What will the General
Service Conference do?
Answer
It will hear the annual
reports of the Alcoholic Foundation, the General
Office, Grapevine, and Works Publishing and also
the report of our certified public accountant.
The Conference will fully discuss these reports,
offering needed suggestions or resolutions
respecting them.
The Trustees will present to the
Conference all serious problems of policy or
finance confronting A.A. Headquarters, or A.A.
as a whole. Following discussions of these, the
Conference will offer the Trustees appropriate
advice and resolutions.
Special attention will be given
to all violations of our Tradition liable to
seriously affect A.A. as a whole. The Conference
will, if it be deemed wise, publish suitable
resolutions deploring such deviations.
Because Conference activities
will extend over a three-day weekend, Delegates
will be able to exchange views on every
conceivable problem. They will become closely
acquainted with each other and with our
Headquarters people. They will visit the
premises of the Foundation, Grapevine and
General Office. This should engender mutual
confidence. Guesswork and rumor are to be
replaced by first-hand knowledge.
Before the conclusion of each
year's Conference, a Committee will be named to
render all A.A. members a written report upon
the condition of their Headquarters and the
state of A.A. generally.
On a Conference Delegate's return
home, his State or Provincial Committee will, if
practical, call a meeting of Group
representatives and any others who wish to hear
his personal report. The Delegate will get these
meetings reaction to his report, and its
suggestions respecting problems to be considered
at future Conference sessions. The Delegate
ought to visit as many of his constituent Groups
as possible. They should have direct knowledge
of their A.A. Headquarters .(Third Legacy
Pamphlet, October 1950).
12A - Through the General Service
Conference, A.A. as a whole is now brought into
the picture. The Conference is a "huge rotating
committee" in whose hands has been placed the
responsibility for AA's worldwide services -
assistance to the Groups, public relations,
preparation and distribution of literature,
foreign propagation and other activities. (Bill
W. 1st GSC, 1951)
