Ever mindful that “To Carry the Message Is Our Primary Purpose,” 199 delegates to World Service Business Conference (WSBC) came together virtually May 6–10, 2025, under this theme to work an agenda of New Business Motions and Bylaws Amendments, attend new workshops designed to strengthen recovery in our Fellowship, and experience for themselves a powerful combination of world service and worldwide Fellowship.
Altogether, 27 countries were represented: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Wales. The delegates collectively spoke 17 languages, including Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Welsh. And 52 delegates who attended were Green Dots, our moniker for first-time delegates to WSBC.
After amending the standing rules to make for better parliamentary processes in a virtual environment, the delegates completed their agenda early. Congratulations and thank you, delegates, for your service!
Literature
Delegates granted the Conference Seal of a Approval to the following manuscripts:
- revised manuscript of our Just for Today wallet card (#410)
- revised manuscript of To the Man Who Wants to Stop Eating Compulsively, Welcome (#290)
- Sponsorship in OA: Guiding Others in Recovery, a new pamphlet that will replace A Guide for Sponsors (#200) and Sponsoring through the Twelve Steps (#220)
All three manuscripts will replace the current literature only after they have been printed and added to the OA bookstore, which will occur later in 2025. Note: non-English-speaking service bodies may continue to use and distribute older versions of OA literature until newer versions are made available in their languages.
New Business
Delegates voted to adopt the following New Business Motions and Bylaws Amendments:
- Amend OA’s “Unity with Diversity” policy, 1992a, paragraph 3, by adding the statement, “For example, this means we do not try to convince any member or visitor to adopt a belief in God.”
- Amend WSBC Policy 2018b by striking specific references to bariatric surgery and adding a more general reference to “surgical methods” of weight management.
- Amend OA Bylaws, Subpart B, Article VI — Service Bodies, Section 1 — Composition to accurately reflect the 2024 disbanding of Region Four and subsequent reassignments of geographic territories to neighboring OA regions.
- Amend OA Bylaws, Subpart B, Article VI — Service Bodies, Section 3 — Affiliation and Participation to allow unaffiliated meetings to affiliate with any region they choose.
- Amend OA Bylaws, Subpart B, Article VII — Board of Trustees, Section 5 — Nomination of Trustees to allow current non-region liaison trustees to submit their applications to the board for affirmation.
- Amend OA Bylaws, Subpart B, Article VII — Board of Trustees, Section 1 — Composition to reduce the board’s total number of trustees by one from seventeen to sixteen trustees.
- Amend OA Bylaws Subpart B, Article VIII — Meetings of Delegates, Section 4 — Notice (housekeeping)
- Amend OA Bylaws, Subpart B, Article VIII — Meetings of Delegates, Section 3 — Delegates to add “volunteers” to the list of nondelegates who may address the World Service Business Conference
- Change the name of a World Service Business Conference committee from “Young People’s Committee” to “Young Adults Committee.”
Trustee Elections
WSBC delegates elected the following trustees to three-year terms:
- Blair P.
- Bob L.
- Juliette R.
- Preston F.
After Conference, the board declared one vacancy on the Board of Trustees and has since issued an announcement of that vacancy and instructions to apply to serve through World Service Business Conference 2026 will be distributed soon.
Board Officers and Executive Committee
Following Conference, Board of Trustees officer positions were determined by trustee vote:
| Chair | Bob L. |
| First Vice Chair | Meg M. |
| Second Vice Chair | Cyndy L. |
| Treasurer | Beverly M. |
These trustees, plus Blair P. and Preston F., have formed the board’s Executive Committee.
Trustee Liaisons to OA Regions
The following region liaison assignments for OA trustees were determined by appointment:
| Region One | Beverly M. |
| Region Two | Michael K. |
| Region Three | Cindy C. |
| Region Five | Juliette R. |
| Region Six | Blair P. |
| Region Seven | Bob L. |
| Region Eight | Laurie O. |
| Region Nine | Emilia I. |
| Region Ten | Susan M. |
| Virtual Region | Gary D. |
In addition, Emilia I. is trustee liaison to unaffiliated service bodies.
Committee Chairs
The board’s officers appointed the following trustees to serve as chairs of the following board committees:
| Board-approved Literature | BJ J. |
| Board Reference Manual | Cyndy L. |
| Convention 2025 | Gary D. |
| Delegate Support Fund | Beverly M. |
| Internal Information Committee | Laurie O. |
| International Publications/ Translations | Susan M. |
| Literature Review | Cindy C. |
| Materials Approval Committee | Meg M. |
| Public Awareness/ Professional Tradeshows | Gary D. |
| Strategic Planning | Meg M. |
| Website Review | Cyndy L. |
| Ad hoc E-commerce | Meg M. |
| Ad hoc Living Abstinently | Emilia I. |
Conference Committee Co-chairs
The board’s officers appointed the trustees to serve as co-chairs of the following WSBC Committees. In addition, WSBC delegates serving on these committees elected their delegate co-chair. Note: delegate co-chair names are to be announced (TBA) and this story will be updated when the information is made available.
| Committee Name | Trustee Co-chair | Delegate Co-chair |
| Bylaws | Bob F. | TBA |
| Conference-approved Literature | Cindy C. | TBA |
| Public Information/ Professional Outreach | Gary D. | TBA |
| Region Chairs | Meg M. | TBA |
| Twelfth Step Within | Juliette R. | TBA |
| Unity with Diversity | Preston F. | TBA |
| Young Adults | Blair P. | TBA |
The Official Wrap-Up? Stay Tuned!
Look for an announcement of the Conference Wrap-Up Report posting in the coming weeks to the Document Library under category “WSBC: Frequently Used Documents.”
The WSBC 2025 Final Conference Report will be posted by September. Service bodies and registered WSBC delegates will be notified via email.