Dear members,

Our Unity Committee Chair and I are thrilled to present the convention report, which will soon be available in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Farsi, and Malayalam! The Convention memories page https://beta.aa-intergroup.org/1st-oiaa-international-convention-memories/ will soon include recordings from some of the sessions. Thank you for being a part of this incredible experience!

In gratitude and service – Beth A., OIAA International Trustee

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OIAA Unity Committee                                                                            1

REPORT – OIAA Online International Convention 

Carlos D., OIAA Unity Committee Chair    Beth A., OIAA International Trustee

Impressions 

It is with a heart full of joy and gratitude that I look back at that last weekend of October of this year when our dream came true. We were able, with all the support of the OIAA membership, the efforts of countless volunteers all over the world, and the support of the OIAA Board and Committees, to bring to life the first online convention of OIAA. This dream took two years to become a reality.

It was moving and beautiful to hear the ‘Language of the Heart’ spoken across the globe; in every single moment, in every single meeting, in every single share, in different languages, all of us united in carrying the message of A.A. to the alcoholic that still suffers. It was a truly wonderful event for OIAA, marking the first time the organization had taken on such a challenge without knowing if it would be a success. Thanks to the incredible efforts and dedication of so many kind volunteers, the event was nothing short of spectacular!

Some will say that they were expecting more people based on the number of registrations. That might be true, but when the ‘Language of the Heart’ was heard by loners in the Savannas of Africa, through the lands of India, and across scenic regions of Brazil, one can only be in awe at the spiritual results that were achieved.

We traveled from Aotearoa and to Australia, passing through Hawaii to North, Central, and South America. We jumped over the lake to the Old Continent and traveled across Africa and Asia. We were able to overcome our superficial differences and language barriers, regardless of our diverse cultures, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientation. There are no barriers, obstacles, or borders when we speak the ‘Language of the Heart’.

At the end of the three days of our convention, I felt that the experience we gained was invaluable. We have all the ingredients to make the 2nd Convention an even bigger and better event if you, our membership, vote in December for a 2nd Convention, another opportunity to reach more alcoholics in more countries in areas of the world that were not represented in our last event.

We hope you trust us again with this task!

Carlos D., OIAA Unity Committee Chair – Portugal

2024 OIAA Online International Convention Memories Page

                                                                        

The Numbers                                                                                                                 2

Registration Data Oct 28, 2024

• 6841 registrations, 97 countries 73 languages

TOTAL – 6122 Registrants after 719 duplicates were removed

Anonymous Zoom Data Participant Totals

• Day 1 all Zoom room total = 3360
• Day 2 all Zoom room total = 6986
• Day 3 all Zoom room total = 3069
• 3 Day Total = 13415

Total number of meetings and events – 72

*FUN FACT: Texas No Bull Big Book Study was the first meeting to register as a Host Group!

Top 15 attended meetings (Anonymous data provided by Tech 12)

1. 267 – Iran AA Online meetings – Farsi / English
2. 262 – Iran AA Online meetings – Farsi / English
3. 254 – Iran AA Online meetings – Farsi / English
4. 249 – Iran AA Online meetings – Farsi / English
5. 170 – Te Wairua O Mai, New Zealand – Maori / English
6. 160 – Texas No Bull Big Book Study – English
7. 155 – PJ & Coffee – English
8. 140 – The Virtual Living Sober Group – English
9. 138 – Caminho de Paz Online – Portuguese
10. 135 – AA Online – Portuguese
11. 130 – Sobriety Countdown – Spanish 

130 – Esperança 29 – Portuguese

12. 128 – The Rainbow Room LGBTQ+ – English
13. 126 – Sunrise Serenity – English
14. 125 – Sobriedad e Online – Portuguese
15. 124 – The Best of ‘At Wit’s End’ – English

124 – Big Book Journey – English

Languages spoken and interpreted 

• English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Farsi, Malayalam, American Sign Language

Total number or meetings by language (spoken or interpreted)

English – 67

Farsi –  4

French – 28

Malayalam – 2

Māori – 2

Portuguese – 28

Spanish – 27

American Sign Language – 18

*FUN FACT: OIAA website hits October 2024 https://beta.aa-intergroup.org/documents/oiaa-statistics-october-2024/

Behind the scenes – Group Unity                                                                                                                      3

• Online A.A. groups across Iran united to organize their participation in the convention, finding speakers and interpreters, creating videos, and timing their meetings to the minute. They had a 5-hour Zoom rehearsal with us to perfect the timing of the speakers and interpreters. 
• Online groups from the Intergrupos Online de AA organized across Brazil to choose themes, prepare materials to share, create multiple videos, and train tech volunteers in order to participate in our convention. 
• 20 Malayalam-speaking online groups from India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Canada, and the US organized speakers and created a video about the history of A.A. in Kerala, India, for their 2 meetings in our convention.
• Young members from the New Zealand Daily WOZ group organized online groups in New Zealand and Australia for their full-day participation in our convention. The Te Wairua O Mai group opened their session with a memorable welcome in Maori.
• The group 12 pasos 12 am organized online groups in Spain to participate in our convention as well as finding our Sobriety Countdown Master of Ceremonies, Paco.

Behind the scenes – Tech 12 and Tech volunteers

• Our tech crew, both professional and volunteer, worked seamlessly together. There were no Zoom troll incidents or tech problems that our participants could see. And that’s amazing, given the number of participants and meetings that were happening at the same time.

Spiritual gifts from the convention

We know that everyone who came to the convention or took part in it got something special out of it. Carlos and I were particularly touched by a few things that we’d like to share with you.

• The overwhelming gratitude from some of our Māori, Portuguese, and Malayalam-speaking members to have been able to speak and share in their native tongue.
• A heartfelt realization from a member who cried as he expressed that “I am a part of all this…” in the meeting of isolated Portuguese-speaking members in Africa.
• A French member who attended all 3 days of the convention and is still reminiscing about “that Texas Big Book Study” and how she traveled the world in A.A.
• The old-timer and the newcomer with 18 days together on the screen at the end of the Sobriety Countdown.
• The fact that OIAA dared to try something never done before to reach alcoholics across the globe
• Witnessing the selflessness, generosity, and willingness to serve of so many of our OIAA members and volunteers

Members inspired by the convention

• Our Malayalam-speaking members participated in the November 2, 2024, Tech Steppers Safety Workshop and have a second mini one planned for December 7 with Malayalam interpreters. More of their online groups plan to join OIAA and participate in the next convention.
• Our members from Québec translate the ‘Submit a meeting’ page so that more of their groups can join OIAA and participate in the next convention.
• Our Bulgarian members reached out to us for information and speakers for their online groups.
• Our Russian-speaking members have elected an IGR and would like to participate in the next convention and potentially participate in other service opportunities.

Challenges – What we learned                                                                                                                           4

• While Google Translate and DeepL are the current reliable translation tools available to us, we have found that they are not always the most accurate or contextually appropriate.
• Because our website is in English, which is written from left to right, languages written from right to left cannot be either translated or formatted properly. 
• Some languages are not yet available for translation on our site or on the DeepL platform.
• The site is not user-friendly for some non-English speakers.

As a result, our communications, regardless of their clarity or simplicity, became complicated due to the fact that any links to the website sent in other languages reverted to English when opened. In addition, the convention agendas with the Zoom codes were not properly translated in some languages by Google Translate. Multilingual members were able to adapt; others clearly told us that their language was not translated correctly. This is important to hear.

Many members could not register due to not having access to email, not speaking English, or not being able to connect to our site from their country. We resolved this issue by communicating through WhatsApp and Telegram. 

Accurately translating our website is a monstrous task. Thankfully, our technology chair accompanied us throughout the convention communications process, and he is currently developing a plan to tackle this challenge. We are fully supportive of this initiative and hope that our multilingual and non-English-speaking members will be able to assist us as it unfolds. We are grateful for these challenges, which have helped us identify what we need to address in order to better serve the membership.

• There were several issues with interpretation that were addressed with the aid of our members, our     multilingual and non-English-speaking members, and our interpreters.
• A large number of members thought that they were registering for the 2025 Vancouver convention. We will most likely continue to have similar confusion next year regardless of the clarity of our communications until after July 6, 2025.
• We did experience instances of intolerant and inappropriate commentary both during the organization of the convention and during the event itself. Because it pertained to personal beliefs and opinions that are outside issues, Carlos and I preferred to stay rooted in our 5th Tradition; each issue was addressed appropriately either by one of us or Tech 12.
• Some members did not understand why the convention was free. It is essential to take into account that many international members cannot pay through PayPal or Stripe due to US government political sanctions, separate banking structures that are outside of the US banking system, or very low local currency exchange rates to the US dollar, making a fee in US dollars very expensive. These are all politically charged outside issues. These members cannot or will not contribute financially; however, they can give their time through service, as many did, with much love, during our convention. Our OIAA Treasurer can elaborate on possible solutions to address this concern within next year’s registration process. 
• Some members expressed their confusion having to navigate through different time zones; some did not understand why the convention did not occur in one time zone. No one time zone in a particular area of the world is convenient for everyone. We stand by our decision to enable all our OIAA members located across the world to participate in their local time zones. Translation issues of the convention schedules may have also contributed to the confusion. Because this type of convention across all time zones was a first outside of the 24-48 hr marathon meeting formats, it is understandable that some members may have needed time to adjust to something new.

The Convention Exit Survey                                                                                                                             5

• 310 participants responded to our survey, predominantly English speakers. This may have been due in part to its translation into other languages. Our Farsi, Malayalam, French, Portuguese, and Spanish-speaking members primarily gave Carlos and me feedback directly or in our Unity Committee meetings.
• The survey results were overall extremely positive, with some very interesting and constructive feedback.  A huge thank you to all members who took the time to complete the survey and share your thoughts and suggestions. We really appreciate your input!

We invite you to bring your feedback to the Unity Committee and join our volunteers on our next journey in 2025! 

With immense gratitude,

Beth A.

OIAA International Trustee