Top three (3) “pet pieves”
(1) When phone meetings began, they used antiquated phone lines that regularly failed and you could not get through.
Thank God they (being VIG, or more specifically Marshall in CA and Jeff in Maine) upgraded the lines to more robust service called www.freeconference.com
(2) Another problem was the script and/or meeting format. Especially, Daily Sobriety Renewal (DSR) questions. Rather then callers struggling to understand the correct answer, stay on topic, especially newcomers, and moderator having to repeat questions over and over. Post each group’s variation of the DSRs online. That has been arguably one of the biggest advantages of having a dedicated website representing each group (each hour is a different group), yet there are essentially three main lines.
(3) Regarding the Mute Feature If only VIG – account holder enabled the “mute feature” by default on these lines, callers would eventually get into the habit of being more responsible and the quality of the meetings would improve exponentially, not to mention consistency. As it stands, calls continue to fluctuate wildly and when people are not on mute, meeting becomes organized kaos.
For example, we use these benefits @ 7am Breakfast Club meeting.
It is a proven fact, that human nature drives us to find faults with others before we notice the strengths. For example, about a few months after the www.saphonemeeting.org was established in 2009, friend of mine came over to my house to discuss the “Pros & Cons” of using the so-called mass mute feature on the teleconference.
As most of you know, I came into AA about 2-3 years before I found SA (1992 & 1995) respectfully. Back then, there was no such thing as phone meetings or even cell phones, for that matter. The term “Dial them, don’t file them” was coined.
On a different note, if you don’t have the patience to sit through a very challenging phone meeting at times, perhaps you would enjoy listening to a SA speaker from your phone.
SA Recordings
Dial: 253-243-2945
Pin: 1552#
(Speakers include Harvey, Jesse, AA, and more)
You can also download FREE *.mp3 files and talks here => http://www.mediafire.com/dailyreprieve
Peace