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Best Practices on Zoom Meetings
Things to consider when participating in an online Zoom format for an AA meeting:
SECURITY
We have tried to protect everyone's privacy as much as possible. We require a password to enter the room, have turned off any Zoom-enabled recording or storage features and disabled screen-sharing. However, be aware that we cannot prevent individuals from taking screenshots or recording the meeting on their own. We suggest a few additional measures that you can take to protect your privacy:
Please rename yourself upon entering the room using your first name followed by last initial, just as you would in the physical rooms. We strongly encourage everyone to do this.
We enjoy seeing the many smiling faces in the rooms, however if you are concerned about your image being captured, turn off the video feature.
FYI, we have several co-hosts during the meeting who are on alert for any intruders. They are prepared to act as "bouncers" and remove people should any inappropriate behavior (ie: zoom bombing) occur. If you are attending a meeting that is zoom bombed, your best course of action is to sit quietly on mute until the issue is resolved. The host & co-hosts will immediately lock the meeting, close the chat feature and open up the waiting room. If you are placed in the waiting room you will be returned to the room shortly. If you are 'removed' from the meeting in error (it happens), you will not be able to re-enter for 24 hours. Be aware, it is not permanent.
GOOD PRACTICES
Unless speaking, please remain on MUTE. It helps to avoid distracting background noises and also improves the privacy of your experience. Don't be surprised if you find yourself "muted" automatically, our co-hosts are monitoring the meeting and will assist you in muting if you aren't currently speaking.
Avoid crosstalk. To ensure that everyone is comfortable sharing, please keep your shares to your own experiences and address the group as a whole rather than speaking to any one individual.
Please refrain from inappropriate language and material while speaking.
The chat feature will be closed during the Speaker portion of the meeting.
Private & Public Chat will be re-opened after the Speaker concludes. Unfortunately the crucial one-on-one contact that face to face meetings provided is more challenging online. We encourage you to use the PRIVATE CHAT feature to arrange follow up conversations after the meeting. There are a lot of newcomers who need help beyond the formal meeting, using private chat is a great way to share your contact information so that you can connect later. If you are a newcomer, please please reach out to someone via private chat so that we can help you get plugged in.
Again... Please use PRIVATE chat to message other participants individually. Keeping PUBLIC chat to a minimum and reserved for AA/NAAG business lessens the distractions to others in the group. We never advise posting your telephone number in the public chat.
To allow for as many people to participate as possible, please keep your shares to a reasonable length, we suggest 2-3 minutes. We keep the meeting room open for as long as necessary after the meeting so if you need more than 3 minutes, please stick around and finish your share after the meeting, we would welcome the opportunity to hear everything you have to say.
To indicate that you'd like to share, please use the "raised hand" icon available at the bottom in the "reactions" tab.
To acknowledge a good share of AA milestone, use the "clap hands" icon available at the bottom in the "reactions" tab.
AA LITERATURE
For anyone in need of AA approved literature (The Big Book, the 12&12...etc), they can be ordered directly from AA Central Service by calling the bookroom at 617-426-4807. The price list is available here:
The AA central service volunteers and website are valuable resources. If you want to talk to someone about AA or alcoholism they are there to assist. You can also find links to other online meetings as well as tons of other helpful information. The phone number is 617-426-9444 and the website is: