Participation

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o I’ll share a thought that developed lying in bed this morning – what about making 2016 the year of participation for Northern IL?  For example, what if we had 75 or 80% GR attendance at district meetings?  Maybe even 50% of GRs at Assemblies?  Other measures of participation might be the percent of groups giving to NIAFG or WSO.  If you look at all these measures of participation, you conclude there is room for improvement.

Concept Four does say, “Participation is the key to harmony.”

Well, to do this some changes will be needed.  May have to push some boundaries, bring ourselves into the 21st century.  Have you looked at our website recently? It has been completely overhauled, and is much more interesting.  Could we overhaul our business meetings that much? The AIMS is also undergoing some changes.

At the AWSC meeting in March, we’ll have a workshop on how we might make the Assembly more fun/interesting, maybe less boring (hopefully).  What about each Action Committee having one goal/activity for 2016 that is oriented toward increasing participation? Some significant changes may be appropriate. We can experiment!

What are the drivers to encourage people to participate more in service?  If it were me, it would be things like feeling the activity was important (to my group, and maybe to me), feeling that the meeting/activity was productive, having the meeting move along, be fun, whatever.

So, if you have ideas, I’d like to hear them, and will put them in the basket to study for our 2016 year of participation.

NIAFG Chairperson
Illinois North, Panel 55