Interest Groups Online

IGO Group Guidelines

The people who run groups are volunteers who freely give their time, skills, knowledge and enthusiasm for the benefit of other IGO members. They are to be supported and encouraged by members, IGO volunteers and Third Age Trust staff.

1. General

The people who run groups are volunteers who freely give their time, skills, knowledge and enthusiasm for the benefit of other IGO members and should be supported and encouraged by members, IGO Trust Volunteers and Third Age Trust staff. 

IGO encourages self-help learning, and members help to decide their own learning direction which is not directed towards qualifications.  

A very wide range of subjects is available to members, including games, languages, physical activities, conversation and crafts.  

Some groups are intended to be forums for discussion about a wide range of issues including political and religious topics. However, members should refrain from promoting particular religions or political beliefs and should always be prepared to listen to the opinions of others.    

IGO groups are open to all members from any background though some groups have waiting lists.  IGO groups are offered at many different levels of ability and members are advised to try out groups to find out if they will be suitable for them. 

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2. What a Group Leader Does

Many groups have more than one leader, and these tasks may be shared among them. Some of the decisions may be decided by consensus among the group members 

1. Decide what the group does and how it does it.
2. Decide the day, time and frequency of meetings.
3. Provide information for the Beacon page and maintain it.
4. Provide information for the group webpage using the group information form.
5. Arrange Zoom meetings where relevant. IGO has three Zoom accounts which can be booked by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Some Group Leaders use their personal Zoom account.
6. Some groups use Facebook, WhatsApp and/or email for meetings. Where this is the case, members must give explicit permission for their contact details to be shared with other group members. However, all general communications relating to the group must be sent using Beacon (see section 3).
7. Ensure that everyone attending meetings is a member of IGO.  An exception can be made when a member needs support with communication or technology. 
   
8. Use Beacon to communicate with members to ensure compliance with data protection laws. 
9. Use Beacon to manage membership – see the next section.
10. Ensure compliance with copyright laws – see the copyright guidance document.
11. Group Leaders should remind members not to share sensitive information or participant identities. 

3. Beacon Group Administration

Detailed help for this can be found at Beacon for Group Leaders.  

Each group is listed on Beacon. The Beacon group listing is managed by the Group Leader(s) who should provide the following information: 

• an account of what the group does 

• information about when and how meetings take place 

• contact email address for the Group Leader – not all. 

• the maximum number of members which the group can take 

• a calendar of group meetings 

IGO members sign up to the groups using the Beacon Members Portal so that a list of members and those on the waiting list is available. 

Group Leaders must use Beacon to communicate with members to ensure compliance with data protection laws. 

In exceptional cases, group members may want to communicate with each other as part of the group activity. In this case, explicit written permission is required from each member. Groups may wish to use for example, WhatsApp – whatever the communication platform, written permission will need to be given before contact details are shared. The following wording could be used: 

If you would like to take part in group discussions outside of the online meetings, please confirm that you are happy for your email/phone number to be shared with the other members of the group and to be contacted by other members.  

When Beacon is used to email Group Leaders, their email address will be visible to the people they email.  They may wish to avoid this by setting up a new email account specifically for IGO communications, using one of the many free mail applications (Gmail, outlook, yahoo, etc.) They will need to use this email address for their IGO Beacon account. 

4. Group Membership

The maximum number of members in a group, is usually limited by 

• The practicality of enabling all members to contribute to the discussion. 

• The organisation & administration required to run a larger group 

• Prior knowledge requirements (e.g. language learners - beginners and advanced).  

Members apply to join groups using Beacon.  Membership is managed by the group leader using Beacon – see Section 3. 

A member who misses three consecutive group meetings may be asked by the Group Leader if they wish to continue their membership.  If they do not reply, or continue to miss a further three meetings, the Group Leader may remove them from the group. 

There may be occasional situations where members attend meetings over a sustained period (three or more meetings), but without being visible and without speaking. In this case, Group Leaders should contact the member to ask if they require any additional support to be able to participate e.g. training on using Zoom or receiving information further in advance. If they do not respond, there is no clear reason and they continue to attend for another 3 meetings without participating the Group Leader may then remove the member from the group. 

Members who do not renew their IGO membership are allowed a month’s grace period and should then be removed from groups to which they belong. If they re-join IGO, they can apply to join the group again but may have to go on a waiting list if the group is full. 

5.  Code of Conduct

General rules 

Members are expected: 

• to treat each other with dignity and respect at all times  

• to avoid any discriminatory or offensive behaviour 

• not to request payment for any of the activities offered by IGO 

• to always act in the best interests of Interest Groups Online and the u3a movement, strive to uphold its reputation and never do anything which could bring Interest Groups Online, or a u3a into disrepute or expose it to undue risk. 

• to use Interest Groups Online’s resources responsibly and in line with the ethos of Interest Groups Online and the u3a movement. 

• to know and follow the principles of the u3a Movement at every opportunity.   

• To treat any sensitive information shared within groups with confidence. 

• Not to promote goods or services within meetings. Lists of resources or services may be mentioned in passing if they will be helpful to other members. 

Zoom etiquette 

In addition to these rules, when you are in a Zoom meeting, you should: 

• Label your screen with your name.  

• Have your camera on if possible. It is reasonable for Group Leaders to request their members to have their cameras on during meetings. However, there are many reasons why members may not be able to turn on their cameras on for example:  problems with technology, internet connection quality, member joining the meeting by phone, or personal problems. Group Leaders and other members therefore should be understanding about this. 

• Contribute to the discussion where this is an important part of the group’s activity. Members may have difficulty speaking during meetings due to lack of confidence, language difficulties, vocal issues, background noise etc. Group Leaders and other members therefore should be understanding about this. 

• Mute when someone else is talking 

• Do not interrupt or talk over other people 

• Make sure you are in a quiet area where there is no background noise, and no-one can interrupt or join in 

• Dress appropriately 

• Look out for "Chat" messages 

• Do not Zoom when driving     

6. When Things Go Wrong

We know that conflict or inappropriate behaviour is possible in IGO meetings, especially in discussion-based groups.  

Where possible, a problem that arises should be resolved within the meeting itself.  

If a member is causing unnecessary disruption or sharing discriminatory views, Group Leaders are advised to interrupt the member speaking and give a verbal warning. If the member continues and the Zoom functionality allows, Leaders may be able to mute these members and allow the conversation to continue and move on. 

Depending on the Zoom setup, Group Leaders have the capability to remove a member from that group meeting. 

Occasionally a group member might become unhappy about the behaviour, attitude or language of another member. Members are advised to try to resolve this during meetings. If this is not possible, they should contact the Group Leader for help. 

If the problem cannot be resolved in the meeting, or if an IGO member has concerns around anything that happens at a meeting or anywhere in IGO, please contact the u3a office via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on 020 8466 6139.  

7. Copyright

Copyright provides rights to artists, writers, software engineers, website developers and composers in respect of their works including a right to royalties and to restrict how their works are reproduced by other people. 

Anything shared and presented in IGO groups must be the work of you or the group members, or, you must have relevant permissions to download and use the resource in this way. There are some exceptions to copyright law for the purposes of education or private study. You can find out more about this using the u3a copyright guidance.  

Any images used within a presentation must be copyright free to use for the purpose. Sadly, images from Google are not necessarily free to use. When you are choosing images, it can help to search by license (under ‘tools’ in Google) and look for images that are copyright free or use your own images.  

IGO is covered by the MPLC license which enables the showing of films, as well as a PPL/PRS license to allow the playing of music. However, not all films, programmes or music are covered by these licenses, so it is advisable to check the guidelines carefully using the u3a copyright guidance. 

Last updated 29 November 2024