← Branch Playbook Part 2 of 5 · Months 2 and 3

Act

This is where a branch either becomes useful or becomes a calendar entry. The order is what decides it: listen first, then finish one thing. Everything on this page is built around that.

Month 2

Listening comes first

At least five proper conversations have happened around the shire.
The three things heard most often are written down.
Something has happened outside the main town, if that was practical.
Someone newish has been given something real to lead, with help.
A short “here is what we heard, here is what happens next” has gone out.
The first community job has a plan, a partner, a person, a cost and a date.

Five conversations is not a token number. It is roughly the difference between a branch that knows what its shire needs and one that has a theory about it.

Month 3

Finishing something

One useful thing for the community is done. Actually done.
What it was, who took part and what changed have been written up.
Everyone who came along and wanted to hear back has heard back.
There has been an honest conversation about what gave people energy and what was a slog.
No more than three things are picked up for the next three months.
The finished thing got marked before anything else was piled on.

We started. We listened. We finished something. Now we can build.

What a meeting is like

Ninety minutes, and it means ninety

If you have never been to one, here is exactly what happens, minute by minute. It adds up to 90, and it ends on time.

Time	What	What it looks like	How often
10 min	Arrive	Coffee and conversation. If you are new, someone is looking out for you before it starts.	Every time
5 min	Opening	Acknowledgement of Country, what tonight is for, and one line on what we finished since last time.	Every time
5 min	Last time’s jobs	Each person says done, still going, or I need to change this. No cross-examination.	Every time
20 min	Around the room	One question: what is one local change, worry or opportunity the branch should notice? Anything too big for tonight goes on a list and is picked up next time.	Every time
25 min	Working on one thing	One topic, small groups, ending in a decision, a person, a next step and a date.	Every time
10 min	A local guest	Someone tells us about their patch: a farmer, a teacher, a tourism operator, an SES volunteer.	Every few months
10 min	Branch business, and Bevan if he is here	Events, membership, projects. Bevan speaks when he can get there. The meeting does not depend on him.	Every time
5 min	Who is doing what	Each person says out loud what they have taken on. Next date confirmed. Home.	Every time

Three rules that keep it to 90 minutes

No more than three new jobs leave any meeting.
Every job has exactly one person’s name on it. Not a committee.
Anything we cannot deal with tonight goes on the list and gets looked at next time, rather than quietly disappearing.

What happens afterwards

The list of jobs is sent round within 24 hours.
Anyone new is thanked within 48 hours.
Decisions are written down in the one agreed place.
The next date is confirmed, not left floating.
Anything sensitive is passed on that week, using the table in Start.

If you keep coming

From walking in to leading something

Nobody is moved along this. Plenty of people stop at the second stage and are useful there for years, which is a good outcome rather than a stalled one. Permission is asked before anyone is contacted again, every time.

Stage	What it looks like from your side	When
You come along	Someone greets you by name, introduces you to two people, and explains any acronym the moment it gets used. You are not left standing on your own.	On the night
Someone follows up	A short personal message. Thanks for coming, here is what is next, and here is one small thing you could do if you want to. If you would rather not be contacted, that is the end of it.	Within 48 hours
You pick a lane	Two options, offered evenly: help with one project, or find out about joining. “Neither for now” is a real answer and gets treated as one.	Within a month
You join, if you want to	An optional cuppa with someone, a mentor if you want one, and a choice of three small first jobs with a clear finish. Not a vague request to get involved.	First month after joining
You are one of the regulars	You hold a job or a project, come when you can, and get asked what you actually want to learn.	Checked at 90 days
You lead something	You run an activity with support, help someone newer, and can represent the branch through the proper process.	When you are ready

Someone checks in at

48 hours after your first visit.
A month after joining.
Three months after joining.

The question at three months is not “have you been coming”. It is “has what we gave you to do been worth your time”.

If life gets busy

You are still a member. Nobody is struck off for missing meetings.
You get a friendly note and an easy way back in, not a guilt trip.
People come back when things settle down, and they are welcome when they do.

What we do with what you tell us

Nothing disappears into a drawer

A branch is only worth being in if what gets raised actually goes somewhere and comes back. Everything follows the same eight steps, whether it came from a committee member or from someone who walked in for the first time.

You raise it

In the meeting, or quietly afterwards. Either is fine.

We get it clear

In plain words: what the problem is, who it affects.

We check it

What evidence there is, and what has already been tried.

We work out where it goes

The shire, the electorate office, the party, or us.

We ask you first

Nothing about your situation moves without your say-so.

Someone owns it

One name, one next step, one date to check back.

We report back

At the next meeting, out loud, whether or not it moved.

We close the loop

We come back to you. Including when the answer is no.

Six different things, kept apart

If it is	Where it goes
Your own problem, about you or your family	The electorate office, where people are paid to handle it properly. It is never discussed by name in an open meeting.
Something affecting the whole community	The branch’s list of local issues.
An idea for how the rules should change	Branch discussion first, then up to the electorate forum.
A council matter	The shire. We help if you want us to, and stay out of it if you do not.
A party matter	The constitution and state office.
An emergency, or someone at risk	Emergency services. First, always, before anything else.

Personal details do not go in the minutes, the group chat or a shared folder. Where something has to be held at all, one named person holds it under the party’s privacy rules.

And the results get described accurately. Raising an issue is not the same as getting it adopted, and getting it adopted is not the same as getting it fixed. Which of those actually happened is what gets reported, rather than credit claimed for something a council was going to do anyway.

All five parts of the playbook

Version: 3.0, public facing Prepared by: Office of Bevan Eatts MLA, Member for Warren-Blackwood For: the Augusta-Margaret River first meeting Questions: [SET: electorate office phone / email]