I used to go to one because it was on my way home from Ballet, and I got asked to. I quit going because hearing the same BS every week after leaving a studio that overlooked the Japanese Tea Garden with pianist on the Stienway, and seeing and doing, and being immersed in beauty to the insanity of slogan ridden failure was like getting dipped in a septic tank.

So, I conclude this:

There are two types of begginner meetings:

A. Losely based on AA, telling the newcomer that it is all OK, relapes is part of recovery, etc.

B. Here's the deal kind of meetings: There will probably be a book out.


I'd suggest trying to find type B.
Used to be that beginner's meetings were held by an experienced member of AA.  I posted "table talk", that is the uber type B meeting.

-- Edited by Rainspa on Wednesday 1st of December 2010 12:14:36 PM

I see three types of them in Marin County

1. As Mentioned they set aside 15 minutes at the end of the meeting for newcomers to ask questions

2. Speaker/Discussion where while a Speaker "pitches" they pass an "Ask-it Basket" where Newcomers ask questions, after the speaker is done (s)he reads the question and people who have time answer the question (gets surprisingly spirited and great shares are heard)

it's an amazingly good format, one in particular has about 300 attendees, great questions, awesome shares

3. A meeting formatted that is actually directed at the newcomer, they ask each newcomer to introduce themselves and asks if they have any questions, people in the group then answer those questions out of their own experience. they change Secretaries every month to give new people a chance to be a secretary. They read common questions that people have when they are new and ask people to share about those topics, topics such as "when should I get a sponsor" and "How soon should I work the steps"

there are 2 of these, amazingly well attended, high success rate, usually 10 newcomers to 100 "graduates" of those meetings attending with up to 25 years of sobriety or so, those are immediately followed by a Big Book Study and a Step Study where the majority of the attendees have between 15 and 50 years of sobriety, that block of 4 meetings was my home group for many many years

Newcomer meetings generally end at "ten to the hour" in order that the newcomer be able to make one of the many "half past the hour" meetings in the county

I went to and still go to multiple beginners' meetings a week.

The format is that people with the least time share first. Zero to 90 days, then 90 to 6 mos, then 6 to 9 mos, then 9 mos to a year, then the meeting is open for all. Often times, people with over a year will offer the solutions to the problems the newcomers have been just rattling off. Sometimes there are so many newcomers there is not time for people with over a year to share. Lately, they have been bussing people in from rehabs in the area and that has made the meeting huge....like 60 to 70 people. At the end of the meeting they do chips for mile markers in the first year. It is important to have people willing to sponsor or be a temporary sponsor raise their hands so that newcomers can find sponsors. That is basically how it works at the beginners' meetings I have been going to.