Society Democracy: AGMs and Elections
Societies are run by students, for students. They should be run democratically, so that everyone involved in the Society can have a say in how they are run. There are two key things you need to do to ensure that your Society is democratic – hold an AGM and run an online Committee Election.
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Committee Elections
AGMs
Committee Handover
Committee Elections
Committee Elections need to be run online, to ensure that all Society members have the chance to nominate themselves and vote for the people they want to run their Society. Please note, to vote and run in elections, Society members must be current Cardiff University students. You can find the online system under Elections Admin in your admin tools. If you need help setting up your election, check out our step-by-step Elections Guide or contact Henri or Bryony.
For main elections, you should have Nominations open for two weeks. This can be decreased slightly for Bye Elections. Talk to your Society members about your time on Committee and tell students if you think they’d make a great Committee Member. Share the link to your election on social media and in emails as part of your promotion, so students know where to go to nominate themselves and vote.
Voting should last for at least 5 days. Only registered members who are current Cardiff University students can vote in elections, so make sure all your members have joined online, at the Finance Office or at the Students’ Union at the Heath.
The Students’ Union uses single transferable voting (STV), which means that you can rank the candidates in order of preference. If you have any questions about STV, check out this video.
Once voting closes, get in touch with Henri or Bryony to get your results. We recommend that results are announced at your AGM.
AGMs
An AGM or Annual General Meeting is a compulsory meeting, held at least once a year, which every member of the Society is invited to. It is you and your members’ opportunity to review the last year’s events and accounts and make changes to your constitution. These should be held towards the end of the academic year and are generally held between February and April.
Two weeks’ notice must be given by the Secretary to all members of the Society and to the Guild of Societies. You need to do this via the Messages function in Admin Tools, sending the email from your Society’s dedicated @cardiff.ac.uk email address, to ensure that all members are informed. Contact Sam if your email address is not available or you have any other problems with this.
An AGM doesn’t sound like the most exciting of evenings, so think about how you’re going to encourage people to attend. Some Societies order in pizza, some hold their AGM during one of their events. What will work for your Society?
How should an AGM be run?
An AGM is normally chaired by the President and minutes should be taken by the Secretary. You should include all of the following items, plus anything else your want to cover.
Introductions
The Chair will welcome people to the AGM and quickly discuss the Agenda.
Annual Report
The President should review the last academic year, highlighting main achievements, the issues that the committee have faced and anything else of note. There should also be an opportunity for members to ask questions. The members then need to vote to accept or reject the Annual Report. You may wish to discuss the decisions made at the last AGM at this point.
Financial Report
The Treasurer should review the finances for the last academic year. Copies of the financial report should be distributed beforehand to give members time to read through them and raise any questions at the AGM. A financial report should include the following:
- Balances for all accounts at the beginning of the year.
- Current account balances.
- Income from Membership Fees, Sponsorships, etc.
- Any Grants awarded by the Guild of Societies and how these were spent.
- Expenditure for key events or trips.
- Any other information you think is important.
Make sure that the Financial Report is as simple as possible and includes all the relevant information. The members then need to vote to accept or reject the Financial Report.
Announcement of New Committee
AGM is the perfect opportunity for you to announce your election results and the new committee. Try to carry out your election and get your results before your AGM.
Constitutional Amendments
Any member can propose an amendment to a Society’s Constitution, which can only be passed at a General Meeting. Amendments can include changes to committee structure, changing a Society’s name or addition of key aims for the Society.
Any proposals should be submitted to the Society Committee in advance of the meeting but you can take proposals during the meeting if you wish.
If the Chair wishes to propose an amendment, they must vacate the chair for the discussion and the vote on the amendment.
Discussion of proposals should include the following:
- Introductory speech from the proposer of the motion.
- Speech against the motion (if someone wants to speak against it).
- Further rounds of speeches can be made, at the discretion of the chair, if there is someone willing to speak for and someone willing to speak against the proposal.
- Questions and open discussion amongst members.
- Summation, usually by the proposer.
- Vote.
Voting can take place by a simple raising of hands. There are three options – voting for the proposal, against the motion and abstaining. Half of a Society’s membership or two-thirds of people attending AGM, whichever is smaller, must approve a proposal for it to be successful.
The Guild of Societies need to ratify any successful proposals to ensure they are constitutionally valid. Please contact us if you have successful amendments or any questions about amendments.
Any Other Business
Any Other Business or AOB allows any member to have their say on any issues relating to the Society. AOB can throw up the unexpected and lengthy discussions can arise, but AOB can also be the most interesting part of an AGM.
Afterwards
The Guild of Societies needs a copy of your AGM minutes and updated constitution, which can be submitted during handover.
You can hold an EGM or Emergency General Meeting at any point in the year. They are run in pretty much the same way as an AGM, but do not need to include Annual and Financial Reports or an announcement of the new committee.
Committee Handover
New committees officially take over the Society on August 1st. However, it is a good idea to get the new committee involved in running the Society before this as part of their handover. Here are a few hints and tips to make sure your handover runs smoothly.
- Hold one-to-one meetings so that new committee members can meet their counterparts from the outgoing committee. You can talk about your main responsibilities, hints and tips, how to work in a committee, anything you would do differently, etc.
- Allow incoming committee members to shadow the existing committee to see how they have done things and to get them thinking about how they want to do things too.
- Introduce the new committee to the staff in the Union.
- Review the year with both committees – what went well, what would you do differently, what did you want to do but couldn’t? This is a great opportunity for the new committee to discuss their own ideas as well.
- Produce a handover document for the new committee to refer back to. You can tailor it for each committee member, or produce a bumper handover booklet. Include useful contacts, instructions for running events, passwords, etc.
- Make sure the new committee have admin access to Facebook pages and groups, websites, etc. and know how to use and manage them. Do a mini tutorial as part of your handover if necessary.
- Organise a handover meal or activity to allow the new committee to bond and to make handover more fun.
- Complete the Guild of Societies Handover form, attach AGM minutes and an updated constitution. Do this with the new committee so they can have their input, make the changes they want to see and give their contact details.