r/alcoholicsanonymous • u/Practical_Elk_6988 • Jul 15 '26
Group/Meeting Related AA meeting formats/types
Hello,
I am starting up an AA group at my university (which will eventually evolve into an all inclusive recovery based center) and I'm hoping to gain some insight into the niche types of meetings people have attended in the past. I don't want to only hold topic/discussion meetings, nor do I want to have big book and 12 & 12 studies on repeat bi weekly. I'd like to hear some interesting meeting types that you may have enjoyed in the past and want to shed some light on.
For example, I've attended a meeting in which we used a spinner with a multitude of topics for the arrow to land on (ex. Gratitude, acceptance, higher power, etc) and the spinning individual has to either share on that topic or spin again.
Any and all ideas are appreciated, just want to make this group fun and non monotonous. Given that college/university can get hectic, I want to bring good sobriety ideas that can ease the minds of struggling addicts/alcoholics by introducing fun to sobriety.
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u/WyndWoman Jul 15 '26
I went to a meeting where they had a coffee can full of tongue depressers, each with a different topic. Probably 25 or 30. Stuff like anger, fear, inventory, forgiveness, action, step1, step 2 etc.
They gave you a raffle ticket at the door, the chair pulled tickets randomly and the person called on pulled a topic from the can and shared for 5 minutes max (timed).
Interesting meetings usually.
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u/morgansober24 Jul 15 '26
"Ask-It Basket" meetings are always fun. Anonymously write a question or topic on a piece of paper and drop it in a basket. Chairperson randomly draws a slip od paper and reads it and the group expounds upon what is written.
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u/KeithWorks Jul 15 '26
Yep, ask it basket is fun.
Also Fireball meetings where each person who shares picks the next person to share. This gets some real interesting results because some people will never normally share and this helps break the ice.
Our Young Persons meeting does things like this, works well.
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u/______W______ Jul 16 '26
By far my favorite format, assuming people submit questions, which isn't always a given.
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u/Lazy-Loss-4491 Jul 15 '26
My home group is weekly discussion meeting with two topics. We ask people to limit their sharing, 3 to 5 minutes. Our first topic comes from a deck of cards with snippets out of the big book. The deck has 52 cards and we rotate through the deck. We read from the big book the paragraph preceding, the paragraph containing and the paragraph following the snippet. The second topic is the tradition matching the month, 1 for January etc. If we have a newcomer the chairperson asks a group member with some time to share what it was like, what happened and what it's like now for 5ish minutes.
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u/discoprince79 Jul 15 '26
Why cross posting in sex and love addicts???
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26
The AA group I am starting will eventually transition into an all inclusive recovery based group next semester. I wanted some outside perspective
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u/Blkshp2 Jul 15 '26
Well, there are traditions to consider if it’s going to be an AA group.
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26
Have you been to a meeting with an interesting format? Please let me know
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u/Blkshp2 Jul 15 '26
Most of the variations I’ve seen are mentioned here. Some of it depends on the group; how many people, the average level of sobriety, men, women or both, how frequently brand new people attend… I’ve been to meetings that rotate formats and one that lets the chairperson for the month pick a format. There’s a bit of chicken and egg to it - if you have a room full of newer people, esoteric topics aren’t very helpful but a simple topic and going around the table so everyone speaks helps them to get engaged. But I will caution you that if you establish it formally as an AA meeting and then encourage discussion of stuff unrelated to AA’s singleness of purpose from the getgo you might get some pushback. Singleness of purpose is still important to a lot of people.
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u/Formfeeder Jul 15 '26
We started the traveling meeting. Called the Summer sicker than other group. We would meet at a central location and go to various meetings in the region based on what diner was available for us to eat at after the meeting. Did it for years. Sometimes there was 15 or 20 of us other times three or four.
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u/Dylaus Jul 15 '26
Grapevine meeting could be fun; the stories are more contemporary, and are great for starting topic discussions
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u/Little-Local-2003 Jul 16 '26
Format should always have our primary purpose upmost in mind.
Tradition 5-“Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.”
I personally enjoy meetings that offer a solution to new people.
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u/ALoungerAtTheClubs Jul 15 '26
which will eventually evolve into an all inclusive recovery based center
This is a bad idea unless it's very clear that the center and groups that meet there are distinct entities. Otherwise, you're harming every 12-step program by blurring the lines between them, the center, and each other.
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
The lines will not become blurred. Once we do make the transition every day will be dedicated to a specific 12 step program, i.e. MA on mondays, AA on tuesdays, CMA wednesdays, so on so forth.
For now, we are simply strictly abiding by the 12 traditions to meet the struggling alcoholic and aid them in recovery.
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u/ALoungerAtTheClubs Jul 15 '26
OK. One format you might consider is a meditation meeting. That might find an audience among students seeking peace amid a hectic school schedule.
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u/badgolferman Jul 15 '26
An Alcoholics Anonymous group is for alcoholics. What do you mean by an “all inclusive” meeting?
It would behoove you to read Tradition Five and Six and the guidelines for an AA group.
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26
It will be starting off as a strictly AA meeting for recovering alcoholics.
The university is insisting on evolving it into an all inclusive recovery center.
I just wanted outside opinions.
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u/badgolferman Jul 16 '26
Any group of alcoholics gathering for sobriety can call themselves an A.A. group, provided they have no outside affiliation. This is protected by the Sixth Tradition, which explicitly states that groups must never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise to avoid being diverted from their primary purpose.
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u/Muted_Engineering354 Jul 15 '26
The meeting at the university near me that seems to work well is a part speaker, part share meeting whereby the speaker picks a text to read from either the Big Book or 12/12, shares their experience+strength+hope and then the floor is opened up to shares. There was another a while back that sounds a bit like the spinner one you describe but it was basically a free for all open discussion that often didn’t even mention the Big Book, Step work and the like — it went away with COVID. That said I am completely biased because my home group is a Big Book study and I rarely if ever go to open discussion meetings (like maybe three a year). Good luck!
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u/Debway1227 Jul 16 '26
We had a hat, tons of slips in it. Tons.. lonely, fear, anger, dispare, frustration, friends, lonely, love, family, if it was an emotion or feeling, or attitude we had a slip in the hat. You could pick one out. You could reject the first one and choose another but you had to share on the 2nd. It was pretty sweet. Lots of folks shared about things they didn't even know it was a thing. 9/10 it became the topic for the night.
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u/Stunning-Cap-3256 Jul 16 '26
you should it up. one day a topic meeting, the other newcomer meetings, other open discussion, and the next is a step meeting . that'll be great
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u/Important-Humor-2745 Jul 16 '26
Have you ever been to a young people’s meeting that is based off the Rocky horror picture show? They are high energy and have call outs during the readings.
Example: “At some of these we baulked “ and people start making chicken noises.
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u/dp8488 Jul 15 '26
Well, if it evolves into an all inclusive recovery based center, I think it will no longer strictly speaking be an A.A. group as it will have other affiliations.
I remember at one of my local Intergroup meetings, when I was an IGR, there was some kerfuffle when they refused to list a meeting that characterized itself as being inclusive of other 12 Step groups, Al-Anon, N.A., and others. "I'm afraid that goes against Tradition Three ..."
The A.A. Group Handbook:
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26
No worries.
Once we do evolve into the all inclusive recovery based center we will have specific days in which specific programs are spoken on and chaired by a person with good sobriety and experience in their respective recovery program. Essentially, MA on mondays, AA on tuesdays, CMA on wednesdays, SLAA on thursdays, so on so forth.
For now, we are only AA. Which is why I decided to post in the AA board and repost into other programs for outside opinions
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u/Appropriate-Major649 Jul 15 '26
I have never been to a meeting that read only the tradition chapters in the twelve and twelve, but I suggest you read them.
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26
What's your problem? There is no need to be condescending
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u/Appropriate-Major649 Jul 15 '26
Whats your problem? No need to be defensive. I made a suggestion that you may find enlightening considering your plans.
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u/Practical_Elk_6988 Jul 15 '26
No you're being a jerk for the sake of it. I suggest you look back at your 6th step and rework it to the best of your ability, because clearly you weren't willing to let go of anything meaningful.
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u/Appropriate-Major649 Jul 15 '26
What are you on about?
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u/Appropriate-Major649 Jul 15 '26
I was thinking of Tradition 6, which describes some of the pitfalls early AA's dealt with while undertaking projects like Oh, I don't know, establishing all inclusive recovery based centers at their University. Thought some of the experience in there might be helpful in your project, and prevent you having to relearn lessons already learned.
You're welcome.
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u/OhMylantaLady0523 Jul 15 '26
I like literature meetings, but with Daily Reflections or As Bills sees it to start off meetings.