The Difference between Closed and Open Meetings

• Anyone may attend "Open Meetings" or "Speaker Meetings".


• "Closed Meetings" or "Discussion Meetings" are for current or prospective AA members only. "The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking." *
  

Proof of Attendance at Meetings **

Sometimes, courts ask for proof of attendance at A.A. meetings.
Some groups, with the consent of the prospective member, have the A.A. group secretary sign or initial a slip that has been furnished by the court together with a self-addressed court envelope. The referred person supplies identification and mails the slip back to the court as proof of attendance.

Other groups cooperate in different ways. There is no set procedure. The nature and extent of any group’s involvement in this process is entirely up to the individual group.
This proof of attendance at meetings is not part of A.A.’s procedure. Each group is autonomous and has the right to choose whether or not to sign court slips. In some areas the attendees report on themselves, at the request of the referring agency, and thus alleviate breaking A.A. members’ anonymity.

* Copyright(c) by The AA Grapevine, Inc.; reprinted with permission
** Copyright(c) by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.; reprinted with permission
Source: http://www.aa.org/en_information_aa.cfm