Document 6482330

How To Run Your Society or Committee’s ‘AGM’:
Annual General Meeting
Contents
What is an AGM?
Before your AGM:
1. review your Constitution
2. assess your Committee Roles
3. plan your AGM and nomination period
During your AGM:
4. elect your new committee democratically;
5. celebrate your new committee
After your AGM:
6. handover properly to your new committee
What is an EGM?
What is an AGM?
An AGM is an Annual General Meeting where your new committee should be elected.
All societies and committees must hold an AGM during ‘AGM Fortnight’. This year,
AGM Fortnight runs from Monday 24th March - Friday 4th April 2014. It is usually the
responsibility of the Secretary to organise the AGM.
Before your AGM...
1. Review your Constitution
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A constitution is a set of governing aims, objectives and principles. Every society
and committee has its own constitution (yes, even yours) which you can collect to
review from the Activities Information Desk in the Activities & Sports Zone.
You should use some time in a committee meeting to re-visit your constitution.
Any amendments you want to make must have a 2/3 majority vote and must also
be approved by the Activities Officer (Students’ Union). Bring in your revised
constitution to the Zone and we will check whether it can be approved.
2. Assess your Committee Roles
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You should also assess whether your current committee roles are fit for purpose.
Do you want to get rid of some roles and add new ones? Any amendments must
have a 2/3 majority vote at your committee meeting.
Remember - it is COMPULSORY to have the following executive committee:
President, Treasurer, Secretary and Inclusion Officer (all of these except the
Inclusion Officer must be different people).
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However additional optional roles might include: Social Sec, Publicity Officer,
Sports Captain, Careers Officer, Events Team, Environmental & Ethical officer,
Volunteering and Charity Rep. More ideas are here: www.shef.ac.uk/union/getinvolved/societies/zone-online/committee-roles-and-training.php
3. Plan your AGM & Nomination Period
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Decide on a date, time and accessible venue for your AGM and inform the
Information Desk (activities@shef.ac.uk). Your AGM must be during AGM
Fortnight: Monday 24th March - Friday 4th April 2014.
Choose a ‘Returning Officer’ for the election - an unbiased person to oversee the
election, decide the rules and how the election is organised. It could be a neutral
committee member. Email activities@shef.ac.uk if you can’t find someone.
Decide how you want to run your nominations. You may choose to allow
candidates to just turn up to the AGM and nominate themselves immediately
before voting. Or else you might wish to have a nomination period (‘opening’ and
‘deadline’). If you do this, ask candidates to submit their name, email address and
the position they’re running for to the society email account. That way there’s a
clear record of who’s standing and an independent measure of whether they
nominated themselves in time.
You then need to publicise the AGM, and nominations rules and dates to all of your
society members at least 10 days in advance of the AGM date. It’s best to email
round all your members.
Be clear about key dates and election information in order to give everyone a fair
chance to stand for a position or to vote. Most societies allow each candidate
standing a one-minute speech on the night of the AGM to explain why members
should vote for them, and candidates may want to practice their speech in
advance. ‘Student Voice’ are holding ‘Societies - winning one
minute speech’ sessions to help students sell themselves
effectively:
Tuesday 11 March 17:30 - 18:30, Octagon Council Chambers; and
Wednesday 19th March, 13:00-14:00, Gallery Room 2
Students can email campaigns@sheffield.ac.uk to sign up.
Campaigning Rules
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To keep the election fair, the current committee must not show any preferences
for candidates. However, candidates themselves may wish to independently
campaign on Facebook or other forms of social media.
Only University of Sheffield students (bring a U-Card!) or associate members of the
Students’ Union who are registered society members are eligible to vote at the
AGM.
The Returning Officer will need to decide what penalties will be given if rules are
broken or if there is cheating. Penalties can include the removal of votes or even
exclusion from the election.
If you would like some advice on running a “campaigning period” for your society
elections, please email: campaigns@sheffield.ac.uk
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During your AGM...
4. Elect your new Committee
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Only registered members of your society are eligible to vote and each member
should only be able to vote once.
• Only students at the University of Sheffield, who can show a U-card – or
associate members of the Students’ Union can vote and be involved in the
election.
• If there is more than one place for a position available (i.e. you are looking for
two Social Secretaries) you should say beforehand that members can vote for
more than one candidate (up to the amount of positions available) and then
count the all the votes for each candidate in turn.
• Before voting begins, society elections often have speeches by all the candidates
to the voters. These should have a maximum time limit (1 minute for example).
• Questions could also be asked to the candidates, but pre-agree to have a
maximum number of questions (probably no more than three). The Returning
Officer should oversee questions to ensure that they are consistent and not
prejudicial towards one candidate.
• Candidates are entitled to vote too (even for themselves!)
• Voting should always include a RON option – Re-Open Nominations, so if society
members are unhappy with the candidates, they can vote to re-open the
nomination procedure for that position.
• Votes should be cast by either:
1. Show of hands: If you do this, make sure the candidates leaves the room so that
members are free to vote however they wish; OR
2. Secret ballot: This is the fairest and most transparent way, where votes are
written on paper. Before the AGM, your Secretary may wish to make some ballot
slips for each position available – make sure you bring enough copies!
An example ballot paper:
Position
Candidate Name
President
President
President
James Clare
Kirsty Smith
RON (Re-Open Nominations)
Secretary
Secretary
Adrian Florescu
RON (Re-Open Nominations)
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Vote (X
the box)
The votes should be counted by the Returning Officer(s).
You may decide not to disclose how many votes candidates receive.
5. Celebrate your new Committee!
Hold a big social after the AGM to congratulate those elected and thank those who
were not successful – keep them involved for next year. AGMs are a great time for a
massive social after getting everyone together!
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After your AGM...
6. Committee Handover
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Ensure that the newly elected committee complete their committee details forms
(Parts A & B) within one week of the AGM. Links are available from the Activities
Zone Desk (activities@sheffield.ac.uk). It is also a good time to check that there is
an up to date constitution on file. The deadline for these forms is Friday 16th May
and if they’re not received by the deadline your society will be de-registered.
The new committee MUST sign up to society training sessions provided for by the
Activities & Sports Zone...this is crucial to help them get to grips with their role!
Introduce the committee to the ‘Zone Online’. Download he committee role guides
from the Zone Online and pass them on to the new committee:
www.shef.ac.uk/union/zoneonline.
Produce a handover guide, including key dates, contacts and lessons learnt for the
new committee (see ‘How to handover to a new committee’ on the Zone Online).
Arrange a ‘handover period’ including handover meetings, to train up the new
committee roles one-to-one with their predecessors. This means that by the start
of the new term (September 2014) your committee should know what they’re
doing.
What about an EGM?
Hopefully, an AGM will establish your committee for the year without a hitch.
However an EGM (sometimes called an Emergency General Meeting or Special General
Meeting) can be held at any point during the year, when they are necessary or when
issues arise.
EGMs should be used for:
1. Electing new committee members mid-term
2. Electing committee members into newly created positions
3. Removing a committee member from the committee (VONC)
4. Making constitutional changes
Electing New Committee Members Mid-Term
There is sometimes a need to appoint new committee members mid-term (e.g. if a
committee members resigns or if a new committee position is created). In these cases,
an EGM must be held (sometimes called a Bi-Election).The following steps should be
followed.
1. Arrange the date and time of your EGM. It should preferably be in an
accessible, non-alcoholic location and at a time that most members will be able
to make.
2. The opportunity to stand for the new role/s must be advertised to all
committee members at least 10 working days before the EGM is due to take
place. Nominations must be sent to the president or secretary.
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3. You must publicise the date and time of your EGM to ALL YOUR MEMBERS at
least 5 working days in advance of the meeting. You must then circulate the
agenda to all your members at least 3 working days in advance of the meeting.
4. During your EGM, take minutes and record the number of votes. Minutes
should be made at the EGM and circulated to members afterwards.
5. Candidates are usually required to do a one-minute speech.
6. If there is only one candidate for each post, they must be elected in by twothirds of those present and voting. When there are numerous candidates, the
one with the most votes should win.
7. Newly elected members should submit a ‘Committee Details Part B’ form:
https://docs.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/spreadsheet/viewform?usp=drive_
web&formkey=dDJnM3RYYmI5cGFOX0lEc3NxVXdobXc6MQ#gid=0 as soon as
possible. In the case of a committee member resigning, the newly elected
committee member will not be registered until the Activities Zone Desk staff
(activities@shef.ac.uk) have received confirmation from the member who has
resigned.
Removing a Committee Member from the Committee (VONC)
If it feels like an elected member of the committee is not behaving in an appropriate
way, this can usually be solved internally by speaking to them and asking what you can
do to help. If the issue is still not resolved after this, staff in the Activities Department
may be able to offer further support. If no improvement is seen after this, any
committee member may initiate a Vote of No Confidence (VONC) to remove them
from the committee. This really is a last step and should only happen if mediation has
broken down. It needs to be carried out firstly in a committee meeting and then during
an EGM (see guidance above).
1. A motion of no confidence in any committee member may be called in any
committee by a two-thirds majority vote at a society committee meeting.
2. If a no confidence motion is called then an EGM must be held (see above for
guidance) and in order for the no confidence motion to be carried it must be
supported by two-thirds of those present and voting.
3. If the no confidence motion is successful, then the committee should inform
the Activities Zone Desk at: activities@shef.ac.uk.
Making Constitutional Changes
If the committee wishes to make a constitutional change, this should be discussed with
the Society Development Co-ordinator first to ensure that it does not breach insurance
or health and safety restrictions. Any constitutional changes should be voted for at an
EGM (see guidance above). Any constitutional changes must receive a two-thirds
majority vote by those present and voting to be passed.
Any amended constitution must be submitted to and approved by the Society
Development Co-ordinator and Activities Officer.
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How to Appoint Committee Members for Special Roles
There is occasionally a need to appoint (rather than elect) a new committee member
to take up a special role. An example of this is when an experienced society member is
needed to organise a large conference with specialist budgeting and event
management skills. In this case, there is no requirement to hold an AGM or EGM. The
president must first seek permission from the Society Co-ordinator who will consult
with the Activities Officer and once this is granted, they may appoint the new
committee member to the new role for up to one academic year. However, all
executive roles (president, secretary, treasurer and inclusion officer) cannot be
appointed: they must be elected (see section above for guidance).
Any new committee members should submit a ‘Committee Details Part B’ form:
https://docs.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/spreadsheet/viewform?usp=drive_web&for
mkey=dDJnM3RYYmI5cGFOX0lEc3NxVXdobXc6MQ#gid=0 as soon as possible.
Please note: In order to have your committee position recognised on your HEAR, you
need to fulfil all of the HEAR Completion Criteria which have been assigned to the role
of 'Society Committee Member' or 'Representative/Working Committee Member'.
To view all of the HEAR Completion Criteria, please go to the HEAR Activities Database:
http://bit.ly/SocietyandCommitteeInvolvementDatabase
Any questions? Contact the Zone Information Desk:
activities@shef.ac.uk
0114 222 862
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