Core Officer Training 201920 Picture What Are Your

Core Officer Training 2019/20 Picture?

What Are Your Roles? • President, Secretary, Treasurer and Welfare Officer • Together, you have primary responsibility for your society’s day to day running. • You must attend Executive Committee meetings and Picture? Society General Meetings, and present a detailed summary of the society's accounts at the Society’s Annual General Meeting • You must attend meetings called by the Societies Team, together with any training which the role requires.

President • You are the main point of contact within your society. • Members will expect to receive regular updates on all types of information from you. • You will usually be the first point of contact should anyone from the Societies Team need to contact you – please make sure you regularly check emails & social media pages for any information. Picture? Facebook – https: //www. facebook. com/Socs. Essex/ Facebook Executives Group – https: //www. facebook. com/groups/321078958589439/ Twitter – https: //twitter. com/essexsusocs Instagram – https: //www. instagram. com/socsessex/ • You are responsible for making calls on bigger decisions in the event of deadlocks. Most decisions should be made by members of the society – an executive team is mainly in place to help carry out the requests of the society. • You are jointly responsible, along with the Treasurer, for carefully budgeting and spending money on behalf of the society. • You are responsible for ensuring that the society does not break laws.

Secretary • You are responsible for taking notes at society events and meetings (especially executive meetings) and relaying this information back to your members. • Your minute-taking will be crucial for things such as event planning where you can keep track of who has to complete certain actions and Picture? by what date. • You will be a primary contact for SU Societies staff when dealing with standards and awards applications and will usually be the person in charge of making these applications. • You will play a crucial role in making sure your fellow executive members have carried out tasks/training that they need to.

Treasurer • You are responsible along with the President for budgeting and spending the society’s money. • Expenditure should be planned using the template on the FAQ’s page and presented to the society as early as possible so that members Picture? can query any projected spending. • You are responsible for making sure that the society carefully plans things such as events to make sure that you always have enough money. • You will be responsible for paying in money to the SU for your society as well as signing off on society expense claims from members (unless the claim is yours, in which case the President will sign it).

Welfare Officer • Your role is to help ensure that your society is a safe and welcoming space for anyone – regardless of age, race, sexuality, gender or disability. • It is important that you familiarise yourself with the different services that can help with supporting students such as Student Support and SU Advice – please always remember that you are not counsellors and should never seek to give professional advice. • You will be the main point of contact should anyone wish to make complaints about your society or individuals within it. • Your role should have a focus on creating de-stress events or supporting ones that the SU and University create.

Society Documentation • It is advised that as Core Officers, you work with your members and remaining executive members to create a Code of Conduct that includes regulations on how members must act at society events, as well as guidance on social media regulations. This should be accessible to download through your individual society webpages as well as posted across your various social media feeds. • Within your Code of Conduct, it is recommended that you implement a Picture? three-strike policy, or something similar, whereby if a member continuously breaks the policy rules, they will face disciplinary procedures that are set out by you but are agreed to by the Societies staff. • By standing as a society executive officer, you agree to the SU Alcohol Policy, which you can find on the Societies FAQ’s webpage https: //www. essexstudent. com/societies/help/faqs/ • Both the President and Treasurer must sign the Declaration of Financial Responsibility and then scan and send to susocs@essex. ac. uk – physical copies brought to the office will no longer be accepted.

Disciplinary Proceedings • When there is any conflict within a society, our first piece of advice would be to reach out to the individual for in-society mediation, whether on a 1 -2 -1 basis or with another executive member that they may feel open to talk to or in a more informal setting as a team. During this meeting, we would recommend you refrain from using any accusatory language but try to fact-find and see if there may be any challenges that the individual may be facing that would lead to the issue. • Following this informal meeting, if you still feel that no positive changes Picture? has been made to improve the situation then you should call a formal meeting with the Societies staff by emailing us. • If nothing is resolved after this meeting, then the issue will be brought to a randomly selected group of executives from other societies in our new ‘Panel of Peers’ procedure, where all accounts will be heard and a decision will be made by this ‘jury’ along with the VP Student Experience. • If any issue within a society involved bullying or harassment of any kind, then you need to go straight to SU Advice/Student Support.

Legal Information • If you are ever unsure whether something you are doing is on the right side of the law, please contact the Societies staff and ask. • Societies can never open their own bank accounts. • Societies cannot agree to sponsorships and/or contracts without them being agreed to by the Societies staff first.

Society Elections • Society elections can happen at any point during the year if you decide to create a new position or if an existing executive leaves their role. Please read the Societies Terms of Reference (on the FAQ’s page) to see the ways in which you can hold these elections. • Society general elections happen every academic year around February/March – it is compulsory for every society to take part. Societies will have two rounds of elections at a maximum to make sure that at least the core officer positions are filled for the next academic year. If these positions are not occupied after Picture? two rounds, your society will be made dormant. • Elections for the core officer roles must be held on the essexstudent. com website – the Societies staff will help to set this up with you. • Within your role, it is key to promote the society elections to make sure that enough people vote for the elections to be valid. You are allowed to endorse candidates, but it is usually advised not to so as to avoid conflict. • Please note, the position you hold will last until 31 st July unless all incumbent and newly-elected executives agree to handover earlier.

New Societies Website Picture? https: //www. essexstudent. com/societies/

Buddy System • This year we have introduced a buddy system as a way to help with one of the SU’s ‘big plans’ for the year – tackling mental health issues, especially loneliness. • Our new buddy system is designed to help students who may not feel confident to go to society events on their own without knowing anybody who will be there. • As core officers, you will be primary contacts for us to contact should students who perhaps feel anxious or nervous about attending events use the form on our website to register their interest in societies. • We will look to put you in contact with the student so that you can arrange to meet up informally and get to know each other, so that if they then want to attend one of your society events, they will have a familiar face in the room and someone to pair up with or talk to if they need to.

Welcoming st 1 Years • One of the things our members have told us is that Societies can make them feel at home at Essex but also that it can be quite intimidating to join one. • It’s time to start thinking about your first socials of the year - socials are a great way to engage new members and make them feel welcome. Picture? Consider an alcohol free activity as some potentially may be put off attending events with drinking if they don’t drink themselves. • Consider alcohol free activities such as attending Cine 10 or local activities as it can make feel people more welcome and settled within Colchester as a whole, not just campus. • We ask that on social media and at Freshers Fair, you promote the buddy system so that new students know there is a service that could help them with joining societies if they need it.

Freshers Fair • You will all have a stall allocated already. • The fair starts at 12: 00 but people often arrive from 11: 00 onwards, so please be on squares at 10: 00 to set up. • If you would like to help with the whole day, you can turn up from anytime after 08: 30. Picture? • There will unfortunately be no access to electricity. • If you are bringing food, we advise it to be pre-packaged, shop bought food so that you do not need a food hygiene certificate. • If you are selling items, you need to bring your own float – we cannot provide change for you. • We ask that on social media and at Freshers Fair, you promote the buddy system so that new students know there is a service that could help them with joining societies if they need it.

Any Questions? • Ask now! • Email - susocs@essex. ac. uk