Sadly, your time as a committee member must come to an end after a year and you must elect a new committee to take over the group, and handover any useful information and contacts to enable them to run the group successfully.

 

AGM stands for Annual General Meeting and it is in this meeting that committee members are elected, for more information on running those elections and handing over to your new committee, see our AGM guide. AGMs happen in the spring term and you must give at least two weeks notice to both Student Development and to all of your members – it should be promoted as widely as possible. Most groups will combine their AGM with a social or other activity to help encourage members to attend. The meeting will include reports from the outgoing committee about what they’ve achieved, discussing changing the group’s constitution, elections and any other business. During the meeting, your secretary needs to take fairly detailed minutes of what happens, which needs to include a list of everyone present, summary of the speeches by both the outgoing committee and the candidates, and include details of the number of votes cast for every position; see our example minutes to see what you should be doing.

 

It is very important to arrange a handover meeting so you can tell your new committee everything they need to know about their new positions. This includes; important contacts, where documents are kept, how to organise certain activity, and how to update the group’s webpage. You could also pass on any issues that you have had during the year, so the new committee can think of ways to overcome them.

 

The more thorough your handover, the better the new committee will be able to support the group.

 

After the outgoing committee have sent in the minutes from the AGM, Student Development will send back a guide for new committee members, which explains what they need to do, which includes

 

If you have any questions, please email studentgroups@guild.bham.ac.uk