Business Debtors Anonymous (BDA)
Solvency Immersion Conference
Host and Share Shepherd
Qualifications for and services by our conference host:
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Our conference host is always a steering committee member who will serve as our workshop host and share shepherd (see below).
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Our host prepares with our speakers, during the week before workshops when they'll lead, related to our scheduled topics, and provide whatever support our speakers need. Our host opens the workshops, turns the audio recording on and off, and moderates as the speaker shares and then answers questions. Our host usually leads After Party for up to 45 minutes after each workshop.
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Our host has the "right of decision" (Concept 3) for many parts of individual workshops if they see opportunities to provide the best possible experience for our participants, as long as the host stays in alignment with all of our steering committee's current group conscience decisions. Starting late is not an option. For our purposes, the best workshops start on time, end on time, and we stay focused on the DA and BDA program of recovery from compulsive debting, both personally and in our businesses.
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Qualifications for and services by our share shepherd:
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This role is almost always fulfilled by the conference host (see above), a member of our steering committee, each week. When substitution is necessary, the role may be filled by other steering committee members or Step guides (at the host's discretion).
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We, via the host and share shepherd, invite people to share as described in our unique weekly scripts. If no hands are raised, we ask the host and share shepherd to immediately begin calling on participants by name to share.
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While it's okay to remind participants that they're welcome to raise their hands, we don't beg anyone to share, and we don't sit in silence. ​If the host and share shepherd calls on someone, and then there's a raised hand, we go forward with the host and share shepherd's call then come back to the sharing volunteer. ​No one will be made to feel guilty if they pass on sharing.
Our host and share shepherd will stay as close as possible to the time periods listed under green highlights in each weekly script. ​While it's appealing to have full "round robins" on every topic, we will rarely have that opportunity. On alternating weeks, there are much higher priorities placed on the Step and the promise, respectively, and time will be allocated accordingly in each script.
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We ask the host and share shepherd to keep track of folks who have shared (or passed) and let us know when everyone has shared (or passed) once, and we're moving on to second shares. ​Anyone who volunteers for a second share before the host and share shepherd has opened second sharing will be asked to wait and their hand will be lowered. ​We encourage our host and share shepherd to share on at least one of our topics each week.
We ask our host and share shepherd to stay in their shepherding role and to avoid crosstalk in the workshops, although sharing directly with one another frequently happens at After Party and Fellowship Drop-in. At the end of each share, we ask the host and share shepherd to thank every sharer but to avoid any other comments on their shares.
We, the steering committee, like the sharing to go quickly and smoothly in every workshop. It's taken us years to get to the engagement we currently experience, in the way that we currently experience it. ​This is not a sacred space, and we do not want the sharing slowed down or made more solemn or "serene" or "spiritual." We purposely keep sharing moving, productive, and active.
Bottom line, this is not an easy service role. The service is to our participants while adhering to the guidance of our steering committee — keeping on script, on topic, and on time — which has been developed over years of providing conference service.
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