Committees
From SecularPortal
The committee is responsible for running the society and is usually made up of an elected body which is voted for at the Annual General Meeting. The committee forms the leadership body of the society, making decisions, organising events and liasing with the union to ensure everything is running smoothly.
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Roles
The committee usually consists of two groups - the executive, which is the main consists of the president, secretary and treasurer, and the non-executive, which is made up of any other roles that are required by the society.
For examples of what roles are on the committee in each society, see the list of societies.
President/Chair
This is your leader, the face of your society. They should be a visionary, able to create and execute ideas and communicate them to other people. You ideally want someone who is charismatic and able to get people on their side.
Secretary
The administrator and person responsible for your record keeping. This person should be organised and driven as they will have lots to keep track of as you start the society. They need to make sure that your members are kept informed as well as ensuring that all the paperwork is filed with the Union.
Good tasks for the secretary to complete are:
- Making agendas and typing minutes for meetings. This ensures that meetings keep on track and that things get done.
- Creating a weekly newsletter to send out to members. This keeps the society aware of what's going on and is a good way to publicise events.
- Booking rooms for events
Treasurer
The real power in the society, this person holds the purse strings. A numerate and analytical person would be best for this position. Funds tend to be tight for new societies so they must be able to prioritise and help steer the committee to the most cost-effective activities.
AHS Representative
Should your society decide to join the AHS (and we sincerely hope you do!) you will need an AHS Representative to accompany your President/Chair to the AGM and vote on your behalf.
Other Roles
Further positions can be created and filled as you see fit but - as mentioned earlier - it's generally not a good idea to have a huge committee to start with. To give you a few ideas, here are some examples of committee roles in other societies:
- Events Secretary
- Press & Publicity Officer
- Campaigns Co-ordinator
- Membership Secretary
- IT Officer/Webmaster
Committee communication
It is important to keep the committee in communication with each other so that ideas can be discussed and new ideas can be put forward. There are plenty of ways to do this, the best is probably regular committee meetings.
You can also do this via mailing lists, conference calls and Facebook. In practice it is advisable to use a combination of all these methods to ensure there is plenty of communication between committee members. Skype is particularly good for conference calling because it is easy to use and free to download.
Mailing lists
Mailing lists are a great way of communicating as everyone has access to email and can keep a record of all the emails but also most good mailing list software will automatically archive all emails sent and so people will be able to log on to the website and read through all of the previous discussions (though you will usually want to password it so only the committee can actually access the archives).
Some Universities provide mailing list services, and this is definitely worth looking into.
When configuring your mailing list you will probably want to set it to reply to the list rather than reply to individuals (for example if Jack sends an email to the list, Sarah's reply will go back to the list rather than straight to Jack) due to the small number of people on the list and everyone needing to be included in any discussions that go on.
The industry standard software is Mailman which comes with many Linux based web hosting packages. It automatically archives all of the mail. When configuring it you will normally want to change the following settings:
- Set replies to go the list
- Make the archives private
- Require admin approval for people subscribing to the list (you can add the committee to it and reject any other subscription attempts)
- Make the list private (don't advertise it if someone asks the server for a list of mailing lists)
- Up any limits of maximum file sizes as all emails will come from trusted senders
Speaking
The BHA has many opportunities for students to get involved in its work. Volunteering to go into schools and sixth forms to give talks about Humanism and other subjects is one where students are especially valued. They run assemblies or give talks to classes to help young people understand the non-religious worldview on important issues ranging from life after death to the foundations of morality. They also speak about their personal views and why Humanism is important to them. This is a really great way to increase understanding about Humanism and to discuss important issues with young people. Some speakers take part in panels where they present their beliefs alongside religious people. This is very valuable as it allows pupils to see that people can work together despite differences in what they belief. If you are interested, email local@humanism.org.uk.
