Attendance: 13

Ops Present: Amy, GeorgeW, RobZ, Sassy and Tim F
Other members present: Amylyn, C, CLStan, Dan, Deanna, DougN, EF and Ella
 

George opened the meeting with prayer at 11:38 p.m.

Amy moved to approve the minutes of the July meeting.
Tim Seconded.
8 (+), 6 (@), 0 (-)

Minutes were approved.
 

Old Business:

1.  George reported on the Steering committee. The steering committee is currently in the process of reviewing and revising
     the SLAA guidelines that were written over a year ago. Any member of SLAA is welcome to review the guidelines that are
     posted at our website and make suggestions to the steering committee for how they could be improved. Once the
     guidelines have been revised by the steering committee, they will be posted for member comments and then voted on
     for acceptance. The steering committee will also begin the process of writing bylaws shortly.
2.  Tim gave an update on the speaker meetings. He explained that the speaker meetings will be held once a month and that
     in these meetings one person (either someone from SLAA or an expert in the field) will share their story or ESH. He has a
     list of contacts and will begin making requests shortly. CLStan, Ella and RobZ all expressed an interest in helping. They
     were asked to email Tim so that they could get organized.
3.  George announced that scripts are currently being written so that a notice will be played at each meeting that lets people
     know that they can request to do a first step at a regular meeting. He also reminded all ops that at last meeting we
     agreed to all use the same wording in our scripts.

New Business:

1.  Feedback Meetings

     Dan opened the topic by asking if there was a way that the time given to feedback during feedback meetings be limited
     to allow more people to share. There were several thoughts on how this could be done.

     CLStan suggested stretching the feedback meetings to two hours with the first hour being for shares and the second
     hour being for feedback for those that wished to stay.
 

     RobZ suggested that perhaps in large meetings, two ops could split the meeting to allow for more sharing.

     Deanna supported the idea of limiting the time not only for feedback but also for all shares. She suggested offering a
     suggested number of lines (20-30) per share rather than a suggested time because this would give slow typers more of a
     chance to share. She stated that she favored sticking with the 90 minute meeting time rather than moving to two hours.
     She also favored the idea splitting large meetings.

     George gave some background on the feedback meetings, stating that they started out being an hour long with a five
     minute limit on feedback but that within a couple of months, the meeting time went to an hour and a half because the
     meetings were so popular. Since lengthening meeting times, he has noticed that many people do not last to the end of
     the meeting so he feels that lengthening the meeting time further would not be the best solution. He suggested giving a
     suggested sharing time of 4 minutes followed by two, two-minute feedbacks.

     EF suggested finding a system that would be flexible enough to accommodate different needs based on the number of
     people at the meeting and the type of feedback that was needed.

     Deanna stated that she thought limiting feedback in minutes would limit slow typers and therefore preferred the idea of
     limiting feedback according to lines.

     C supported the idea of splitting the large meetings into two rooms when possible.

     Dan favored the time suggestions of a four-minute share and two, two-minute feedbacks but thought that it was a good
     idea to allow the leader to use their discretion to adjust those times when needed.

     Tim suggested that perhaps shortening our opening scripts on Tuesdays and Fridays could save some time.

     Amy stated that she thought that the most effective way to get the members to follow a suggested limit for sharing or
     feedback would be to announce it directly at the meeting rather than just putting the guideline in the scripts.

     Ella stated that she did not like the idea of splitting the meetings because she would have too hard of a time deciding 
     which meeting to attend.

     George suggested that instead of trying to reach some type of permanent conclusion tonight, we shorten scripts and 
     suggest 6-minute shares and two 3-minute feedbacks and then spend the next month observing and keeping track of 
     numbers. Then on Sept. 15, we can look at this issue again. Noon feedback meetings will continue to run as they have 
     been since the smaller size of these meetings generally makes time limits unnecessary.

2.  Ops at noon meetings

     Deanna will be stepping down as an op at the Monday noon meeting due to going back to school. Three members have 
     volunteered to be trained as ops so Michelle will not have to be the only op for noon meetings.

Tim moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:51 a.m.

Amy Seconded

Six (+), Zero (@), Zero (-)
 

   George adjourned the meeting with the Serenity Prayer at 12:52 a.m.