieces for your project. The application lists recommended pieces, but you are not restricted to this list. Committees should select no more than three pamphlets and can also add the Courier newsletter for professionals, which is also available on the OA Web site for download and copying. Alternatively, committees may select the Professional Presentation Folder at a cost of $1.05, available via the application. Send completed applications to your Region Trustee. The trustee verifies the event (when, where, how many attendees expected) and helps determine a reasonable amount of literature. Experience has shown that literature for 15 percent of projected attendees suffices. Once the trustee approves the request (because of budget constraints, the trustee cannot guarantee approval), the trustee places the order with the WSO. Only the trustee may place the order; the motion states that the request must come through a board member. The completed application should include appropriate billing information and an email address. Be sure to allow a minimum of 30 days from submission of the application to the WSO and your event. The WSO will email an invoice to the billing contact asking for payment information. Unless the committee pays with a credit card, the controller charges the region budget until the WSO receives other payment. The WSO ships the order to the designated location. Top Calling All Intergroups and Other Service Bodies Does your intergroup or other service body have a Web site? Would you like to carry your message of recovery worldwide? If yes, then the WSO has an opportunity for you. We would like to list your URL link on the OA Web site’s worldwide meeting list. To carry your message, please send your intergroup or other service body’s Web-site address to Lorie Baird, Group Registration Coordinator. Thank you for your service! Top Tell Your Story! Would you like to tell your story to the media? Participate in OA’s Public Awareness Campaign. Be a media contact! For more information contact Naomi Members’ anonymity will be respected at all times. Top Discover interesting and helpful OA Web-site links in Web Links. Ask-It Basket — “Some members in our OA meeting formed a Twelve-Step workshop by invitation only… . I feel this violates OA Traditions, but I would like to know for sure.” How OA Changed My Life — “Your Skin Don’t Fit” Press Release — “When Covering Food, Weight and Health in 2008, Consider Featuring Overeaters Anonymous” (Links are current when A Step Ahead is published online; however, some pages will be updated during the quarter.)   Seeking the Spiritual Path: A Collection from Lifeline OA members find a spiritual path in many ways. Let these 70 stories from Lifeline help guide you to yours. Softcover, 144 pages. Item #978 US$8.35 each, plus shipping* Item #979 US$187.86 box of 25, plus shipping* * US shipping: $3 for orders up to $18. Orders $18.01 to $100, 17% of total. Above $100, 12% of order. Email the WSO for shipping charges outside the US. Top A Little Reminder Did you forget to renew your Lifeline subscription? Have you said to yourself that you want to subscribe to Lifeline but have never sent in your subscription? Have you thought that getting a Lifeline subscription for a newcomer, for someone in relapse or for a doctor’s office would be a good way to give service, but you never found time to do it? Perhaps it’s time to stop procrastinating and start carrying OA’s message to still-suffering compulsive eaters and yourself. Lifeline is a bargain at US$15 a year for the print version and only US$13 for e-Lifeline, the online version. Take a step today to mail in a renewal or subscription form and keep recovery (and Lifeline) alive. Subscibe online, call 505-891-2664, or write to Lifeline, P.O. Box 44020, Rio Rancho, NM USA 87174.   Attention Service Bodies When reporting local, regional and world service elections or OA news in your newsletters, please use only the first names and last initials of OA members, especially when posting newsletters to your OA Web sites. Your internal news becomes external when posted online; you may inadvertently compromise the anonymity of your fellow OA members. Top DATEMINDER World Service Business Conference May 5 - May 10, 2008 EACH GROUP HAS BUT ONE PRIMARY PURPOSE — TO CARRY ITS MESSAGE TO THE COMPULSIVE OVEREATER WHO STILL SUFFERS. Top Previous page Attention Intergroups: Please inform the WSO whenever you have meeting changes to your directory. A Publication of: Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. P.O. Box 44020 Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA Phone: 1-505-891-2664 Fax: 1-505-891-4320 E-mail: info@oa.org OA Homepage Registered OA service bodies may reprint articles crediting A Step Ahead and Overeaters Anonymous. © 2008 Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc. All rights reserved.