The Secretary is generally responsible for the administration of the club, arranging meetings (and taking and circulating the minutes for these) and dealing with any administration regarding the club constitution. All correspondence will usually be handled by the Secretary. This includes letting members know about meetings, as well as handling all correspondence to outside bodies via formal letters, emails or social media posts.
You need to be a good communicator and have an eye for organisation. The following is not an exhaustive list of what a good club Secretary should do (and each society will have different expectations of a Secretary) but it gives a good outline of what is expected of you when you are in the role.
Specific Duties
- To prepare, in conjunction with the president, the agenda for club/society meetings.
- To ensure that all members are kept informed of dates, times and venues for meetings, giving proper notice as detailed in the society’s constitution. This also applies to meetings conducted online via Zoom or any other online platform.
- To take minutes of meetings and write up all minutes correctly and in good time.
- To report all important correspondence received to the meeting.
- To maintain a “Sederunt” – a register of all member attendance at meetings. Usually, a straightforward sign in sheet that is returned to the secretary will suffice. For online meetings, the Secretary should take a record of all those in attendance.
- To deal with arrangements for visiting speakers/events.
- In the absence of a Membership Secretary, to take responsibility for the signing up of members and maintenance of membership lists. Updated membership lists can be submitted via email to the SRC by a currently listed Office Bearer at any time.
Annual General Meeting
The Secretary should: –
- Make arrangements for the club/society AGM, ensuring due notice is given to all members so they are aware of the AGM.
- Give a report to the AGM on the past year’s activity.
A circulated agenda for an Annual General Meeting should, for example, contain a list of all nominations for club/society positions which have been notified in writing to the incumbent Secretary. This information would then be circulated to the entirety of the club or society’s membership prior to the meeting. Time should also be provided for Office Bearers’ reports, so that all members of the club or society are kept informed about, and involved with, the running of the club/society.
We understand that in the current climate clubs will want to organise AGMs and other meetings online. You can find more information on useful online platforms and how to host online meetings here.
We now have a Club Management System on our new website, where clubs can securely store their documents. This function will be made available to clubs, once they have attended the compulsory training. You can find the dates for the training here.
If you have any questions relating to clubs or societies please email clubsandsocs@src.gla.ac.uk.