It is a condition of affiliation that your club or society has holds an Annual General Meeting every year, as specified by your Constitution.

It is also a condition of affiliation that you advertise your AGM through the Guild. We recommend that you submit your AGM event online in the UWA Student Guild calendar. It will then appear automatically in G-News up to four weeks prior to the event.

Assistance on Running an AGM

Keep reading to find out how clubs are structured, how meetings are held, and some tips about handover over from one committee to the next.

This information appears in the Societies Council Handbook.

Clubs are usually run by an Executive, who are required to report back to a General Committee when it meets. The Executive are personally liable to the club if any debts are incurred, if the club is not incorporated. The Executive are generally responsible for the organization and delegation of club task. They are elected at the Annual General Meeting, usually for a year, and is the key decision making body of the club. Elect your Executive at this meeting. They must all be Guild members. Below is a rough idea of how office bearers can operate.

President
At the end of the day the buck stops with the President. The Pres is usually responsible for calling meetings, preparing agendas, acting as a chair and dealing with all outside contacts such as venue managers and sponsors. It is up to the Pres to motivate your committee so that your club can be successful. The type of Pres you have will play contributes significantly to the way in which your club is run.
 
Vice President
The mystery person that is just there to help out with anything and everything. The VP is never really clearly defined, but they can be drafted to have certain tasks or responsibilities e.g helping out the Pres, and publicity and marketing duties.
 
Treasurer
The treasurer should have the club chequebook and petty cash box, as well as a record of ALL cash transactions for the year and all receipts. Needless to say they must be very organized individuals. The treasurer must understand the Standard Budget Process back to front. This can be done by attending Treasurer training.
 
Secretary
The administrator of the club. The secretary’s duty is to notify people of meetings, take the minutes and then distribute them amongst the committee and to maintain a list of club contact details. Thy will also have to maintain an up-to-date membership database so your club can easily contact the people who your doing this for – your members.
 
Ordinary Committee Members (OCMs)
These people usually pick up the slack on everything. You can amend your club constitution to include specific portfolios for these roles, but most clubs have OCMs to do general tasks and assist with general tasks: event-running, ticket sales etc.

Running Meetings

Meetings are where the real directions are set. They usually run smoothly, but in case of problems several mechanisms can be put in place to ensure their smooth running.

Chairperson
This person is in charge of deciding who talks or does not talk at the meeting. This is usually unnecessary, but the chair can sometimes be required to ensure a meeting functions cohesively.

Minutes
The Secretary should keep these at all meetings. The minutes should be typed up and kept in a file or book, and should contain:

• The exact wording of any motions and resolutions passed
• A list of those who attended the meetings along with the apologies
• A brief summary of any major debate with any decisions reached
• A list of those who have undertaken to do things

The Secretary needs to be competent and document all important decisions made by the Club, as they remind people of their decisions and can provide future guidance.

Motions
Any decisions should be achieved by moving a motion. This can be done by having someone move a motion, another second it, a round of debate for it, and then a vote which will pass the motion if “yes” is in the majority. This is not always necessary, but may be required to overcome division.

Quorum
Clubs can make decisions without the hassle of calling a meeting (SOC suggests you call one anyway), as long as you have a quorum when decisions are made. The minimum number of executive/committee members required to be present for the meeting, for any decisions made to be valid, is 2 members of the executive and 2 members of the general committee. This should be in your clubs constitution. Any decisions and actions undertaken should be brought up for the remaining committee at the next meeting.

The Handover

Guild clubs have an incredibly high turnover of members, so if your club isn’t managed well every year then it is possible that your club may DIE. The best way to prevent this is to make sure you have a good handover process. Old office bearers need to pass on all relevant information such as:

• All relevant club documents
• All club property (including keys)
• Information (where your club mailbox is etc)
• Club bank books and other relevant details about club banking
• How the club filing system works (especially where your club puts its archives)
• Social events your club has held in the past and ideas for the future
• A copy of your clubs current constitution
• Who your club has annoyed in the past
• What subsidiary councils your club is affiliated to and what they do for your club.
• Who to talk to about club problems
• Past sponsorship deals and current obligations
• A current copy of the club handbook or tell them where to get one (from Zarah, Mary, or the Guild Student Centre)

It is recommended that you dedicate a meeting to handing over your club to ensure everything runs smoothly. An informal get together may also be a good way to get to know each other and share ideas for the future of your club.

Please don’t forget to submit a newly completed Club Coversheets and Office Bearers' Forms so SOC can keep in touch with and know who we are working with.