You can tell Launchpad if you believe that your participation in a feature discussion is essential. The system will then try to ensure that you are present for any discussions related to that feature. In particular, if you are attending a meeting and that topic is on the agenda, the system will not schedule a discussion meeting unless you can be present. It will, however, schedule drafting sessions with only the drafter present.

Subscribing as an essential participant

When you subscribe to a feature specification, you now get the option to say if you want your participation to be considered essential:

And when you see your name in the subscribers portlet, you can see an indicator as to whether or not your subscription is considered essential:

You can click on the star, which will take you to a page where you can modify your subscription. That page will also let you unsubscribe if you are no longer interested in the feature.