My last, live and in-person A.A. meeting, was back in the time period from March (meetings in Lompoc, California), April (meetings in Kingman, Arizona, and Laughlin, Nevada) and through to the end of May of 2020 (meetings in Anchorage, Alaska).
At the end of May 2020, because of the Covid-19 virus issue becoming increasingly serious, I stopped going into closed rooms with people I didn't know (many of whom were NOT wearing masks nor socially distancing) and this included live A.A. meetings.
I am now physically in the Phoenix, Arizona, greater metropolitan area. I have a close and special friend here who leads and hosts a 7am, Saturdy morning meeting. My friend ASSURED ME : Everyone would be wearing masks (in accordance with local Covid-19 protocols for indoor gatherings) and that social distancing would be enforced.
So I decided to visit this meeting and see for myself how it would feel after almost ten months of Zoom A.A. meetings.
I will get right to the one, major, and surprising to me, thing that I experienced and, to some extent, learned as to Live Meetings vs Zoom Meetings.
I felt totally relaxed and comfortable in the Live Meeting last Saturday.
I will elaborage on this (feeling relaxed and comfortable) at the end of this Post.
Now into some details.
1. The meeting was in a very large room (see the photos below at the end of this Post). The meeting attendance varied from 14 to 16 members (usually this very large room holds meetings of possibly 100 people). As a result, Covid-19 protocol social distancing was absolutely exceptional.
2. My friend was correct : each and every member present had a Covid-19 protocol mask. However, not each and every member actually and correctly wore their masks.
Four members (yes ! I was counting !) wore them on again, off again, on again, off again and two of them completely removed them.
3. I can hear much better at Zoom Meetings.
4. I can write down memory joggers at Zoom Meetings. I don't feel comfortable 'taking notes' at a live meeting. Last Saturday, at the live meeting, we had three topics (love and tolerance is our code, gratitude, and Appendix 2 the Spiritual Experience) to discuss and I like to make short memory joggers for myself.
5. To go the the live and in-person A.A. Meeting, I had to get out of bed, get dressed, eat some breakfast, get into my truck and drive (about 30 minutes each way) to the meeting. I am now used to just sitting down at my computer in my home and attending an A.A. Zoom Meeting.
Yes ! I know ! Getting up and going out to a meeting is no-big-deal BUT it is a major difference between the two types of meetings.
Now here are my thoughts about being far more relaxed and comfortable at the live in-person meeting.
This was the biggest and most surprising thing I encountered.
Think about this : at a Zoom Meeting you are (well I am) usually sitting about 12-inches away from a computer screen. So I am looking at a lot of mini-images of people, some of whom are very active and moving about.
At the live meeting I was able to look at people who were sitting quite still, some of whom were maybe 25 feet away from me, and I could just let my eyes look around the room at the other meeting attendees.
Doing this I found extremely relaxing as compared to the stress of staring at the screen of my laptop (and somtimes in the Gallery View) and looking at a myriad of mini-images.
So there you have it, my take on my first live and in-person meeting in almost ten months.
Below are a few photos of the North Scottsdale Fellowship Club where I attended the above meeting.
And into the meeting room we go.
Here in Arizona, we discovered 'ticket meetings'. You get a ticket when you enter the meeting. Then the meeting host picks tickets at random. If your ticket is called, you have the opportunity to share.
None of you will imagine whose ticket was the first one called upon to share. Yes ! Yours Truly.
The next three photos 'pan' from left to right. The first photo looks at the kitchen area.
The next photo below looks at the podium.
Lastly, below you can see that the main meeting room is very large. There is also a smaller meeting room across the hall from the main meeting room.
So there you have it.
The live and in-person meeting was oh so relaxing. Amazing the difference between this meeting as opposed to staring at a computer screen 12-inches from my face.
Yes ! Of course ! I know you can sit back away from a Zoom Meeting Computer Screen. You can call in and quietly listen (I've done this often and it's a good option). You can bring up a view of the speaker only (to limit the distraction of the Gallery View).
Smiling ..
As I Write ..
Over And Out From Phoenix, Arizona.