As a new committee member we would like to meet with you, hear about your ideas for the coming year and help you settle into your role. In your meeting you will be also be given access to all of the systems to manage your society. Book an Induction Teams chat with your societies coordinator here
As a committee member, there will be several systems and processes that you will need to access at some stage. To help with this, our Committee Hub features guides and FAQs to help with those processes. The guides are step by step breakdowns of our systems to help make them more accessible. If there are any that you would like to see added to the website, please let us know!
The Committee Hub is the first place to go when looking for answers about how to manage your society. Now this does not mean you cannot reach out for support when needed, but we do encourage you look through those resources first. The guides and FAQs cover the Activities Dashboard, Event essentials and Finances.
The Committee Expectations Agreement is an online document that each committee member must complete, agreeing to use the guides and the platforms they feature to run events.
The form helps to direct your questions to the correct people and to help the Campus Team manage what is coming in. It may be tempting to contact your friendly neighbourhood coordinator by email… but your enquiry will be dealt with more quickly via the form.
The Enquiry Form can be found on the Committee Hub of the Union website.
Welcome (Often referred to as “Freshers”) takes place in mid-September and is a great time to introduce new students to your society. New and returning students will look to engage with clubs and societies for a variety of reasons and will want to know what you are up to!
Things to consider now for Welcome – More details on each below:
We are able to support with up to £40 of funding towards Welcome Fair stall items or an introductory event. This funding is not part of the Grants or Memberships funds and can be claimed back via a BACS form.
To book a stall for the Welcome Fair, you will need to complete the request form here. Stalls will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
We cannot assign stalls on the day as we have many external organisations, as well as University staff, that require space. We share more information via our societies’ newsletter – so be sure to keep informed via those updates!
Having a stall for the Welcome Fair is a chance to reach out to other students and encourage them to join your club or society. An offering of future events and engagement is worth more than any amount of free stuff! So that should be a priority (more on that later!).
You can offer freebees or give aways that will be cost effective for your society. Here are some examples that have been successful in the past:
Some options to avoid can include the following. They tend to be pricey or not as impactful as hoped.
Options to “avoid”:
Over the course of the academic year, there are grant round application periods that enable you to request funding to help support events and activities you may wish to run.
The success of your application will depend on the relevance of the request for your club or society e.g. the Boardgame Society requesting new boardgames rather than requesting rock climbing equipment.
As a part of the induction period, all new committees will have an opportunity to submit an application for grant round 1 that will take place in early August. Meet with your campus coordinator and discuss plans for trimester 1 events ahead of the submission to help support your application. Meaning the funding will be reviewed and allocated where appropriate as you return to campus in the new academic year.
More information on society grants and finances can be found via the Committee Hub
While the Welcome Fair is a great way to meet other students, there are a limited number of spaces, or you may wish to do something else. A good alternative may be to host a “Meet and Greet” event with your committee. This might be a taster session of your chosen activity or meeting up in 92 to introduce yourselves.
Risk assessments, room bookings and other arrangements can be made before you fully enrol from the 1st August. Any tickets that you wish to put on sale can be added from this date.
Let us know what you would like to run and we can add it to the Welcome Week events and advertising! Having events in mind before the Welcome Fair will help your committee prepare what you need before returning to campus in September. It is also a great way to encourage new members.
After the Welcome Fair, the next events to look out for are the October By-Elections for clubs and societies. This by-election is the opportunity for committees to advertise any roles they did not fill in the Club and Society Elections (around March/April time) or offer new ones. One such role for many of our medical societies is the “Year One Officer” for example. Which gives first year medical students the chance to work with their cohort and a society.
Now this is not to say that you must add new committee during this period. It is just for those who would like to add in potential roles.
If there are any roles you wish to add to your committee, please request them via this form.
Our resources not quite answered your question? Fill in the enquiry form below to get in touch with your society coordinators.