AA SF/Marin Intergroup

The Intercounty Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous (IFAA), our Intergroup | Central Office has been dedicated to providing updated and accurate meeting information and best practices as a result of the move from in person to remote meetings due to the Shelter-in-Place Orders issued in San Francisco and Marin. We are fortunate that so many members stepped up to help and allowed us to be 100% operational since day one of the Stay Home Order. We will continue to support our local members and the groups in San Francisco and Marin to the best of our ability. Along those lines, we are now looking ahead at the Social Distancing requirements of our local authorities and how they will impact our fellowship and its ability to meet in person. As we’ve seen, our members have been able to pivot once during this global pandemic and we hope to be able to do so again, with as much grace as we can muster and in support of our common welfare.

As many of you know, the service structure in Alcoholics Anonymous places the individual groups at the highest level of service, and as such, our Ninth Tradition Service Committees, including IFAA, do not direct what each autonomous group can or cannot do. Our role is to provide the community with services that the individual groups cannot readily provide for themselves, giving space to the groups to focus on their primary purpose of carrying the message to the still suffering alcoholic. 

Therefore, it is important to understand that the information presented is not a directive, but rather a tool for groups to use in protecting the health and safety of everyone. As members of Alcoholics Anonymous we have a vested interest in securing the fellowship from the possibilities of litigation or public controversy. Though our personal positions regarding the guidelines may differ, it is our hope that we work collectively in putting our common welfare first.

Please note that the IFAA service area includes both San Francisco and Marin and that local guidelines and protocols vary by county. Additionally, there are State guidelines, which by some measures appear to be less restrictive than those of our two counties, and quite likely individual host facility guidelines, which may be more restrictive. As more information becomes available, we will do our best to share additional documentation with you.

It is our understanding that Public Health Officers in counties that observe the SIP order will have the right to request, observe, and where violations occur, cite our meetings, or the facility they are held in, ultimately leading to the possibility of fines. If a meeting is not in compliance with the mandated Social Distancing Protocol and issued a citation or fine, the Intercounty Fellowship of AA will not be financially responsible nor be held liable for any and all fines as a result of a group’s non- compliance of the Public Health Order and Social Distancing Protocol. Financial responsibility and liability will fall to the individual group as well as the facility or meeting location. 

Further, please be aware that our host facilities may require meetings to sign a liability waiver stating the facility will not be held liable for any COVID-19 related illness. Further, some host facilities may not be ready to welcome groups back in or may do so at their own discretion. It is imperative to begin a dialog with your meeting facility as soon as you begin to consider meeting again as that will assist you with an informed group conscience.

We also want to remind the groups who have liability insurance certificates through IFAA that the policy covers only the meeting space listed on our schedules and DOES NOT cover Coronavirus. Groups must be prepared to handle liability for any claims that arise as a result of the Coronavirus or lack of compliance with standing public health guidelines.

IFAA is dedicated to assisting the groups in San Francisco and Marin safely return to meeting while limiting the risk of public health, controversy, liability, and the protection of our members and fellowship as a whole. We will continue to monitor the progression and re-opening of our two counties and changes to Public Health Orders. As new information is released we will update the groups and make amendments to our recommendations as needed. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate through these unprecedented times.

On May 1, 2020 we shared the following message in the update that was sent out to our subscribers to The Buzz, our electronic newsletter:

We are looking ahead and hope to make the transition back to physical meeting rooms as smooth as possible. Along those lines, we are hoping to get a strong response to our Shelter-in-Place survey which will support that effort. In it, we seek to find out about meeting disruptions, self-support and what things might look like ahead.

We hoped that the questions would be thought-provoking and stir members toward conversation about what would come next. We were optimistic that the results would yield experience, strength and hope that we could pass on to make a smooth transition back to our physical meeting rooms. 

As much as possible, Intergroup hopes to facilitate a transition that supports the fellowship in being stewards of AA for the future. What will the transition look like? What will meetings look like? Will groups return to their old spaces as if nothing happened? Will groups continue to meet online, or perhaps as a hybrid of both online and in a physical space?

We assumed there would be local and state requirements, as well as those of individual meeting facilities that we will need to incorporate and abide by. Per our fourth Tradition, each group will continue to be autonomous, within the structure of the wider communities in which we exist. 

With information from the survey and from conversation with other areas and service entities, we wanted to provide our members with tools to create best practices for the new normal. As always, they will be offered as suggestions and in support of AA as a whole.

On May 22, with 289 members responding, we closed the survey.  We shared the results at our June Intergroup meeting and are posting them here for you, too:

Shelter-in-Place Survey Results

Our next steps were to take this information, along with the information we’ve seen from State and Local officials regarding the next phase of reopening, and put together considerations for resuming  physical meetings.

We will present this resource at our first ever virtual Town Hall, on Thursday, June 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM and hope you will join us. We will also have time for an open dialog about working together as a community.  Details and registration information can be found here.

Keep Your Zoom App Updated

We have gotten some reports that members are having trouble accessing meetings on Zoom. If this happens to you, one reason could be that your application is not current.  

Zoom has once again made changes to meeting defaults and ALL USERS WILL NEED TO UPDATE THEIR VERSIONS to continue to use Zoom. The update allows participants to click to open links in the chat and meeting hosts to report disruptive meeting attendees. Click here for more information.

June Intergroup Meeting, Wednesday, June 3 at 7PM

Our June Intergroup Meeting is this week. We will hold elections for incoming Board Members and review the final results of the Shelter-in-Place Survey. Further, we are planning a Town Hall to discuss considerations for groups in re-opening. 

A link for the Intergroup meeting on Wed will be sent directly to all Integroup Reps, Alternates, Integroup Committee Chairs, Liaisons and Board Members. Anyone else interested in joining us can email [email protected] to request the link.

Orientation will be held tomorrow, Tuesday June 2 at 6:30PM. While the Shelter-in-Place order is in effect, orientation is online and advance registration is required. Please contact [email protected] if you are planning on attending the orientation and we will send you a “New IGR” packet of info. and meeting access information.

SIP Survey Results | Town Hall Meeting

We received 289 submissions to the Shelter-in-Place survey posted last month. The results indicate that many groups have yet to discuss leaving the virtual realm to return to in person meetings. We want to provide you with as many resources as we can as you begin to have that conversation. 

Join us for a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, June 18 at 6:30PM.  We will present an FAQ for groups to use as considerations are made for meeting face-to-face again. The information has been gathered from members in San Francisco and Marin in cooperation with the other local service entities, as well as from other Intergroups around the country. Please mark your calendar and register to receive a link to access the meeting.

As most of you know we moved into Phase 2 of the State of California’s Resilience Roadmap. Last week, the Mayor of SF released this information. Please note the following excerpt:

“San Francisco’s current Stay Home Health Order does not have an expiration date and will be amended over the coming weeks and months to allow for a gradual and safer reopening. Today’s plan details the next phases, and provides dates that the City anticipates additional businesses and activities can resume with modifications. The dates in the plan will be finalized through amendments to the Health Order or directives, and will be guided by health indicators. If the City makes progress faster than expected, then the timeline outlined below may shift to allow some reopening to occur earlier. For each phase, guidance will be issued to provide businesses and operators with adequate time for planning and compliance with health and safety requirements.”

The bottom line is that we are still in a holding pattern. We hope you will meet us online on the 18th in an effort to come together as a community and work towards moving forward safely and with Our Common Welfare at the forefront of the eventual shift.

2020 Intergroup Founders Day Event

Our Intergroup Fellowship and Archives Committees are planning a virtual Founders Day extravaganza for Saturday, June 13 from 1 – 5 PM. We are extremely fortunate to have such dedicated members coming up with an amazing program which includes ASL and Spanish Interpretation. While we will miss gathering together in person, we can’t wait to share on: The Birth of AA, Service Makes A.A. Tick, Anyone Anywhere: a Remote Communities Panel and more! All of the details can be found here.

We’re making History! Right! Now!

Our Intergroup Archives Committee is looking for you to support an effort to capture this unprecedented time in AA’s history where nearly all meetings in the Bay Area have become virtual. We want to ensure that these experiences are recorded so future generations of AAs can understand this time and draw on the resiliency and innovation demonstrated. 

Please fill in your responses here to ensure that your group history is represented in our Archive. Suggestions to help you get started are included and multiple entries for each meeting are encouraged!

From General Service

District 10 Concepts Study  The monthly offering will be held Tuesday, June 2 from 7 – 9PM. More information and access details can be found here.

Post-Conference Assembly  On Saturday, June 6, 2020, Area 06, California Northern Coastal (CNCA), will gather online to hear our Area Delegate report on the 70th annual, but first ever VIRTUAL General Service Conference at the Post Conference Assembly. Additional details, including how to join, are posted here. Join from the comfort of your own home to hear what happened with your group conscience.

Other Service Committee orientations and business meetings including SF Public Relations Committee (formerly SF PI/CPC), Marin H&I, SF General Service, Marin Bridging the Gap, The Point, GGYPAA and SF Teleservice can be found on aasfmarin.org on our Events Calendar.

Please, for the love of take-out and well made masks, share this information with your social media communities and encourage your A.A. fellows to subscribe to The Buzz. All of our prior updates can be found here.

All decisions will be re-evaluated as the situation changes; we are doing our best and appreciate your support and understanding.

Your AA Central Office

• Please complete the following survey for your home group or AA meeting you attend. We welcome stories about the transition process to virtual meetings, the virtual meetings themselves, as well as challenges during the time of COVID and how they were overcome. We also welcome your personal stories during the time of COVID. 
• Please do include your own personal experiences or stories but be mindful of the anonymity of others and focus on your own experiences. 
• If you have other digital files/information you would like preserved in our Archive including screenshots please send them to [email protected] with the name of your meeting in the subject line. However, as always, respect anonymity and do not include pictures/screenshots of other members.
• Please do announce this process and invite members of your group to share personal stories about this time with the Archive, in the last column of the table below. 

We have gotten some reports that members are having trouble accessing meetings on Zoom. If this happens to you, one reason could be that your application is not current.  

Zoom has once again made changes to meeting defaults and ALL USERS WILL NEED TO UPDATE THEIR VERSIONS BY 5/31/2020 to use Zoom. The update allows Participants to click to open links in the chat and meeting Hosts to report disruptive meeting attendees.

To install the Zoom release:

On a desktop computer, open Zoom and check for updates.

On a mobile device or tablet, update the app as you would with any other (App Store for iOs or Google Play for Android).

Our friends at the New York Intergroup have made updates to their Protection Guide with more information! Thanks for sharing, NYIG!

Our last update included this survey with questions about group practices and experience during the shelter-in-place. In addition to gathering the particulars of individual meetings, it is our hope that the questions are thought-provoking and will stir you toward conversation with your meeting regulars about what will come next. The shelter-in-place order took us by surprise and created a fair amount of chaos — not unlike alcoholism, perhaps. Going forward, and taking an approach based on recovery, we hope to provide a smooth transition as we move toward Phase 2 of the reopening of California. Changes are coming in both San Francisco and Marin.

Intergroup would like to facilitate a transition that supports the fellowship in being stewards of AA for the future. To do so, we need your participation. What will the transition look like? What will meetings look like? Will groups return to their old spaces as if nothing happened? Will groups continue to meet online, or perhaps as a hybrid of both online and in a physical space?

Further, there will very likely be local and state requirements, as well as requirements of individual meeting facilities to incorporate and abide by. Per our fourth Tradition, each group will continue to be autonomous, within the structure of the wider communities in which we exist. 

With information from the survey and from conversation with other areas and service entities, we hope to provide our members with tools to create best practices for the new normal. As always, we will offer them as suggestions and in support of AA as a whole.

The survey will be open for one more week, through May 22. To our local members: if you have not already, please fill it out now. All are welcome; trusted servants are particularly encouraged. Results will be published after our June Intergroup meeting.

In other news, our Fellowship and Archives Committees are actively planning an engaging virtual Founders Day event for the afternoon of Saturday, June 13. Details will be forthcoming, but confirmed speakers include our Area Delegate, Teddy B-W, who will have just come from the 70th annual, but first ever VIRTUAL General Service Conference and William S, from Fairfield, CT, an AA member and published historian who will be doing a visual history presentation. 

In honor of the history that is being created right now we are putting together a time capsule and are looking for “Signs of COVID-19.” If your meeting posted a closure notice when the SIP Order was announced and you can safely get there to see if it is still up, please snap a photo and email it to [email protected] before the end of May. We will share more from the time capsule during our event.

Meanwhile, our local service committees continue to meet virtually. Information, if available, for upcoming orientations and business meetings (SF H&I, Archives, SF Teleservice, Marin General Service, CNCA and Marin Teleservice) can be found here.

In closing, we want to share what one local member wrote earlier this week about her experience over the last two months: 

What has really struck me about this time is how determinedly AA got its act together and got online. Intergroup was absolutely stellar, and there were a lot of regular old AAs, too, who just said “ok, we gotta get this meeting online” and they rolled up their sleeves and figured it out. And then people started showing up from around the country and even the world at our meetings, and suddenly we could make it to a meeting across town that was inconvenient before, and out of this horrible health crisis, AA flowered, again, in a whole new way. It feels like a freakin’ miracle, to me. We didn’t just survive, we grew!

Another member shared this* (non-AA) article which clearly demonstrates the resilience of the recovery community. Your Intergroup Representatives, Service Committees and Board of Directors are working together and with other local service entities in considering creative and engaging ways to harness the growth and surge of energy we have recently experienced. This may take the form of a series of town hall meetings, new online resources, updates for best practices or shared experience, including a checklist of considerations for moving forward. Until next time — Stay tuned. Stay safe. Stay.

And please, for the love of what is yet to come, complete our survey, share this information with your social media communities, send us pictures for the time capsule and encourage your A.A. fellows to subscribe to The Buzz. All of our prior updates can be found here.

All decisions will be re-evaluated as the situation changes; we are doing our best and appreciate your support and understanding.

Your AA Central Office

Maintaining – or getting – sober during a global pandemic is not something any of us have experience with. This time has been referred to by many as akin to wartime. Right now, we are making history in how we are navigating our sobriety and the challenges associated with the shelter-in-place order, including feelings of isolation and powerlessness. But this is not the first crisis AA’s have been through. 

On Saturday, April 11 from 2 – 4PM, our Intergroup Archives Committee, in collaboration with Jackie B., is presenting A.A. in War & Crisis: A Historical Perspective. Special guests are Roger W. and Greg M. Join us to hear their experience with AA and sobriety during WWII, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. AA made it through then and we can do so now; join us to learn how. Meeting details can be found here.

And on Monday, HelpChat, our online chat service will host an orientation for new volunteers. HelpChat is the blue bubble on the lower right of your screen that reads “New to A.A. and want help?” HelpChat volunteers serve in support of Intergroup | Central Office in carrying out our primary purpose of helping the sick and suffering alcoholic and coordinating services which individual groups in San Francisco and Marin cannot provide on their own. All information, included requirements and registration information, can be found here.

As many of you who have been going to meetings hosted on Zoom know, navigating the security changes has been quite a challenge. We tried to get out ahead of this as best we could, but are still receiving requests for passwords. We may have missed some updates in the frenzy, but according to our data, these 168 meetings have not been in touch with [email protected] since the changes went into effect. We have outlined three options for staying listed. Details about this change can be found in the last update here. 

We are requesting that each meeting send its meeting information, via a Zoom Meeting Invite, to [email protected]. This will give us the complete information necessary to update your meeting page to keep the schedule accurate. Please put the meeting name, day, and time in the subject field.  

Note: Each group will need to decide on its own course of action with regard to the changes Zoom made to it’s service and the meeting host will need to implement it.

Detailed information about the options can be found here. In short, however, they are to 1) Keep the meeting wide open, 2) Maintain a password, but do not include it directly in the link and 3) Email the Group for the Password. We have made the decision not to list meetings that don’t allow for any of the above options as they are not accessible to anyone outside “the know” and therefore not helpful on aasfmarin.org or to newcomers.

If members of your group need help in figuring out how to remove meeting disruptors, please contact the volunteers at [email protected] for support. Many of the groups that have assigned co-hosts are up and running and they are happy to help. Zoom security protocols seem to change every day; we will do our best to help you stay up to date and accessible.  

Stay tuned and please, for the love of an accurate schedule, share this information with your social media communities (but not meeting passwords!) and encourage our members to subscribe to The Buzz. All of our prior updates can be found here.

All decisions will be re-evaluated as the situation changes; we are doing our best and appreciate your support and understanding.

Your AA Central Office

Changes in Passwords | Waiting Rooms | Intergroup Services

Friends, if your meeting was set up using a Basic (Free) Zoom or single-license, Pro Zoom account you may need to take action to ensure the meeting information we have posted on our meeting schedule is still accurate and that the meeting can still be accessed. 

Why? Because effective immediately, Zoom implemented changes to those two types of accounts. (More info here.) In short, Meeting Passwords and Waiting Rooms will be TURNED ON by default; the prior default was OFF. 

Further, you will need to resend your meeting information, via a Zoom Meeting Invite, to [email protected]. This will give us the complete information necessary to update your meeting page to keep the schedule accurate. Please put the meeting name, day, and time in the subject field.  

Note: Each group will need to decide on its own course of action with regard to the changes Zoom made to it’s service and the meeting host will need to implement it.

Here are your options.  

Option One: Keep the meeting wide open

This will require the host to set the meeting up again and adjust the settings to enable the one-click option. This is the most accessible way to post meeting info and may increase the likelihood of your meeting being disrupted. 

In your “Personal User Settings,” enable “Embed password in meeting link for one-click join” by using the toggle on/off. Detailed instructions can be found here,

When that is done, you will need to email [email protected] the Zoom Meeting Invite. The password will be included in the posted link. Meeting attendees need only click the Meeting Name and then the Link to Meeting for immediate access to the meeting (or the Waiting Room… keep reading).

1. Click Meeting Name

2. Click the Link to Meeting

If you choose Option One, you do have some deterrents for distruptors; you can keep the “Waiting Room” enabled, which again, is now the default. However, should you choose to forego that option, you can disable that feature. More detailed Instructions here.

Adding two to four co-hosts, depending on the size of your meeting, is our current suggestion for managing the Waiting Room and for removing participants if necessary. Detailed instructions here.

Option Two: Maintain a password, but do not include it directly in the link.

This will require meeting attendees to enter the password manually. This is still a luxury problem  and less work than having to get your physical person to a physical meeting. Bonus: it reduces the likelihood of getting bombed by trolls.

The password will be posted as a separate number in the meeting page a mere one click away. Waiting Room options and co-host suggestions apply here, there and everywhere.

You will need to resend the information via a Zoom Meeting Invite to [email protected]. This will give us the complete information necessary to update your meeting page with the password. Please put the meeting name, day, and time in the subject.

Option Two looks like… 

1. Click Meeting Name

2.  Locate password and enter into the Zoom popup after clicking the meeting link

Option Three: Email the Group for the Password

If your meeting does not want to provide the password in the schedule, you will need to provide us with a group email address so members can write you for access info. If you do not have a group email address, here is information on getting one. You can circulate your meeting password among your known members while those who are not regulars can email the greeter, if you will, for the password. 

In this option, attendees will need to…

1.  Click on the Meeting Name

2. Email the group

We will not list meetings that don’t allow for any of the above options as they are not accessible to anyone outside “the know” and therefore not helpful on aasfmarin.org or to newcomers.

That said, keep in mind that we have several other ways newcomers can reach us: 24/7 Teleservice, [email protected] and HelpChat (our online chat tool), all staffed by volunteer members of AA.

NOTE: We learned that sharing meeting passwords on social media is one of the primary ways meeting disruptors are getting meeting information, so you might want to refrain from that practice at this time. 

Finally, the Austin Bid for ICYPAA Committee hosted a webinar today that we will share as soon as the recording is ready. It covers much of the Zoom User Settings for those that are in need of assistance. Further, you can email our group of volunteers at [email protected] for help in both setting up and/or accessing meetings. We request that all meeting updates and changes to your currently listed meetings continue to get routed to [email protected] once the new Zoom Meeting Invite has been sent.

This certainly is life getting life-y… and the terms are a bit tough right now. Your trusted servants and special workers at Intergroup | Central Office are here to help. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.

Stay tuned and please, for the love of a few days of smooth sailing, share this information with your social media communities (but not meeting passwords!) and encourage our members to subscribe to The Buzz. All of our prior updates can be found here. 

All decisions will be re-evaluated as the situation changes; we are doing our best and appreciate your support and understanding.

Your AA Central Office