[thickntired]

Hi,

I'm so nervous bc I'll be chairing my first AA mtg this Friday and then taking over to chair the month of Dec. Has anyone here chaired a meeting? Any words of wisdom? I panic talking in front of groups and am paranoid I'll pick a stupid topic or come off sounding crazy.

Help! TnT

[splitimage]

Good for you for stepping up to the plate. I've chaired loads of AA meetings and it's usually not that hard. A lot depends on what kind of meeting it is.

At every group I've been a member of up here in Toronto, they have a script for the chair to follow, so you just basically have to follow the script. I don't know how they do it where you are, but in Toronto, the standard is to read, How it Works & the 12 Steps, the 12 Traditions (short version) and a piece of prose (varies from group to group). Sometimes groups will also have someone comment on various 12 step slogans. The chair is usually responsible for getting people to do those readings. I always leave it to the last minute, and just nab volunteers at the meeting.

Speaker meetings are a bit trickier - up here if it's a speaker meeting it's the chair's responsibility to line up the speaker.

If it's a big book discussion or Step study, the chair's responsibility is to decide when to stop reading and start the discussion and then help keep the discussion on topic, and make sure no one member monopolizes the discusssion (That can get tricky)

If it's topics meeting. I've been at meetings where the chair announces a topic. I've also been at meetings, where the chair goes around the room soliciting topics, and then usually 2 or 3 are settled on and can be discussed.

If you have to suggest a topic, the Grapevine can be helpful if you get it. Sometimes, they'll flag a story as a topic for discussion at meetings, and even pose questions to get the discussion going.

Good luck with it.

splitimage

[emgreen]

As splitimage pointed out, there's usually a script for chairing meetings, so I wouldn't worry about opening or closing the meetings. If you're worried about choosing a topic I've always found the book "As Bill Sees It" is good for finding topics. On each page there's a brief reading that suggests a topic. This takes the onus off of you. I know I was nervous the first time I chaired a meeting, so don't feel alone. Once you get through your first meeting it'll be a piece of cake. Good luck.