BCPGP’s pilot members’ business meeting on Mattermost, replacing at this time the traditional business meetings in-person at Moordown Community Centre or on Zoom, is at 7.00pm on Thursday 20th July 2023. If successful, further Mattermost meetings are likely to be scheduled.

For real-time interaction between participants in scheduled live Mattermost meetings, we use a dedicated new Mattermost channel called Mattermost live meetings. (This ensures that we do not create a load of redundant clutter on the general channel, for those not attending the live meeting but logging on afterwards.)

When you arrive on Mattermost for the meeting:

• Navigate to the Mattermost live meetings channel.
• Review the channel feed, for any welcome messages and/or supplementary instructions already posted regarding the meeting.
• An introductions post should have been made in advance of the meeting start time. Please post introducing yourself with your name, where you live, any current involvement in BCPGP, your main areas of interest or potential interest, and any particular objectives for your attendance at the meeting.
• An audio call[see section 11 below] will be started by the meeting host(s) in the Mattermost live meetings channel at 7.00pm:
  • We won’t necessarily repeat a full round of introductions, as we’ll have asked everyone to type their intro. (Text posts can always be read back by all, whereas Mattermost calls cannot be recorded!)
  • The main purpose of the initial audio call will be to negotiate together any time to be scheduled during the Mattermost meeting for certain members to have a live discussion together on a specific topic (or generally gather on a certain channel).
• Remember: this is a fundamentally different way of doing a members’ business meeting, compared to the traditional in-person or Zoom approaches:
  • The discussion does not have to be linear! We expect that different people will participate in different channels as the meeting unfolds, reflecting their interests and current concerns.
  • It is not necessarily the intention, at all, to have a centrally facilitated audio call running for the duration of the meeting.The overarching aim of the evening of virtual co-location (or “Mattermost meeting”) is to progress getting work done for BCPGP. If there’s no call going on as the meeting progresses, please consider:
    • reviewing channels of most interest to you, and responding to past posts (where this seems a potentially useful thing to do)
    • posting important news items etc to topic or local channels – if there seems some reasonable possibility BCPGP could develop a response
    • proactively posting in channels covering areas of interest to you, with any information you bring, your reasonable questions, or any possible offer of help
    • quietly using Mattermost meeting time to finish any Green Party home-office tasks you are holding, and then updating members on Mattermost on your progress.
  • If there is any topic you would like to express an interest in discussing, or contributing something to, you can always post about it during the meeting – the earlier in the meeting, the better. We have a comprehensive ecosystem of channels for an assortment of external and internal topics (see Section 4 above) – please always try to identify the most appropriate channel for your post, and post there.
• Remember, anyone can start an audio call in any channel at any time – during our meeting however, it’s probably best if you request an audio discussion with others first via a text post, and wait for others to confirm they will join and when they will be free.
• Always remember – every piece of text (and any files) you post during the meeting will be viewable by any BCPGP Mattermost user coming along to the same channel any time afterwards. (However Mattermost calls cannot be recorded.) Please keep all your text (and upload) contributions respectful and relevant. [View the Green Party Code of Conduct…]
• If Zoom is needed (ie if there is a particular reason to jump on a video-based call for a particular discussion), BCPGP’s paid Zoom account can be used at any time.
• When you’re leaving the live meeting – and/or to let others know in advance you need to leave at a particular time – please post to the Mattermost live meetings channel, so the meeting host(s) can keep easier track of who is still there.

“After the meeting” possibilities…

There is scope for an in-person pub meetup (or indeed a network of in-person meetups at different venues around BCP) to follow 7pm Mattermost meetings. (BCPGP’s organisers generally believe at this time in prioritising socialising and engaging topic-based discussions for our in-person time together, not internal business meetings.) At the time of writing, post-meeting socials are still to be explored and decided upon.