For some of us, we keep looking for alternatives, but continue to return to this site for free and easily accessible conference calling service

• https://www.freeconferencecall.com

Free account includes

• • Free Calls

  • High number of participants

  • Sharable Link to easily and quickly schedule and share meeting

  • No download required

  • Has Computer, smart phone and dial-in options

For others, Zoom is the clear favorite. Here is a link to a guide to set up a quick Zoom Meeting.

http://bit.ly/rd-zoom-meeting-setup-guide

This guide includes an RD Script that takes into account Online Meeting logistics like how to share documents and raise hands to talk.

Logistics

There are three pieces of information needed to register an online meeting at www.recoverydharma.org:

1. Weekly Meeting Time

2. Contact info for the group

3. Video Conference link

Weekly Meeting Time

At this time all online meetings are listed with the Eastern US Time Zone as their time. There are hopes and dreams of creating the code needed to create a list that caters to many time zones around the globe. For now, the is is the best we have.

Time Zone Converter

Contact Information

• Some groups simply use the contact information for one of their members

• Other groups use Google for both email and phone number

• Some groups also create a website, FB Groups, FB Page or Slack Workspaces as a means of contact and communication between members and with the public

Video Conference Link

There are dozens of options for video conferencing at free or low costs. Two popular ones among the current Online community are:

• Free Conference Call: Has all the features of Zoom, but it's free. Drawbacks are that the lines are sometimes overwhelmed by the universe of traffic and people cannot get on to the call

• Zoom: Clearly the favorite online meeting site at this time. Free version ends the meeting at 40 minutes which is pretty inconvenient. Basic membership is $15 per month. This $$ aspect is often a stumbling block for groups - not so much the amount of money, but honoring group processes. See Community Practices Section

Community Practice

A central aspect of our practice is taking refuge in community. In addition to leaning-in for support and strength, we practice aspects of wise intention, speech and mindfulness. Here are some examples of this practice for some of us

Decision Making

If there is a small group of friends who start the meeting, some of us have moved forward with logistical decisions to get things going. As more members have become active, we set up more formal forms of decision making and perhaps revisit earlier decisions in the context of a larger community.

Finances:

One aspect that can be a little challenging is deciding how to pool money

• Some groups avoid the question by only using free resources

• Some groups have an individual who simply volunteers to pay for resources such as a zoom space until the group is more organized (not the best option, but hey, we are practicing right? )

• Some online groups entrust a person as treasurer and let them set up an account that is both in their name and in the name of the group (with reporting and transparency)

• Some groups join with other, existing online groups, like RDO, to engage with their community practices and, in return, utilize their community resources

• Some groups incorporate as a social group (not as a nonprofit) and then open a checking account in the name of that entity. The simplest way we have found is to create an LLC with the state and with the IRS. It is not-nonprofit. but if the group is small and makes less than $10,000 per year then it is a non-issue

Promote Meeting

• Share Links and meeting times with others in community

• Share on Global Recovery Dharma Facebook Group

• Create a helpful visual to go along with the text: Snapseed