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From the Book

Things My Sponsors Taught ME
By Paul H.

On Open Meetings

Open meeting are great, but if they make up more than half of the meetings you go to, you’re not working your program.

Open meetings, where outsiders are also welcome, are good meeting for new A.A. members to attend. They’re a good way to meet other people, hear speakers, buy literature, and more. But because outsiders are present, open meetings tend not to be as instructive in emphasizing the meaning of the Twelve Steps and the Traditions of A.A. as closed meetings often are.

In closed meetings, newcomers who are skirting disaster are confronted with their actions and the potential consequences. Confidential experiences, which are most helpful to the newer member, are shared in closed meetings, but never in open meetings.

If one is still playing around with the idea of drinking, one is less likely to stand out at an open meeting which tends to have a larger number of people attending. Attitudes which lead to relapse may not be so obvious at an open meeting and thus not confronted until these attitudes have already done damage to one’s sobriety.


Please feel free to share your Experience, Strength, and Hope