Continuity’s 2023 AGM will be was on 1st October 2023 at 2pm on Zoom.

PUBLIC MINUTES of the GENERAL MEETING of BICON CONTINUITY LIMITED

(Unapproved minutes subject to approval at next AGM)

1. Housekeeping around the use of the Video Conferencing software

    Brief organisational note.

2. Election of a Chair of the Meeting

    A member volunteered. There were no other candidates and objections. The member was duly elected as Chair.

3. Quorum check

    The current quorum is 5. Sufficient Members were in attendance (see agenda item 5.)

4. Appointment of a Minute Taker to the Meeting

    Ian Jackson volunteered. There were no other candidates and objections. Ian Jackson was duly appointed as Minute Taker.

5. Recording Attendance

    Members present: 12
    Non-members present: 1
    Apologies received: 2

6. Consideration as to whether any non-members of the company should be granted speaking rights.

    Proposed and approved by consensus (no objections):
      Everyone in attendance to be granted speaking rights, subject to Chair's discretion. One specific member was granted speaking rights.

7. Election of Directors/Trustees

    Reported: the following directors were co-opted in September 2023:
      Ian Jackson
      David Matthewman
      Ian Watters
    Their term would end at the AGM unless they are elected.

    The following directors are standing down:
      Marsh Penman
      Karen McAtamney

    The other directors are (in order of first becoming director):
      Anna Sharman
      Asha Wolfe-Robinson

    The following three directors were standing for election:
      Ian Jackson
      David Matthewman
      Ian Watters

    Each candidate was invited to make a short statement, and the attendees given the opportunity to ask questions.

    The candidates were asked about their attitude/approach towards disagreement /consensus. Constructive disagreement, without getting stuck, was encouraged.

    The Chair proposed to elect Ian Watters.
      in favour: many
      against: none
      abstention: one proxy abstention
    Carried by show of hands. Ian Watters duly elected.

    The Chair proposed to elect David Matthewman.
      in favour: many
      against: none
      abstaining: one, David Matthewman
    Carried by show of hands. David Matthewman duly elected.

    The Chair proposed to elect Ian Jackson.
      in favour: many
      against: none
      abstention: one, Ian Jackson.
    Carried by show of hands. Ian Jackson duly elected.

8. Finance

    The treasury/accounts volunteer presented finances, via screenshare of a spreadsheet.

    There was a short discussion of our reserves: notably, the timing of BiCon versus our financial year varies, so the changes in reserves from one year end to the next can be misleading.

    Reported: We expect a venue deposit to be about GBP 12,000 – 15,000.

    The volunteer is still happy to run finances. We have adequately many directors and delegated volunteers with access to the bank account.

    The volunteer's report was accepted by the meeting, and they were thanked for their continuing work.

9. Directors' update

    Report:

    Minimal activity by directors this year. We're hoping with fresh influx of directors more will be achievable next year. There was an in-person directors' meeting in July.

    HMRC may want us to do a corporation tax return. The Directors would like a volunteer with more accounting experience, and/or recommendations for an accountant.

10. Volunteers

    We've had quite a lot of help from volunteers, but we would like more, if and when the Directors send out a call. There is a mailing list and a Slack, for volunteers and members.

    The Slack is bicon-continuity.slack.com; the announcements mailing list is https://groups.io/g/biconcontinuityannouncements

10. BiCon 2023

    We had a BiCon. It went well. The 2023 BiCon lost a little money. Final accounts are TBD.

    There was a short discussion of the two motions from the 2023 BiCon Decides (DMP).

    Thanks to the 2023 team from the chair and the meeting for running successful convention under difficult conditions.

11. BiCon 2024/25

    Update on 2024/25: Conversations are ongoing. 2024/25 may be a different shape.

    We encourage the community to volunteer, and to support organising teams.

    David Matthewman volunteered to be point of contact between Continuity and prospective organising teams. (Teams should contact info@biconcontinuity.org.uk, which will reach David.)

12. Any other Business

    Report: there are people trying to improve communication between current and past teams and volunteers, and our repository of experience. Thanks from to those people for motivating and coordinating this project, and for being enthusiastic and motivational.

    The Chair pointed out that the request for a volunteer to Chair the meeting should ideally be made in advance. They are happy to chair 2024's AGM as long as they can be involved in the AGM planning to enable clearer chairing.

(Minute-taker's note: this version of the minutes is for publication on the Bicon Continuity Limited website. As agreed at the AGM itself, it omits people's names, other than the names of the Directors, in line with the GDPR.)