National A.A. Technology Workshop

2021 FAQ

Home2021 FAQ

About the Workshop

Q: As a first time attendee, what should I know first?

  • The room will be open and staffed an hour early on Friday and Saturday for “Tech Orientation”. Volunteers will be available to help you with Zoom, Slack, and the shared Workshop Google Report Document.

  • All sessions are being recorded and will be posted on our website (no last names, no faces). Please respect anonymity. 

  • If you need help at any time other than the “Tech Orientation”, ask a question in our Slack channel or ask one of the host committee volunteers who who are identified in the Zoom channel.

  • The Conversation continues year round at https://tiaa-forum.org.

  • Read the next Q&A about what’s different this year, this applies to you too!

Q: As a returning attendee, what’s different this year?

  • This is a full workshop being held online. Last year we held a “Virtual Gathering” which was only one day. As a full workshop, there are a full two days of content; and we hope that you spend as much time with us online as you would had you travelled to the in person workshop.

  • We are starting Friday night and going until Sunday night, while our in person workshops typically start Friday at noon and end Sunday at noon.

  • We will have a single session track for the most part, BoF’s excluded, while our in-person workshops typically have 2-3 simultaneous tracks. 

  • The BoF’s have been moved from Friday night to Saturday evening. We will have only one grouping of BoF’s instead of 2, but have expanded this single grouping to offer 4 different topics instead of 3.

  • Read the first time attendee Q&A above, this applies to you too!

Q: What is Slack?

  • Slack is a third party chat application that allows closed communications between members. NAATW is not affiliated with Slack nor do we endorse it.

Q: How do I connect to Slack?

  • Use the Slack channel during sessions to have a conversation with other Workshop participants. Use the primary #naatw-2021 Slack channel during sessions to ask questions. During some sessions, you will be able to tag your questions with the session facilitator’s name, for example, @dougg. The session facilitator will redirect these questions to the speaker.

Q: How do I get the Workshop Report?

  • We do not create a Workshop Report. Please collaborate with other attendees to create a report together. Details on how to collaborate are found in the #naatw-2021 slack channel.
  • Click here to access the google document for crowd-sourced notes. It is also be posted in the Slack channel. Anyone with the link can add or edit the document. 
  • We understand that there are anonymity concerns with the use of such Google documents. So if you do not wish to participate in the collaboration, please post comments in the Slack channel and ask someone to add it to the report.
  • We will generate a PDF of the document and will post it on the website shortly after the event.

Q: How do I get the Video Recordings?

  • Recordings will be posted on the website shortly after the workshop. 
  • Read the Q&A above about anonymity.

Q: What website?

  • Our website is https://naatw.org. From there you can find everything you need to know about this workshop,  past workshop content, and NAATW.
  • The website will always be a living, evolving site. If you see incorrect content or wish to see additional content, please help us with constructive comments or volunteer hours, and please be gentle, it was built by volunteers.

Q: How do I share on social media?

  • Don’t share on social media. This was a trick question.
  • While we wish not to cause any controversy, we are pushing the limits (and in some cases breaking them). We fully support the idea of not using Facebook or Twitter for AA communications.  

Q: You are recording, what about anonymity?

  • We will read this statement at the beginning of every meeting: 

    “In keeping with our 11th Tradition, we respectfully ask that A.A. speakers and A.A. members not be photographed, videotaped, or identified by full name on audiotapes or in any published or broadcast reports of our meetings, including those reports on the Internet or other news media technologies. The assurance of anonymity is essential in our efforts to help other problem drinkers who may wish to share our recovery program with us. Our Tradition of anonymity also reminds us that A.A. principles come before personalities.

    All session audio and screen share content is being recorded. NAATW will not publish anyone’s last name or face. If you hear a last name, please let us know so we can scrub it in post processing.”

Q: There’s a survey?

  • Yes there will be a survey. Link to be posted here shortly.

About the Organization

These questions are about the Organization

Q: What is TIAA? How are NAATW and TIAA related?

  • TIAA is the Technology in AA online Forums. TIAA was started after our second Conference by members who attended the Conference.
  • It is a different organization from NAATW. Yet we are closely related. Our membership overlaps.
  • We have formed a sub committee that is in active discussions on how the two organizations can best serve our membership and work with each other.

Q: Who is a member of NAATW?

  • You are!
  • The only requirement to be a voting member of NAATW is to be present at our annual members meeting on Sunday.

Q: How do I get involved in service within NAATW?

  • Attend the members meeting on Sunday (that goes without saying).
  • Stand for one of the 3 open Steering Committee positions.
  • Send an email to info@naatw.org or use our contact form to tell us that you’d like to help. Or just talk to any Steering Committee member.

Q: How do I bid to host a future Workshop?

  • We try to move the Workshop around geographically. Ideally we’d follow a schedule that goes somewhere in the middle of the country every other year and to each coast every fourth year. In practicality, we go wherever someone is willing to host.
  • Talk to any Steering Committee Member to let us know your intention, or just send an email to chair@naatw.org.
  • We have plans for 2022 in Seattle, which is where we planned to be in 2020 and again this year, but postponed due to COVID.
  • We are accepting bids for 2023 and asking you to plan for 2024.