Being a Conference Delegate or Alternate and feedback from
Intergroups
An Alternate Conference Delegate is expected to be as fully invested in the
conference questions process as much a Delegate, but they would only attend conference in York if one of the Delegates cannot attend that year, a bit like how an understudy still needs to be fully conversant with what is going on.
An Alternate Conference Delegate is expected to join the other delegates at the South East Region assemblies as much as possible and especially participate at the delegates workshop session at the beginning of the year arranged by the delegates an option of in person or on Zoom.
This workshop session organised by the delegates (often hosted by one of the delegates) is very important and kicks off that year’s activities. It is held shortly after the questions are published. In that session, the delegates and alternates discuss what we think the questions are asking for, so we have an understanding to be able to provide explanations to GSRs from our Intergroups. It is during this workshop session that Delegates and Alternates decide who will be running and who will be attending the sessions for the 11 Intergroups.
We share the load, but it is important for Alternates to be part of this.
We offer to run 3 sessions for each the 11 Intergroups in South East Region, which are:
- A conference workshop, usually on Zoom, where we give an overview of the
conference process and talk through the questions with all GSRs who attend from that Intergroup, so they are comfortable to ask their group for responses on the questions. - A pre-conference feedback session. Either on Zoom or in person. This is
where we listen to GSRs reading back their group responses. The attending
Delegates and Alternates note responses down and aggregate these responses to determine any consensus and minority opinions. The person leading the session (who is decided in the year beginning workshop) takes the notes from the other delegates and summarises the session. After all Session 2s have been completed, the responses are pooled and shared and the Delegates then collate all the information regarding the Committee they are assigned to (1-6). The Alternates can help across any of the Committees. So in summary, the Alternates are important to
help the 3 sessions be successful, and being part of the sessions keeps them conversant with what is going on across all the committees. We should then end up with a consolidated list of responses for each pre conference session (2) that can be shared to all and the Delegate from each committee can then focus on the responses to their assigned committee.
For the pre-conference feedback session (2) you are a bit like a reporter with your notepad. Like a reporter, it is our job to understand what the actual sentiments are, sometimes buried in lots of words and ‘feeling’ about a topic, without putting words into their mouths, but feel free to ask questions of responses to help the GSR get to
their point. - A post-conference readout and explanation of the published report with the
outcome of Conference.
Where to start…. There is a whole chapter in the Structure Handbook on the
Conference process and the responsibilities of the Delegates and Alternates which explains a lot, I started by reading that and looking on the AA website.
There is also a pamphlet giving an overview: https://www.alcoholics-
anonymous.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/General-Service-Conference-The-Conscience-of-AA-GB.pdf
We also have a shared email account: confdel.se@aamail.org
We can receive responses from individual groups or intergroups via this email
address in addition to the feedback session and they are consolidated into that relevant intergroups responses.
A A SOUTH EAST REGION 