A short history of the General Service Conference and Structure:

Class A trustees Leonard Harrison and Bernard B Smith resolved a 5­year conflict between Bill W and the Alcoholic Foundation Board on having a General Service Conference. Smith, who Bill W would later call “the architect of the service structure” chaired a trustee’s committee that recommended that Conferences be held on an experimental basis from 1951­1954, and that in 1955 it would be evaluated and a final decision made. The recommendation was approved at the Board’s Fall 1950 meeting. In November 1950 a pamphlet titled “Your Third Legacy Will You Accept It” was published to explain the Conference plans and procedures. Bill W also wrote a December 1950 Grapevine article titled “Your Third Legacy.”

The Alcoholic Foundation invited 1 Conference delegate from each of the then 48 States and the Canadian Provinces. 7 states with large AA populations were assigned additional delegates. Delegates were divided into 2 Panels so that half would be elected and half would rotate in odd and even numbered years. Panel 1 areas were asked to form a temporary committee to organize an election assembly no later than March 1951. Bill W traveled across the US attending over 2 dozen assemblies electing area committees and Conference Delegates.

Area assemblies were first held just for the election of area officers and a delegate. Group Representatives (later called General Service Representatives) who attended, placed an “A” next to their name on the registration form to indicate they were available to serve on the area committee. The first item of assembly business was to create an area map divided into districts. This determined the number of Committeemen to be elected. Committeemen later came to be called Committee Members and then District Committee Members (or DCMs).

The entire assembly voted in the election of Committeemen which ended when a nominee received at least 25% of the votes cast. The first 3 Committeemen elected automatically became the Area Chair, Treasurer and Secretary in that order. The delegate election required a 2/3 majority of the votes cast. If it could not be obtained, the delegate was chosen by lot from among all the Committeemen whether they were standing for the delegate election or not. Each area determined the number of times to vote prior to settling the election by lot. Needless to say, much has changed since then.

On April 20, 1951 ­ 37 US and Canadian delegates (half the planned number) convened at the Commodore Hotel in NYC as the 1st Panel of the General Service Conference. Bernard B Smith presided. 15 Trustees and 10 staff members from the NY Office and Grapevine joined the Conference as voting members. On April 23, 1952, Panel 2 (consisting of 38 additional delegates) joined with Panel 1 for the first Conference of all 75 Delegates attending.

The first women Delegates joined Panel 2 (Lois A of Barre, VT and Fay B of Bismarck, ND).

Board Chairman, Bernard B Smith, reported to the 1953 Conference that the corporate name of “Works Publishing” had been changed to “Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing.” The first Conference­approved book to be distributed under the new publishing name was the “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.” The 1953 Conference recommended that a pamphlet be developed to clarify the duties and responsibilities related to General Services. It was published in December 1953 under the title “Your Role in the General Service Conference.” The pamphlet explained the duties and responsibilities of Group Members, Group Representatives, Area Committeemen and Conference Delegates. It also contained the first structure diagram of the General Service Conference.

The 1954 Conference unanimously approved the renaming of the 15­member Alcoholic Foundation to the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous. The renaming took place in October 1954. The Conference also approved renaming the Group Representative to General Service Representative to be the voice of the group conscience in General Service matters. The General Service Representative was to be listed in the AA Directory instead of the Group Secretary.

The 1955 Conference convened in St Louis, MO on June 26­29 and again on July 3. 75 Delegates unanimously recommended adoption of a permanent Conference Charter subject to the approval of the 2nd International Convention that would convene in St Louis on July 1.

AA’s 20th anniversary and 2nd International Convention was held in St Luis’ Kiel Auditorium from July 1­3, 1955. Estimated attendance was 3,800. Its theme was “Coming of Age.” This historic convention introduced a new circle and triangle symbol prominently displayed on a large banner draping the back of the stage. Bill W later wrote in AA Comes of Age (139) that the circle represented the whole of AA and the triangle represented AA’s 3 Legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service. The 2pm Sunday afternoon meeting was designated as the “Last Session of the General Service Conference.” It is the only time in the history of the Conference that it has been opened to the participation of AA members. At the invitation of Chairman Bernard B Smith, Bill W made some introductory remarks and presented a resolution to the attendees to approve the General Service Conference. The resolution was unanimously approved.

The permanent Conference Charter has 12 Articles, the 12th of which is called “The General Warranties of the Conference” or just “Warranties” for short. The 6 Warranties in Article 12 are a condensed version of the Traditions to ensure that the Conference always functions in the spirit of the Traditions. In 1962, the General Warranties of the Conference formed Concept 12 of the Twelve Concepts for World Service.

Compared to 1955, when there were 8 Conference Committees, today there are 13. There were over 6,200 AA groups in 1955, today there are well over 100,000. Worldwide. AA membership was around 136,000 in 1955, today it is well over 2 million. There were 75 areas in the US and Canada in 1955, today there are 93. AA is in over 180 countries. Multiple Conference structures and over 60 autonomous General Service Offices exist world­wide. World services are still linked by the same primary and single purpose that started the AA Fellowship in 1935 ­ to carry a message to a still­suffering alcoholic ­ the big difference today is that we do so in over 150 different languages.