File Format Category: ONLINE

The following guidelines are offered as suggestions only; they are guides to aid you in deciding what information to collect.

We invite any and all of you to participate in recording your local history and in gathering local historical memorabilia. This will help to ensure that your history is not lost. The World Service Office (WSO) invites you to submit your histories for safekeeping to allow historians and scholars, as well as OA visitors from around the world, to gain a broader perception and appreciation of OA history in different areas. Anonymity and confidentiality will be protected. Please note: the WSO is only able to accept electronically formatted files due to storage limitations.

We suggest that the content and interpretation of local histories be approved by the group conscience of members involved in your area.

You may want to begin by interviewing longtime members or writing the history of your own OA experience.

On a personal level:

• Where did you first hear about OA?
• Did you have a sponsor? If so, how did it help you as a newcomer?
• Do you continue to have a sponsor?
• What contributions did you make to the Fellowship’s growth? (Please don’t be modest.)
• How has OA changed since you first encountered it?

On the birth of OA in your area:

• When was OA started in your town or area? Where were the first meetings held (homes, churches, etc.)?
• Who was responsible for starting the group? Which early members contributed to the growth and success of the group? How was it started: as an offshoot of a parent group, as a split from the first or main group, or by one person starting the group?
• What was OA like in the early days in your area?
• How were new members contacted? How was Twelfth Step work done?
• Was the cooperation of local community agencies and professionals—ministers, doctors, etc.—looked into?
• Who were the founders and group officers of the early groups?
• How often were meetings held and what kinds of meeting formats were used?
• If English is not the local language in your area, how did the founding members start the group? What literature did they use and how has this changed? How has translation of OA literature been carried out?
• Did any special problems arise during the early years? Did the early groups suffer growing pains?
• Was your group ever given a name? What was it? Is it still the same? If it has been changed, what is the present name of the group?
• Do you know how the community received the first group when it started? How has it affected the community since?
• Do you have an intergroup/service board or central office in your area or community? Do you know when it started? How? By whom? Were there any problems?
• Was there any opposition to OA or were there intergroup/ service board feuds in your area? Please elaborate.
• Does your area sponsor OA events such as conventions, marathons, retreats, or assemblies? When were they started? How often are they held? Are they well-attended?
• Do you participate in events outside your area, such as those hosted by other service bodies? Do other members from your area attend also?
• Have you experienced growth in your group, in your area? Who approaches OA today: mostly young people, women, men, minorities? Are all welcome? Are there any special problems?
• Does your area have a website? How was this idea received when it was proposed? How was the website created, and how is it maintained?
• Has your group ever completed a public awareness/information project? Have any members ever written articles for, or been interviewed by, local newspapers?
• Do you celebrate individual and group anniversaries? How?

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

---

OA Board-Approved
©1991, 2008 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All Rights reserved. Rev. 5/2023.

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

The Strong Meeting Checklist was part of OA’s 2008–2013 Strategic Plan. It is not enough to make the public aware that OA exists and can be a solution to compulsive eating; meetings have to be strong and must function effectively for people to “stay for the miracle” and for OA to continue to grow and be there for those who need it in the future. Consider doing an inventory of your OA meeting using this checklist.

1. Does our meeting start and end on time?
2. Are all attending, including newcomers, greeted and made to feel welcome and accepted?
3. Does our meeting focus on OA recovery through the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions?
4. Do we offer our own experience, strength, and hope, sharing the solution we have found?
5. Is the group contributing financially to all levels of OA service as per our Seventh Tradition?
6. Are sponsors available and identified at the meeting?
7. Does our group practice anonymity by reminding members not to repeat who is seen or what personal sharing is heard at a meeting?
8. Does our group follow a meeting format?
9. Is only OA-approved literature on display and for sale?
10. Does our group welcome and support individual members who use a variety of OA-approved literature?
11. Are group conscience meetings held regularly?
12. Are all service positions filled, and is rotation of service practiced?
13. Is our meeting information readily available, and is the World Service Office informed of all meeting details and changes so that newcomers and visitors can find our meeting?
14. Are cross talk and advice-giving avoided?

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

---

OA Board-approved
© 2008, 2022 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 2/2023

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

The group secretary is a link in a chain that disseminates important information in two ways: from the World Service Office to group members and from the group to the World Service Office.

Sending current group information or changes to the World Service Office is a job that usually falls onto the broad shoulders of the group secretary. The secretary also has the responsibility to distribute information from the World Service Office and service body, such as newsletters, surveys, and other mail, to members of the group.

Has this two-way flow of information been running smoothly in your group? If not, the place to start is to make sure your meeting is registered correctly with the World Service Office. These are some important points to remember when registering or making changes:

• Use the Group Registration/Change form to make any changes to your group information. On the OA website, click on Edit a Meeting to make changes to your meeting. Contact the World Service Office if you have any questions.
• When your group chooses to affiliate with an intergroup or national service board, include the intergroup’s/national service board’s number or at least the correct name of the intergroup/national service board.
• With ANY change it is important to give complete information. The critical areas to complete are those marked “*required.” Make sure all information is accurate, and check that apartment numbers are included, as these are often overlooked.
• Use your group number on all correspondence to the World Service Office. Once a group is registered, its group number will remain the same, regardless of changes to the meeting information.
• Update the World Service Office with meeting detail changes as soon as you can, no matter how small the change. It is the group’s responsibility to do this. Some groups assume the intergroup/national service board will pass changes on to the World Service Office, and this is not always the case.

The group secretary can work with other members to make sure pertinent OA information reaches everyone. For instance, the secretary can make sure someone reviews OA News from the OA website and makes it available to members in the meeting. A group may also receive mailings from the intergroup/national service board with information that needs to be distributed. Each OA group should be sure the secretary receives adequate help and materials to do their job. The smooth flow of information between the World Service Office and the group depends on the secretary.

Other tasks of group secretaries are outlined in the OA Handbook for Members, Groups, and Service Bodies. The secretary’s tasks may include presiding at group conscience and/or steering committee meetings or seeing that the meeting place is ready each week.

If you have any questions about registering or recording changes for your group, please call, write, or send an email to the World Service Office’s group registration coordinator (info@oa.org). We are interested in hearing your ideas on how we might improve the group registration process and on group registrations in general.

Revised March 2023

We of Overeaters Anonymous have made a discovery. At the very first meeting we attended, we learned that we were in the clutches of a dangerous illness, and that willpower, emotional health, and self-confidence, which some of us had once possessed, were no defense against it.

We have learned that the reasons for the illness are unimportant. What deserves the attention of the still-suffering compulsive overeater is this: There is a proven, workable method by which we can arrest our illness.

The OA recovery program is patterned after that of Alcoholics Anonymous. As our personal stories attest, the Twelve Step program of recovery works as well for compulsive eaters as it does for alcoholics.

Can we guarantee you this recovery? The answer is up to you. If you will honestly face the truth about yourself and the illness; if you will keep coming back to meetings to talk and listen to other recovering compulsive overeaters; if you will read our literature and that of Alcoholics Anonymous with an open mind; and, most important, if you are willing to rely on a Power greater than yourself for direction in your life and to take the Twelve Steps to the best of your ability, we believe you can indeed join the ranks of those who recover.

To remedy the emotional, physical, and spiritual illness of compulsive eating we offer several suggestions, but keep in mind that the basis of the program is spiritual, as evidenced by the Twelve Steps.

We are not a “diet” club. We do not endorse any particular plan of eating. In OA, abstinence is the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight. Once we become abstinent, the preoccupation with food diminishes and in many cases leaves us entirely. We then find that, to deal with our inner turmoil, we have to have a new way of thinking, of acting on life rather than reacting to it — in essence, a new way of living.

From this vantage point, we begin the Twelve Step program of recovery, moving beyond the food and the emotional havoc to a fuller living experience. As a result of practicing the Steps, the symptoms of compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors are removed on a daily basis, achieved through the process of surrendering to something greater than ourselves; the more total our surrender, the more fully realized our freedom from food obsession.

Here are the Steps as adapted for Overeaters Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over food — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

“But I’m too weak. I’ll never make it!” Don’t worry, we have all thought and said the same thing. The amazing secret to the success of this program is just that: weakness. It is weakness, not strength, that binds us to each other and to a Higher Power and somehow gives us the ability to do what we cannot do alone.

If you decide you are one of us, we welcome you with open arms. Whatever your circumstances, we offer you the gift of acceptance. You are not alone anymore! Welcome to Overeaters Anonymous. Welcome home!

Permission to use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc.

©1980, 1995, 1997, 2003 Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 12/2023.

Statement on Approved Literature

(Business Conference Policy Manual, 2010a [Amended 2012, 2023])

“In accordance with our Traditions, we suggest that OA groups maintain unity and honor our Traditions by using, selling, and displaying only approved books and pamphlets at their meetings. This includes OA Conference- and board-approved literature; AA Conference-approved books, booklets, and all future editions thereof, with original edition copyright 2010 or earlier; and locally produced OA literature. Although groups may choose to focus on only one piece of OA-approved literature, individuals and groups are encouraged to use any and all OA-approved literature. Locally produced literature must be developed according to OA Guidelines for Locally Produced Literature, and should be used with the greatest discretion. Local literature should be considered temporary and discontinued when OA literature approved for general use is available to cover the topic.”

Statement on Literature That Is Not OA-Approved

(Business Conference Policy Manual, 1993b [amended 2010])

“It is the group conscience of the 1993 World Service Business Conference that the sale or display of literature other than OA-approved literature and AA conference-approved literature (as described in WSBC Policy 2010a) is an implied endorsement of outside enterprises, and therefore in violation with Tradition Six.”

To determine whether you have the most recent version of a piece of OA literature, see the OA-Approved Literature List by Copyright Date and compare it to the copyright date on your literature.

---

OA Board-approved
©1990… 2018 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Rev. 10/2025. All rights reserved.
#570

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating.

We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues.

Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of OA to those who still suffer.

©1984…2013 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved.Rev. 5/2022

It is suggested that a neutral, experienced OA member facilitate an inventory for a group or service body. Region boards can assist with finding members who can provide this type of support.

Use an entire meeting for an honest and fearless discussion of the group’s weaknesses and strengths.

This inventory is divided into two parts. A is an inventory of the group as a whole; B is a personal inventory of a member’s behavior in the group.

A. Group Inventory*

1. Does our meeting start and end on time?
2. Are all attending, including newcomers, greeted and made to feel welcome and accepted?
3. Does our meeting focus on OA recovery through the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions?
4. Do we offer our own experience, strength, and hope, sharing the solution we have found?
5. Is the group contributing financially to all levels of OA service as per our Seventh Tradition?
6. Are sponsors available and identified at the meeting?
7. Does our group practice anonymity by reminding members not to repeat who is seen or what personal sharing is heard at a meeting?
8. Does our group follow a meeting format?
9. Is only OA-approved literature on display and for sale?
10. Does our group welcome and support individual members who use a variety of OA-approved literature?
11. Are group conscience meetings held regularly?
12. Are all service positions filled, and is rotation of service practiced?
13. Is our meeting information readily available, and is the World Service Office informed of all meeting
    details and changes so that newcomers and visitors can find our meeting?
14. Are cross talk and advice-giving avoided?

B. Determine your part in the group

1. Do I make a point to welcome new members, talk with them, and offer my phone number? Do I sponsor new members?
2. Do I interrupt speakers or other members who are sharing?
3. Do I give my full attention to the speakers, the secretary, and other group members?
4. Do I ever repeat anything personal I have heard at meetings or from another member?
5. Do I put pressure on the group to accept my ideas because I have been in the Fellowship a long time?
6. Do I take part in meetings, or do I sit and listen?
7. Do I volunteer or willingly accept a group office (e.g., secretary, treasurer)? Do I offer to help set up, clean, etc.?
8. Do I criticize others in the group or gossip about them?
9. Do I insist on requirements other than those in Tradition Three, including telling others that they should use only specific literature, or they can’t be in the Fellowship, or that they cannot use the services of health care professionals, such as psychologists or dietitians?
10. Do I try to give advice?
11. Is it difficult for me to realize that my point of view may not always be the group conscience? Can I accept disagreement?
12. Do I use the telephone or electronic communication to help myself and others, not just for complaints and gossip?
13. Do I make it a point to speak with newcomers who are having a difficult time in the program? Do I let them know they are welcome?
14. Do I monopolize the conversation and explain every Tool, Tradition, etc.?
15. Do I feel no one can lead a meeting as well as me?
16. Do I go to meetings to learn instead of teach?
17. Do I cross talk and cause meetings to go off on tangents?
18. Do I wait until announcement time to make proper OA announcements?
19. Do I have a topic so everyone can participate at meetings I chair?
20. Do I try to cause dissension?
21. Do I follow the meeting format completely?
22. Do I commit myself to the OA program?
23. Do I have a sponsor and work the Steps?
24. Do I give service to promote group growth and benefit my own growth as well?
25. Am I only interested in my own welfare, or am I concerned for my fellow OA members as well?

*Part A of this inventory is the same as the Strong Meeting Checklist.

OA Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

---

Reprinted from Service, Traditions, and Concepts Workshop Manual, © 1998, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2022. Overeaters Anonymous Inc. All rights reserved.

OA Board-approved
© 2008, 2022 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All rights reserved. Rev. 2/2023

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

Starting an OA meeting in your area is easy.

The World Service Office is here to support you in your efforts to carry the message of hope and recovery. This form of service will add to your own program of recovery! All you need is a desire to stop eating compulsively and the willingness to start the meeting.

Order the “Starter Kit”, item #730 at US$20 (plus shipping and handling).

It contains items to help get your meeting off to a good start. The kit also includes Where Do I Start? and the Suggested Meeting Format. You will also receive a sampling of our pamphlets. (Note: Your service body may offer these materials for a lower cost.)

Purchase the OA Handbook for Members, Groups, and Service Bodies, item #120 at US$13 (plus shipping and handling).

The OA Handbook will come in handy with ideas for spreading the news in your community about the meeting and as a guide to your group as it grows. The OA Handbook is also available in e-book format. Visit bookstore.oa.org for more information.

Find a meeting space.

Be sure to check out churches, community centers, schools, and libraries, as well as the hospitals. Each group ought to be self supporting, so be sure that your group considers a donation, should the facility you choose not charge you rent. For virtual meetings, there are many audio and video conferencing platforms that offer services for free or at a nominal fee.

Submit the New Group Registration/Change form to the World Service Office.

We suggest you do this as soon as you start your meeting so it can be listed in our Find a Meeting database and people searching for a meeting in your area can find you. Please be sure to keep the World Service Office informed of any changes that occur regarding your meeting. Contact name (first name only) and phone number are important. This is how the newcomer or traveling member gets more information about the meeting. Each meeting must have a contact name and number. If there is no one in your group who wants to be listed as the contact, you can use the intergroup or service board name and number should you choose to affiliate with one.

We strongly suggest that your group affiliate with an intergroup or national service board.

An intergroup/national service board is made up of several groups in a locality or a virtual community. Its purpose is to serve and represent the groups of which they are composed and act as the guardian of the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of OA Service. Affiliation gives the group access to this support. At some point, your group will need an intergroup/national service board representative to attend the intergroup/national service board meetings and be part of the OA community in your area. The intergroup/national service board can be helpful in supporting your meeting during this initial phase of your development. Please contact the World Service Office if you need assistance in locating an intergroup or national service board.

Check out other meetings!

If there are no OA meetings in your area and you are not very familiar with OA, you might want to consider taking a “field trip” with some other potential members to visit the meetings outside your area that are more established. It can be great fun traveling with a carload of compulsive overeaters and great for your recovery. It is also helpful for the groups that you visit. They may want to return the favor and bring members to your meeting once your group has started.

Get the word out!

A good idea is to investigate the Public Information and Professional Outreach Service Manual in the future. Its focus is on carrying the message in your community and offers several helpful suggestions and examples. It is item #765 and sells for US$20.

You are welcome to contact us at any time at info@oa.org or 1-505-891-2664. Thank you for carrying the message of recovery.

Our OA Responsibility Pledge states:

“Always to extend the hand and heart of OA to all who share my compulsion; for this I am responsible.”

Where are the people who were at your first meeting? How many of them are still coming to OA? There are many things that each of us and our groups can do to keep people coming back. In an effort to extend the hand and heart to those who share our compulsion, we offer the following suggestions for membership retention.

• Study The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. The Steps and Traditions strengthen our recovery and keep us living in the solution.
• Focus on the miracle of physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery.
• Remember that anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our program.
• Remember that there are no special requirements for members to share. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively.
• Warmly welcome back returning members. In fact, reach out to everyone at meetings with love. Make outreach calls.
• Participate in group inventories; use both the OA Group Inventory and Strong Meeting Checklist, available as free downloads on oa.org.
• Send strong speakers to meetings in areas where attendance is declining or there is a lack of abstinence.
• Play recordings and podcasts of speakers from OA events.
• Make meetings and special events fun!
• Keep a good supply of OA-approved literature.
• Focus on OA recovery and how using the Twelve Steps and Traditions help you deal with life.
• Encourage and support OA Step study meetings; use the Suggested Step Study Meeting Format available as a free download on oa.org.
• Welcome newcomers to your meetings. Have volunteers telephone newcomers to answer any questions they may have.
• Hold newcomers’ meetings.
• Start and support a recovery from relapse meeting based on the meeting format available in the Twelfth-Step-Within Handbook, p. 9, and as a free download on oa.org.
• Have a regular group conscience meeting.
• Have the service body sponsor a Service, Traditions, and Concepts Workshop.
• Encourage your service body to regularly distribute a newsletter to keep all groups informed about area events.
• Start and end your regular group meetings on time. Meet on holidays, too! Our disease never takes a holiday!
• Have volunteers telephone, email, or text members who haven’t been at the meeting for a while. Build a network of support.
• Create a phone chain for the entire group, especially during the holidays; put all members’ names in a hat and have each person draw one name to call.
• Provide service opportunities that have no abstinence requirement at the group level so everyone can benefit from doing service!
• Rotate service positions, no matter what.
• List all meetings in both large and small local newspapers.
• Encourage members to post information cards about meetings in grocery stores, libraries, and other public places.
• Share that sponsoring and doing service are rewarding and exciting ways to benefit your recovery.
• Hold sponsorship workshops so members aren’t afraid to sponsor.
• Stick to the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, OA Tools, and OA-approved literature when sponsoring.
• Share about your progress in working and living the Steps. When sharing your experience, share your strength and hope.
• Be an example of recovery. This is a program of attraction, not promotion.
• Encourage people in their recovery; support those who don’t “get it” right away.
• Give recovery coins or celebrate success as often as possible.
• Remember that our common solution is the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of OA.
• Emphasize abstinence from the beginning, making sure that members know that it is NOT OKAY to binge.
• Speak your truth at any level.
• Let go of judgment of another’s recovery or relapse.
• Be open to new ideas or changes.
• Ask people to do service.
• Avoid overloading yourself with service work; try for balance.
• Share your experience.
• Remind members not to cross talk during meetings.
• Welcome all who attend the meetings, being careful not to form cliques.
• Put principles before personalities.
• Rotate service rather than allow one person to continually lead or run the meeting.
• Limit sharing time so all have an opportunity to speak. Problems can be shared one-on-one outside the meeting.
• Keep it simple; people are more important than rules.
• Stick to the message of OA; leave outside issues at the door.
• Honor everyone’s anonymity.
• Remember that what is said in your meetings stays in your meetings.
• Social gathering are welcome before or after meetings, but during the meeting, focus on the program.
• Use OA-approved literature. Using outside literature implies endorsement.
• Reach out to help a group member in trouble; remember-relapse is not contagious. Recovery is!
• Work together to reach common goals.
• Let go of expectations of yourself and others.

Most of all, do it with love and
KEEP COMING BACK, NO MATTER WHAT!

These suggestions are not intended to be all-inclusive. We can take many other positive actions in order to encourage members to keep coming back. Share what works, and what doesn’t, with your fellow OA members around the world through OA newsletters, letters to your region or WSO, and Convention!

OA is a Fellowship in which thousands of compulsive overeaters find and share recovery. It is a program of attraction and a positive way of living. Together, we can recover, and together it works when we all keep coming back!

---

OA Board-approved
©1995, 2001, 2015, 2019 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All Rights reserved. Rev. 6/2022.

Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664

Purpose of participating

An OA display at a local health fair is an excellent way of doing Twelfth Step outreach work.

Funding

In addition to funding through your service body, funding may be available through your region, or in cooperation with other local service bodies. The Reduced Cost Literature program can assist groups and service bodies purchasing bulk literature for public information and outreach projects. For an application, go to oa.org/document-library and search under  “Public Information” category.

How to locate health fairs in your area

Your group’s or service body’s public information committee may already have a list of contacts, which can be a great starting point in finding local health fairs. Other great resources are the internet, newspapers, and local community news, television, or radio programs. Search for online community calendars or health-related resources. If you find out about an event too late to participate, ask to be added to the notification list for next year’s event.

Preparation and planning

(about three to four months prior)

Form a committee and choose a chair

Encourage participation within your service body at meetings or through the service body’s newsletter. Describe specific tasks and the time commitment needed to accomplish them.

Questions to ask the fair organizers

• What are the days and times of setup, operation, and breakdown?
• Are there any fees? Ask about not-for-profit rates. If participation is cost prohibitive, ask the organizers if your group or service body can place OA information, such as business cards or flyers with contact information and meeting times, on a table at the event.
• What is the event’s projected attendance?
• Who else will be exhibiting?
• Will other Twelve Step programs be participating?
• Can your group or service body be located near them? Will there be a speaker on compulsive eating?
• Can you hold an open OA meeting at the site?
• Are there size limits or special requirements for the display?
• Will rental tables or chairs be available?
• Will an electrical outlet, if needed, be accessible near the booth?
• Will a copy machine be available if needed?

Materials

(about two to three months prior)

Prepare the display

Your service body might own a professional exhibit booth. If not, use a table and chairs. Create a display using the Public Information Posters (available for free download at oa.org/document-library; “PI Posters”) and a selection of OA-approved literature (see below). Consider a professionally made banner, which can be used again. To use the Overeaters Anonymous logo, request permission from the World Service Office using the OA Logo Permission Request Form found on oa.org. (Go to oa.org/document-library; “Copyright.”) One way to appear professional is to avoid a cluttered look.

Stocking the booth

To prepare, use this list of supplies you may need.

• extension cord
• tape
• markers
• scissors
• glue
• rubber bands
• stapler and staples
• paper clips
• volunteer badges
• correction fluid/tape
• pens and/or pencils
• camera or mobile device to take photos of your booth and/or the event for your website or newsletter. (Remember not to photograph faces or distinguishing features in order to protect members’ and visitors’ anonymity.)
• clipboards and notepaper

Literature

Only OA Conference- or board-approved literature should be offered. (See the OA-Approved Literature List. Bring enough so that people may take some. To avoid clutter, store extra literature under the table. The literature suggested below is high in newcomer interest and low in cost. It’s available from the OA bookstore at bookstore.oa.org.

• In OA, Recovery Is Possible (#135)
• Fifteen Questions (#755)
• Many Symptoms, One Solution (#106)
• New Prospect Card (#450)
• The Tools of Recovery (#160)
• Fifteen Questions for the Young Person (#756)
• Is Food a Problem for You? (#750)
• OA Members Come in All Sizes (#110)
• To the Family of the Compulsive Eater (#240)
• Where Do I Start? (#705)
• About OA (#751)

For health fairs held in work environments, at/or near military bases, or at health care facilities, these pamphlets are also suggested.

• When Should I Refer Someone to Overeaters Anonymous? (#770)
• Courier, a newsletter for the professional community (To download, go to oa.org/document-library; “Public Information.”)

Bring a supply of local meeting lists. (Obtain permission from meeting contacts to include their information.) Include a handout that has the oa.org website and your service body’s website and/or contact information. Back issues of Lifeline magazine are available from the OA bookstore at bookstore.oa.org. Bring along a sign-up sheet for people who want to receive more information or your service body’s newsletter via email. For display only, consider including Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition, book and CDs; The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition book; For Today; Taste of Lifeline; Abstinence, Second Edition; Voices of Recovery; and specialized OA pamphlets, such as To the Man Who Wants to Stop Compulsive Overeating, Welcome.

Volunteers

(about one to two months prior)

Get firm commitments from volunteers

Booth volunteers should be chosen carefully. They will be representing the OA program and should demonstrate recovery on all three levels: emotional, spiritual, and physical. You may wish to have abstinence requirements. It is highly recommended that booth volunteers have at least one year of current abstinence and are maintaining a healthy body weight. Look for members who have suffered from different symptoms of the disease.

Make sure volunteers know their areas of responsibility

Responsibilities include setup, breakdown, general staffing, backup, etc. Arrange the schedule so that two volunteers are working the booth at all times in case one has to leave temporarily. Shifts no longer than three hours, with two hours being optimum, are suggested. Make sure all volunteers are comfortable with the fact that they’ll be seen by the general public, who may ask them about their OA membership or may assume it. Call volunteers again one month before the fair and again one week before the fair to confirm their participation. Give copies of Guidelines for Health Fair Participation to all volunteers.

Day of fair

Setting up

Do this as early as possible. It’s easiest to have those who put up the display and lay out the literature to take the first shift.

Demeanor while working the table or booth

Be friendly, but don’t push information or literature. Sit back from the table—this allows people to feel free to take material without feeling intimidated. Look alert and interested, letting people know you’re ready to speak with them if they wish. Be careful about socializing with others staffing the booth; if you appear too “busy,” attendees may be hesitant to approach. When speaking with them, make eye contact. Remember that this is a program of attraction, not promotion (Tradition Eleven). There should be no eating, drinking, or smoking at the booth. Dress neatly and appropriately. Record the number of visitors to your table.

Answering questions

Telling people that OA is “a Twelve Step program patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous” will answer a great many questions. Keep in mind that you’re not expected to be an expert on compulsive overeating. You may, however, share your experience, strength, and hope; you might wish to bring your “before” pictures. If you give an opinion, make it clear that it is your opinion and not representative of OA as a whole.

Give people literature and meeting lists. Be sure to mention that if they have any questions, they are welcome to call the contact numbers on the meeting list or visit oa.org.

Follow-up

Send thank-you notes to the fair organizers

Ask them to put your group or service body on the mailing list for next year. Have a post-fair evaluation meeting with the volunteers to discuss how it went and collect suggestions for next time.

For more information

For more information about doing health fairs or other public information work, consult the Public Information and Professional Outreach Service Manual (#765), available from the OA bookstore at bookstore.oa.org.

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OA Board-approved
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Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. World Service Office
Location: 6075 Zenith Court NE, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, USA
Mailing address: PO Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727, USA
Telephone: +1 505-891-2664