Great EBSG Meeting...Let's keep it going!

Hi All!

Monday's meeting, by all accounts, was excellent. The turnout of 22 people was the largest that I've seen in all my years of attending the meeting.  Thanks for making this was so successful.

With that said, I hope that this wasn't a fluke.  A great support group needs equally great people to keep it  great.  If we are going to pursue getting some recognition from the Weight Wise clinic, we need to stay strong and unified in our efforts.

So, please keep attending meetings and the social events when they happen, and participate in the Yahoo group & this forum.  We can turn EBSG into something even better in 2011.

Cheers!
-- Xcalibur

cc: EBSG Yahoo Group

You bet, you won me over....I'll be at all the meetings I can make it to....Except April when we go to Palm Springs for the month... :0

I'm just waiting to get approved for the Yahoo Group....I hope I signed up right....

You know what we need? Some sort of calling cards that we could each carry and give people we run into at modules or the clinic. It seems that the people at the meetings are either computer nuts like me who hunted on the net or people who somehow met someone already coming to the meetings.

Calling cards would make sharing group info super easy. All they'd need on them is the name of the group, the yahoo group info and info on meetings. I know meeting days float a bit, but the address and a contact number would solve that.

Kelly-Anne

Normally, a good idea in most situations.  However, given that the relationship between EBSG and the WW clinic is, at best, tolerated, I wouldn't want to start handing out cards.  Why?  For the most part, it's technically solicitation, which most places frown upon regardless.  It could get us some unfavorable criticism and provide more reason for the clinic to continue shunning us.  Secondly, there is something sacred about the medical office.  You just don't expect to be solicited to there.

Personally speaking, the best way to promote EBSG right now is by word of mouth.  I think that is what attributed to the great turnout on Monday.  Dawn and I have struck up informal conversations in the clinic with other patients.  Sometimes, we get around to talking about the support group and sometimes not.

In the meantime, and as Tracey elluded to at the meeting, I am in the process of drafting up a letter to Dr. Sharma to invite him to discuss the issue of  support group recongnition in more detail.  Whether that will be a private or group meeting is yet to be seen.  In fact, we don't even know if he wants to entertain the idea.  What we do know is that that the clinic is missing a key support mechanism in their program.  Our success really depends on how convincing our arguments are presented.   So, I will continue to work on that and hopefully we can send it forward early in the new year.

Cheers!
-- Xcalibur

HI All.

I really enjoyed the larger group on Monday as well. It was great to see so many new faces- but, I fell that aside from Dreens'a awesome presentation, we had so many introductions to get through that we didn't get into any of the discussions.
 
I loved hearing all the stories and there was a lot of good questions that arose during the introductions, but I would really love to introduce a short introduction "Name, surgery status, reason for being at meeting."

This last meeting there were quite a few new post-surgery graduates who I am sure would have loved more time to ask questions, and for myself, with surgery upcoming- I would have like the opportunity to ask more about the post-surgery diet.

Again, I think the meeting went really well and I am not being critical of the discussions that took place- AT ALL. I would just really like to have less introductions and more discussions in future.

Otherwise, I would propose the we have two meetings a month which I think would be great but likely a nightmare for planning for our wonderful EBSG meeting planners.

I don't disagree with the comments that have been made about the meeting. Since this was the largest group we have ever have, I think that we were unprepapred on how to properly manage time.  Hence, the reason we went way over time, but it wasn't a bad thing.

My pet peeve about the meeting is that is almost too informal.  There is little structure around it, which allows for people to go off topic or just painly interrupt the people who are speaking.  So, I hope that Tracey and I can discuss ways of addressing this concern for the next time.  I would prefer not to get into format where we are following a modified Robert's Rule of Order structure, but it may not be a bad idea.

I do think that limiting the amount of introduction time would be beneficial.  As the group grows, we will all learn of each other's journeys over time.  We don't need to relive them at each meeting. (Yes, I am guilty of that too!)  So, maybe a basic intro/update might be a good idea.  We could have each person just provide basic information (Name, Pre/Post Op status, what surgery and date, what surgeon, and amount of weight loss to date) and one good news item.  Limit it to 2 mins per person or something like that.  After that, we can move into discussion topics or guests.  If the discussion runs long, maybe relocating to a cafe afterwards would be beneficial?  I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud.  It would decrease the amout of money we pay to the Parking Nazis!  Just an idea!

As for special guests/presentations, we would love to have more of these.  Part of the problem is that we are at a loss for ideas.  So, if you have any, please pass them up to Tracey or myself.  We would love to have some of the resources from the clinic or AHS come out to discuss topics.  However, that's once again hindered by the lack of recognition.  I'm hopeful we can address this in the new year though.

Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming. We want as much feedback to help make this a valuable resource.

Cheers!
-- Xcalibur

I have to agree with Chance. As much as I loved the meetings, it was hard with such a big group. BUT I think it is great to share - so I don't think there is a win/win in this situation. We want to be reconginzed as a support system through weight wise and the only way to do that is to have the numbers. What if we spilt up into groups for discussion and then moved around or something? But with Dreena's awesome presentation it did take from time that we normally would have for discussion right? Or what if we changed the time from 530pm - 8pm to 530pm - 9pm?

I loved the meetings - they are really my only support so I need them.

From my experience with group supports, each meeting could be very different for many reasons....

With so many new faces it was imperative for large introductions, so as we get to know each other, if there are no new faces, I imagine we'll just jump right into discussion?  

 There is no win-win...but everyone wins by being there, because we all learn from listening, we all learn from sharing, and we all learn from speaking.  It's a complete package.

Some days we might not want to share, some days I think we'll need to raise our hands and say, I'd really like to ask some questions and go first!

I think our presentation of hoops was kind of like a 'special invitation' and absolutely agree that other meetings will allow for probably an extra hour of time!  Although I'd love to see other special presentations because how will I know what's out there unless it's shared with me!  Especially if it's related to lifestyle, obesity or surgery. 

I enjoyed hearing about the plastic surgery information, even though that is not even in the middle distance in my future...and by the time I get there, everything could be changed again!

I have to say that example Christine gave about 'not eating cake' still has me in stitches and totally made me want the RNY for a few minutes.

What a fabulous group!

I can't wait to learn from/with you all again.

Dreena