When plans for finalizing the General Service Conference were made in late 1950, Bill asked half of the areas in the U.S. and Canada to elect a Conference Delegate for Panel One which was to meet in New York City in April 1951. Members of the NC & NCAA decided that the Council was the proper forum from which to elect our Delegate, so they planned their 1951 Conference to include the election of a Panel One Delegate from the Western half of Northern California. [Because of Northern California’s large population, it was decided to have two Northern California (Panels) Areas, one for the West and one for the East.] Since Bill had announced that he would visit the West Coast in early 1951 to attend the elections in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, the Council requested that he be the keynote speaker on this occasion. Bill accepted and plans were laid for the 1951 NC & NCAA Conference to be held at California Hall in San Francisco. Because of the importance and urgency of this particular business, it was necessary to have the Conference as soon as possible, so the Conference was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20 and 21, 1951. This was the first Northern California Council Conference that was not held on a weekend. It was publicized in the first issue of the Good News in January 1951, and hundreds of AA members dropped their business affairs and traveled many miles in order to participate. The members of the committee who planned the Spring 1951 Conference were:

Alameda - Chairman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ed A.
Chairman of the San Francisco Central Committee ----------------------------------------------- Bob R.
San Francisco and Marin Counties ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fred C.
San Mateo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed N.
Berkeley -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nic N.
Santa Cruz ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack F,
Secretary of the Council ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kay P.

Tentative plans for this Fourth Annual NC & NCAA Conference included four afternoon speakers who would discuss the four phases of the AA Program: Admission, Inventory, Spiritual, and Carrying the Message. The speakers were to be followed by the election of representatives to the Council by the different districts and then with closing remarks by Bill W.

The Conference actually took place in three parts: (1) the Conference itself was held Tuesday in California Hall where a record number of 300 AA’s attended; (2) an address by Bill, (attended by approximately 2,900 AA’s, relatives, and friends) on AA History — Its Third Legacy, was held at the War Memorial Opera House Tuesday evening; and (3) the very first meeting of Panel One of the General Service Conference was held in California Hall Wednesday morning. Fifty-two of the ninety-six AA groups in the Western half of Northern California were represented; and more than a hundred other AA’s were present as observers, many from Panel Two [the Eastern half of Northern California] which would meet the following year.

At the Wednesday Assembly, Bill spoke in detail of the plans for and the need for a General Service Conference. Nic N., of Berkeley, a pioneer in the San Francisco Group and founder of the first AA groups in the East Bay, was elected the Panel One Delegate. The first General Service Conference was held in New York City on April 20, 21, and 22, 1951.

The new General Service Assembly formed a committee of nine, representing all districts in the area. The members were:

Chairman (Delegate) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Nic N., Berkeley
Treasurer ------------------------------------------- Ray H. of the Pacific Heights Group San Francisco
Secretary --------------------------------------------------- Paul G. of the Sea Cliff Group, San Francisco
District 1: North of San Francisco, including Santa Rosa ---- Louise M. of the San Anselmo Group
District 2: Eureka, North of Santa Rosa ------------------------------------------------- Nellie L., Eureka
District 3: San Francisco ---------------------------------------------------- Rita C. of the Analam Group
District 4: East Bay ---------------------------------------------------------- Bill S. of the Piedmont Group
District 5: South of San Francisco, including San José ------------- Martin K. of the San José Group
District 6: South of San José -------------------------------------------- Jack F. of the Santa Cruz Group

The next significant Conference of the Council was held September 8 and 9, 1951, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds Auditorium. The five Peninsula AA Groups; Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel, Cypress and Seaside were outstanding hosts and upward of 400 AA’s attended. The opening event was an open house and dance in the Pacific Grove Women’s Club on Saturday night, September 8. Regular sessions, which began Sunday morning at the fairgrounds, featured an afternoon address by Mickey A., a member of the Nolano Group of the East Bay, a group of non-alcoholic spouses of AA members. Mickey was the first non-alcoholic wife to be asked to appear on a Council program.

This Monterey Conference was chaired by Walter H. of Santa Rosa. Our Delegate, Nic, raised the question of the future relations between AA and the growing Family Group movement, and this was the principal point of discussion. Nic announced the need for material support for the New York office and the AA Grapevine, and he revealed that Bill W. and Bernard S., the non-alcoholic Chairman of the General Service Board, were going to visit to the San Francisco Bay Area on October 29 and 30, 1951. They were coming to accept the Lasker Award, to be conferred by the American Public Health Association at its 79th Annual Convention at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco on October 30, 1951. The year 1951 marked the Sixth Annual Presentation of the Lasker Awards by the American Public Health Association to individuals and groups for outstanding contributions in research and for distinguished service in the field.