Fourth Quarter 2004 Volume 14, Number 4      Page 2 of 2 What's New from WSO When Is It Not Enough? Web Links Carrying the Message through Public Information (PI) Dateminder What’s New from WSO Help for Service Bodies Creating Web Sites The Board of Trustees approved a revised and updated set of guidelines for service bodies wishing to create their own Web sites. The guidelines include such topics as: What Information Is Contained in a Web Site? How Do the Traditions Affect What We Put on Web Sites? Unity: Deciding What Goes into a Web Site Avoiding Endorsement of Related Facilities or Outside Enterprises; Avoiding Opinions on Outside Issues Self-Support on the Internet Remaining Nonprofessional Responsibility for Page Content (Web Committee) Technical issues You can download the guidelines or contact the WSO to have them sent to you for free. Learn How to Plan a Sponsorship Workshop Have you ever noticed that fewer and fewer hands go up when available sponsors are called for in OA meetings? Do you want to sponsor but are afraid because you don’t know where to begin or you won’t do it right? Imagine finding what you need to know in OA literature! The tool of sponsorship is critical to those needing sponsors and to those sponsoring. The Board of Trustees recently approved guidelines entitled Planning a Sponsorship Workshop. They are now included in the Twelfth-Step-Within Handbook and are available for download. The guidelines include: Suggested activities for one- or two-hour sessions and half-day and full-day events at meetings, share-a-thons, retreats and conventions Workshop tips Speaker topics Discussion and Q&A topics Personal inventory questions related to sponsoring Don’t go another day without giving the gift of yourself to your fellow compulsive eaters. Ensure that every newcomer can leave a meeting with a sponsor. Newcomer Packet Contents Revised The board has approved inserting the new Dignity of Choice pamphlet into the Newcomer Packet. To accommodate the change without affecting the price of the packet, a postcard for a free, two-month Lifeline trial subscription will replace the complimentary Lifeline now included in each packet. This change occurs before publication of the 2005 catalog, so to avoid confusion about missing Lifelines, please inform your groups that the content of the packet has changed. Top When Is It Not Enough? When is putting away the chairs not enough service? Arranging the chairs for a meeting and putting them away are always needed acts of service. I am never in the OA program too short or too long a time to reject this type of service. Having a chair to sit on does make for a more comfortable meeting, and everyone can pitch in for a recovery sitdown. As I travel the OA journey of recovery, I hear a lot about giving service, the importance of giving service and the wide range of service opportunities. As I continue my recovery from compulsive overeating, I attain new physical, emotional and mental changes, and spiritual enlightenment. I become healthier in these critical aspects of my life. The abundance of gifts I receive from OA points to my willingness to give back to the Fellowship as much as I can. “Chairs” service is always appropriate and appreciated, but I must not forget the bigger service picture. My growth in recovery opens me to an awareness of other vital service opportunities. I have a responsibility to be available and involved in group, intergroup, regional and world service committees, activities and service positions. There are workshops to present, conventions to plan, and assemblies and conferences to attend. There is service for everyone — all kinds of service. Our Fellowship needs the business side of OA to keep us strong, vibrant and ever ready to carry the message of recovery to all who seek help from OA. Because of the amazing, life-changing recovery I continue to experience in Overeaters Anonymous, I must be cautious about letting too few do too much for so many. Every OA member has a part to play in the bigger service picture. Let me remember that chairs are for sitting on at meetings; their use is temporary. To achieve permanent recovery, I must put the chairs away, but I must also serve in other ways. Service awaits us all. So, I ask myself, “Am I doing enough service?” By the way, when was the last time you put the chairs away? — M.B, Canton, Ohio USA Top Discover interesting and helpful OA Web-site links in Web Links. Planning a Sponsorship Workshop — Guidance for groups or intergroups World Service Business Conference — First mailing for Conference 2005 documents IDEA Day — Help with IDEA Day activities Ask-It Basket — “We have a meeting that won’t allow sharing unless a member is also abstinent from caffeine and nicotine. Can this be considered an OA meeting, and does it violate the Traditions?” Carrying the Message through Public Information (PI) In 2005, the Board of Trustees (BOT) plans to increase outreach to professional organizations. OA will sponsor a booth at several professional exhibits across the United States. Region Two fully funded its first professional exhibit in 2003 and cofunded others this year. Our experience may answer the following questions OA members may have about this important service. Where does funding for professional exhibits come from? Some funding is a collaborative effort of OA entities. The American Medical Women’s Association annual meeting in 2004 in San Diego is an excellent illustration. We obtained funds for the exhibit fee and for OA literature from the World Service HIPM Committee, the Public Information Committee and Region Two. The local intergroup paid for shipping the OA booth from the World Service Office (WSO). The San Diego OA Fellowship donated time and talent. What helpful lessons have previous OA exhibitors learned? At our booth, we allowed the health-care professionals to select OA materials. We would not recommend this approach unless you have abundant aisle space to avoid traffic congestion. Also, our literature became part of the great “stew” in a conventioneer’s bag instead of remaining separate and distinct. At this conference we played OA’s PSAs on a television. They were hard to hear over the din of attendees’ voices. At our next convention, where we were in an exhibit hall rather than a hotel area, we looped the tape so it played over and over and used OA’s film OA—It Works rather than the PSAs. This time the tape was audible. Where do members in the region get information about upcoming exhibits? Information can come from a WSO staff member, OA members in the region or attendees at professional meetings where OA has exhibited. Recently, the OA BOT received a list of 16 professional exhibits in the US in 2005. If you know of an upcoming convention, please send the information to your region trustee or the WSO. How much does it cost for a booth, and are reduced rates available? Fees vary. For example, the 2005 exhibitor fee for the American Association of Medical Assistants, with approximately 1,000 attendees, is $200. The exhibitor fee for the American Dental Association is almost $3,000, with about 40,000 expected. Sometimes reduced rates are available. It is best to allow the Region Trustee to handle the matter and coordinate with the Board of Trustees’ chair. Are there special regulations that must be followed at convention sites? It’s been our experience that large convention centers have specific regulations. Hotel venues also have parameters, but not as stringent. What other types of charges do we need to be aware of? It’s important to find out what comes as standard booth material (dividers, table, draping, etc.) and what you will be allowed to bring in. Consult the Exhibitor’s Manual. Don’t unions charge high fees, and if so, must we pay these fees? Union fees need to be considered and may be unavoidable in some cases. No one answer fits all. Hiring union help may be right for some OA groups. We told the union about our nonprofit status, and they allowed us to do our own setup, but all OA groups may not receive the same response. Can we have as many volunteers as we want at our booth? The Exhibitor’s Manual for a larger convention usually limits a 10' x 10' exhibit area (OA’s standard booth size) to four complimentary exhibit registrations. We contacted a show management’s registration official to explain OA’s unique situation of being all volunteer and asked if we could submit a list of volunteers who would assist in varying shifts (usually four hours), not to exceed four people at any one time. Can anyone volunteer? Since volunteers represent OA to the public, we strongly suggest they manifest recovery on all three levels. We try to have one member at the booth during all shifts who reflects the convention’s emphasis, such as a teacher for an education convention. Anything else about volunteers? Consider parking. The parking fee at one convention site was $8 a day with no “in-and-out” privileges. Parking for a volunteer working onsite all day but going offsite for lunch could be $16 or more. We offered to pay volunteers’ transportation and parking expenses. To keep costs down, we encouraged everyone to take public transportation or to carpool. What materials should go into OA envelopes for attendees? We used specially printed 9" x 12" white envelopes. On one corner was the OA logo in red. On the top front were the words “Overeaters Anonymous” in bold red. On the middle front was “Information for the Health Care Professional” in black. “World Service Office” was centered on the bottom in black with the address, telephone and fax numbers, and OA’s Web site address. On the reverse side, OA’s 15 questions appeared in black. The reason we did this? From past experience we learned the office staff was throwing away our No. 10 standard envelopes as junk mail. Now our distinctive envelopes are hard to miss! In addition to a short letter on OA letterhead introducing OA, we gear enclosures for the audience. For example, for health-care professionals we enclose the OA Courier; the OA pamphlets Introducing OA to the Health Care Professional, Questions and Answers and Many Symptoms, One Solution. In the future we will include OA’s forthcoming OA Survey. For local participants, we include our local OA meeting directory/schedule. Any other suggestions? In August, volunteers from San Diego’s intergroup hosted OA’s booth at the National Medical Association’s (NMA) annual convention and scientific assembly. Following a trustee’s written request, the NMA reduced OA’s exhibit fee substantially. World Service funds financed OA’s participation, literature distribution and other expenses.* Generous donations of supplies and printing from local OA members helped, too. We distributed the When to Say When CD, which proved popular. Many exhibitor booths are popular because they have “giveaway” items. Also, we received permission to place OA material at the exhibit where local residents received health screenings. Our experience at this second 2004 exhibition went well. Experience does make a difference! We’d like to encourage each OA “team” that sponsors or participates in a professional exhibit to create an instruction sheet or manual of what its group did at a particular exhibit. Pass it on — in writing! And please send a copy to the WSO. Let your excellent ideas help others, and let your “lessons learned” spare others. — A.M., Region Two Trustee * Funding for OA's booth at professional exhibits in the coming year is included in OA Inc’s 2005 budget. Because monies are limited, not all requests can be granted. Decisions will be made according to criteria established by the Board of Trustees. Top DATEMINDER IDEA Day International Day Experiencing Abstinence November 20 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. © 2004 Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc. All rights reserved.