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The area mini-conference is a self-supporting event that takes months of planning and preparation. Expenses include printing background material, purchasing literature relevant to agenda items, printing flyers and agendas, mailing costs and office supplies. We cover travel and lodging expenses for our out-of-town speakers. The mini-conference provides beverages/coffee throughout the day. Each year, the mini-conference expenses can be $4,000-$5,000.

If you are a GSR, you should ask your home group. Each group is autonomous in this matter. However, it is a common practice for home groups to provide financial support for some expenses of their GSR, such as the registration fee or expenses incurred for traveling and lodging.

Committees and their topics (agenda items) are selected by the area delegate from the list of all committees and all agenda items that will be discussed at the upcoming General Service Conference in April following the mini-conference. The delegate selects topics that might be of interest to the area membership and will help inform the delegate with the group conscience of the area while attending the General Service Conference.

The Area 53 Mini-Conference Committee is responsible for selecting the conference location and negotiating the contract. The standing committee and its responsibilities were added to the area guidelines at the September 2009 assembly. Contracts for the mini-conference site are negotiated by the committee 1-2 years in advance to make sure the adequate meeting space is available and costs are reasonable.

The 2007 mini-conference was held a Salt Fork Convention Center in Lore City, Ohio. Feedback on the experience from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. Since that time, the mini-conference has continued to hold the mini-conference at Ohio’s state parks including Salt Fork, Shawnee and Deer Creek. The area mini-conference serves 38 counties from Columbus south to Portsmouth and east to Steubenville. The location is changed every year to make it easier for different parts of the area to attend and experience the mini-conference.

“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)