The mini-conference strives to be self-supporting and registration fee covers planning and events expenses.
Expenses include literature for agenda items to be discussed, printing flyers and agendas, mailing costs and office supplies. Speakers are not paid a fee; their travel and hotel are covered.
At the conference, coffee is served throughout the day. The hospitality room is self-supporting and accepts voluntary donations from conference attendees.
“We may not need a General Service Conference to insure our own recovery. We do need it to insure the recovery of the alcoholic who still stumbles in the darkness one short block from this room.
We need it to insure recovery of a child being born tonight, destined to alcoholism. We need it to provide, in keeping with our Twelfth Step, a permanent haven for all alcoholics who, in the ages ahead, can find in A.A. that rebirth which brought us back to life.”
Bernard B. Smith, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, 1954 (AA Service Manual)
Absolutely! We will have speaker meetings on Saturday evening and Sunday morning in the ballroom, and a discussion on Saturday morning with you morning coffee.
Come join us on Saturday morning at 7:30am for the AA Early Bird Meeting chaired by Brenda B. The meeting format will be “dancing gents and single girls,” says Bill Y. We will be in the Scarlet Oak Room – grab a coffee from the Hospitality Room before you arrive.
Saturday evening at 7:00pm the Open Speaker Meeting is in the Ballroom featuring Tommy B., Delegate from Area 19 (Chicago). This is a special meeting you don’t want to miss! Coffee-o-plenty will be served outside the ballroom.
Sunday morning another Open Speaker Meeting will be held in the Ballroom at 8:00am . The speaker will be Calvin L. from Cleveland Ohio, Area 54.
Not enough AA meetings to meet your needs? We have an idea for “AA Meetups on Demand.” If you want to hold your own AA meeting during any times that committees are not meeting or the conference is not in session, send an email to with a suggested time. We will let you know what space is available for you to use.
In my continued sobriety, I recount why Dr. Bob’s story in the Big Book holds such simple truths. His story conveys that Unity (fellowship), Recovery (meetings) and Service (freely giving back so what we have been given) are our legacies. As Dr. Bob quotes, “I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip.” (page 181, Big Book)
My first mini-conference was in 2003. I had just joined the Area Committee as DCM for District 16. At that time the Area was very short of funds and had voted not have the mini-conference. The then Delegate presented a plan of how we could have one that was close to self-supporting, if the DCMs would get behind it. I immediately got on board and have been intimately involved in the mini-conference ever since.
Conference-Approved Literature – April 1952 On April 23, 1952, Panel 2 (consisting of 38 additional delegates) joined with Panel 1 for the first Conference of all Delegates attending. The first … Read more
First General Service Conference – April 20-22, 1951 On April 19, 1951 – Thirty-seven US and Canadian delegates (half the planned number) convened at the Commodore Hotel in NYC as the … Read more
Box 4-5-9 Winter 2015 Issue is available online at aa.org. Box 4-5-9 is a quarterly bulletin from General Service Office (GSO) in New York. It includes information about AA service, … Read more
In the early years of the Conference Structure, area assemblies were held only to elect new area officers and a new delegate. The Third Legacy pamphlet offered guidelines for the … Read more
Area 53 is exciting an fellowship with perspectives from all over Ohio and an opportunity in learning the values of AA as a whole. For me the growth of open-mindedness … Read more
You can add a meal, or two, for you and a guest using the Mini-Conference Meals Order and Payment page. In February, the committee added Dinner with the Delegate for … Read more
