Starting a community group guide

Setting up a community group can be a hugely rewarding experience. Creating a group where people can come together to do something productive, help others or provide support is an integral part of community life.

Why set up a community group?

There are many reasons for setting up a community group - they usually start with an individual or group of people who share similar concerns and are aiming to solve a particular problem, meet a certain need or who feel there is a lack of something in their community.

Once the idea or vision is in place, there are various factors that need to be considered and good planning at the beginning stages can save a lot of wasted effort or work further down the line. Here are some points to consider if you're thinking of starting your own community group.

The following key questions below are provided as an essential checklist:

what do we want to do or achieve?
where do we want to do it?
do we have the time, energy and commitment to do the work?
how do we know there is a need for what we want to do?
what will be the benefits of running our activities?
is there anything similar that already exists?

Starting a group

Once your idea or vision is in place and you have decided you want to start a group, there are various factors that need to be considered and good planning at the beginning stages can save a lot of wasted effort or work further down the line.

It is important to think about the following questions before getting started:

do we know our aims and what we are going do?
do we need a committee?
do we need a constitution?
do we need a bank account
how will we generate funds?

Deciding your aims and objectives

It would be useful to hold an initial meeting to agree the aims and objectives of the group. This can be as small or large as you require. You need to decide:

how you are going achieve what you want to do
agree your first set of actions and tasks that you are going to do

It is a good idea to record what you discussed by taking minutes.

Alternatively, you may want to attract more people before holding an initial meeting. In which case, holding an open meeting for the whole community could be effective.

Forming a committee and the different roles

To run your group, you will need committee members with varied skill sets. You may want to elect a committee with named officers or just share out the work that needs doing immediately. Either way, everyone needs to know who is doing what, and when they will report back to the whole group.

Initially, there are usually three to four people who set up a group before evolving into a management committee.

The key roles are:

Chairperson

The Chair's job usually falls into 4 main areas:

1. Chairing meetings
Chairing meetings is the most visible role of the Chair. Your job is to help the meeting to run smoothly and effectively and involve everyone. Here are some central points:

plan and think about the meeting in advance
prepare an agenda
make sure the meeting gets through all the necessary business
make sure everyone gets a chance to talk and no one dominates
make sure clear decisions are reached and any actions are noted
start and finish on time.

2. Helping the committee to work together as a team

The strongest committees work as a team. The Chair is an important part of the team, but is not the boss. It is not your role to make all the decisions or do all the work. It is your role to encourage and involve all committee members in whatever way they are able to contribute.

3. Having an overview of the work of the group

The day-to-day work of the group is important, but someone needs to be thinking about the bigger picture. It's not up to the Chair to decide the direction and activity of the group, but to help the committee work this out. Regularly remind yourself of your aims and think about what needs to be done to achieve them. Some ways of doing this are:

once a year, have a discussion at the committee about the group's plans for the coming year. What are the main things you want to achieve?
have a regular item on the agenda to discuss how recent events and activities went.

4. Being the main contact person for the group

The Chair is often the first point of contact for anyone else interested in the work of the group. You might be asked to attend other groups' events, or to get involved with another project. It's not the Chair's job to take all of this on by yourself. Discuss it with committee members, see if it is something the group wants to do and if so, who is best person to do it.

The Chair, along with the Secretary, is also often the advertised contact person for new members.

Secretary

The Secretary's job usually falls into 3 main areas:

1. Taking minutes at meetings

Taking minutes is often the main job of the Secretary. Minutes are simply notes taken during the meeting to remind you what was discussed and agreed.

A few central points to remember are:

do not try to write everything down - it's impossible and not useful
concentrate on getting down what has been decided, and who is to do it
listen carefully to the discussion and think about overall points being made.

2. Keeping people informed

There is a basic level of communication needed in every group:

committee members need to know the date, time and place of the next meeting, and receive minutes and an agenda
the people you are trying to reach and include in your group need to know you exist, what you are doing, and how to contact you and get involved.

How much, and what sort of publicity you need will depend on exactly what you are trying to do. It's not up to the Secretary to make all the decisions about your publicity and communication - the committee as a whole needs to think about this and divide up and delegate tasks.

There are also lots of different ways of communicating with each other. You need to work out what suits your members best and might want to use a mix of different methods, such as social media as well as printed flyers.

3. Receiving and responding to information, emails and letters

The Secretary, along with the Chair, is often the contact for information from other organisations or any formal communication with the group.

The Secretary and Chair are also often the advertised contacts for people interested in joining the group.

The Secretary's role is to make sure that any information they receive is dealt with. This doesn't necessarily mean doing it all yourself but making sure that someone is. For example, an invitation to attend an event could go to the next committee meeting and an enquiry from someone interested in joining the group could be passed on to another committee member.

Treasurer

The Treasurer has the day-to-day responsibility of looking after the group's money. They need to have an overview of the group's financial situation and provide information to help the group make informed decisions.

It is important to remember that the Treasurer does not have sole responsibility for the group's finances. It is up to the committee as a whole to decide how funds will be raised and spent. It's also up to the committee to make sure that the group's money is being handled properly.

The Treasurer's job covers 2 main areas:

1. Keeping financial records for the group

The most important thing is to write everything down, and to keep all related paperwork. Don't put off the task of recording money that has been received and spent until it becomes confusing and complicated.

Here is quick checklist of the main tasks:

keep a written record of the money going in and out of the group funds
check and keep bank statements
keep receipts for all items bought
keep paperwork for all grants and money received
have a system for dealing with expenses and petty cash.

2. Keeping the committee informed of their financial situation

It is the Treasurer's job to keep the committee informed about the group's money, so everyone understands the overall financial situation.

It's useful to give a financial update at every committee and general meeting. This doesn't have to be a big task.

It's useful for your update to cover:

how much money the group has
how much has been spent since the last meeting, and what on
any problems or issues you have spotted - for example, if there isn't enough money to pay the room hire for your next meeting.
at an Annual General Meeting you will need to provide a fuller report that covers the whole year.

Creating a constitution

You need a set of rules or principles that you will use to govern your group. Your group will need this governing document so that everyone knows:

what your group is called and what it aims to do
how your group will be run
who is responsible for running your group

You also need this document to apply for funding to keep your group running. People will only give money to you if they are confident it will all be accounted for and spent properly. The normal type of governing document for a small group is a constitution.

Constitutions are important because they can help to solve disputes and outsiders can see that your group is democratic and accountable. Therefore, you should make sure your constitution reflects properly the way you want to do things.

What to include in your constitution?

The information below will help you write a constitution if you are part of a group that does not intend to become a registered charity. Whilst there are a large number of reasons for groups starting up, most constitutions have similar headings and structure. There are a number of headings you should probably include in any constitution.

name of organisation
aims and objectives
membership
officers of the group / meetings
committee
rules of procedure / Annual General Meetings (AGM)
finances
discipline and appeals
dissolution
declaration

Aims and Objectives: Why are you setting up this organisation? What do you want to achieve? Who has the group been set up to help? Are there any specific audiences that you want to include within the remit of your group? Please beware of defining your aims and objectives too tightly. Leave room for your group to add to or change the focus of why you exist; otherwise you may have to wind up the old group and start the process all over again.
Membership: Who can be a member and how many people can be in the group? For example, is it anyone who pays a membership fee, everyone who uses the group or volunteers their time or anyone who lives in a certain area
Officers of Group / Meetings: How many general meetings that are open to all members will there be each year? Will there be a committee responsible for organising these and generally dealing with the day-to-day issues?
Committee: What officers do you need? How many people should be on the committee? How will the committee be chosen or elected? What are the responsibilities of the committee? How long should people serve on the committee for? How will the chairperson, secretary and treasurer be chosen or elected? How will the committee share information with all the other members of the group?
Rules of Procedure / AGM: These can seem boring but they do help meetings and committees to run smoothly; For example, how often do you meet, are other members allowed to attend meetings and if so, are they allowed to vote?
Finances: How will any monies owned by the group be looked after and used? You will need to establish and administer your bank account and ensure that there is more than one signature on any cheques.
Dissolution: What happens to any property or money if the group closes or stops?

Opening a bank account

Your community group will almost certainly need a bank account. Most high street banks offer accounts for not-for-profit organisations, which will allow your group to start depositing funds and authorise signatories that have access to them.

You will need to identify at least two people who will be signatories. Most banks may ask to see your constitution or minutes from your group meeting when you agreed to open a bank account.

How to hold meetings

This section will give you advice and guidance on how you organise and run your groups meetings.

Meeting agendas

An agenda is simply a list of the things you want to discuss in your meeting. As well as helping you plan, it is a useful way of making sure you cover everything you need to at the meeting. A clear agenda, with timings, really helps when you are chairing.

Timing is important to the success of the meeting. Disorganised and unexpectedly long meetings can be a frustrating experience and put people off coming back.

Productive meetings of 2 hours or less can be an experience which builds morale and strengthens your organisation.

Preparing your agenda

An agenda is simply a list of the things you want to discuss in your meeting. It is useful because:

it helps you plan the meeting
it helps you to get through the business of the meeting efficiently
it helps people at the meeting follow what is going on
it gives people the opportunity to think about the meeting in advance.

Who decides what's on the agenda?

Often agenda items are just decided by the Chair and the Secretary. However, if you can it is useful to find ways of giving your members the opportunity to contribute.

Some ways of doing this are:

put up a suggestion sheet on a notice board
at the meeting, ask for items for the next meeting
when you send out the notice of the meeting, ask for suggestions for the agenda. Remember to put a contact address and the date you need them by.

Items for your agenda

The bulk of your agenda will simply be the items you need to discuss. Make each important matter a separate item.

look through the minutes of your last meeting. Are there any things to report back on? Are there items that need to be discussed again? Put each issue down as a separate item
have you received any information - for example about meetings or other events - you need to tell everyone about?
some groups always include an item 'minutes of the last meeting'. The purpose of this is to agree that the minutes of the last meeting are accurate and reflect what happened. If your group is very small and informal you may decide you don't need to do this
some groups have 'standing items' on their agendas. These are items that are always on the agenda at every meeting. They are usually reports from officers such as the Treasurer, or reports from sub-groups
'Any Other Business' is a regular item at the end of most agendas. It allows people to raise issues that aren't already on the agenda
try to avoid 'Any Other Business' taking up the majority of the meeting. If you can, it's better to find out beforehand what people want on the agenda. This allows you to organise the meeting more efficiently.

How long will each item take?

It is useful for the chair and secretary to look at the agenda before the meeting and work out how long they think each item is going to take. This can really help with the chairing and general smooth running of the meeting.

Try to make sure the important discussions get all the time they need, and the minor issues don't expand to take over the whole meeting. If this looks impossible you need to have fewer items on the agenda, or a longer meeting.

What order do items go in?

It is general practice to put the short, easy to deal with items at the start of the agenda. You get them out of the way quickly and can concentrate on the important issues. There are no hard and fast rules about this. It depends on what you think will work best at any particular meeting.

When do you prepare the agenda?

The crucial thing is to think about the agenda in advance. It's a tool to help you plan the meeting. The agenda for a large public meeting will need careful advance planning and thought, while a small committee meeting can be prepared the day before. If you are having speakers at the meeting, or need background papers or information, remember to prepare the agenda enough in advance to give yourself time to organise these. Think about whether you want to mail the agenda out in advance or give it to people at the meeting.

Some other things to think about

think about whether an item needs an introduction and if so, who will do this. It doesn't necessarily have to be the chair
make sure you have background papers prepared in advance if an item needs them and distribute them to the group if necessary
be informative and describe each item in sufficient detail so that members come prepared and interested
make sure you have a good idea what each item is about; you may need to refer to past minutes or discussions.

Agenda for Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The agenda for your AGM will have to include specific items such as elections and yearly reports.

Minute taking

Minutes are simply notes taken during the meeting to remind you what was discussed and agreed. They don't need to be long or complicated, in fancy language or perfect grammar. They do need to record clearly and simply what decisions were made at the meeting and who is going to carry them out.

Why is it important to have minutes?

It is useful to have a written record of the meeting, what you've decided to do and who is going to do it - memories are unreliable! This is true even if the meeting is very small and informal. Minutes keep members of the group, especially those who were not able to attend the meeting, informed about what went on.

What are the tasks involved in taking minutes?

taking rough notes during your meetings
writing up these notes neatly or typing them out
copying and distributing them to relevant people
keeping all minutes together in a file for future reference
what skills do you need?
you need to be a good listener
minute-takers often spend more time listening than writing things down
you need to be reasonably confident about writing things down
it's useful to be able to use a computer, but not essential.

What should you write down?

One of the most difficult things about taking minutes is knowing what to write down and what to leave out. Keep these two central points in mind:

don't try to write everything down - it's impossible and not useful. Minutes are not a blow-by-blow description of what was said
concentrate on what has been decided and who is going to do it. The purpose of minutes is to record decisions and actions agreed by the meeting

Sort out the basics

Make sure you have a copy of the agenda. If the agenda is produced in advance of the meeting, read it carefully and if possible go over it with the Chair beforehand.

have the file of past minutes with you, in case any questions come up about decisions from previous meetings
get a decent pad of paper and some good pens
make sure you have got a table and comfortable space with enough elbow room to write in.

At every meeting

There is some information that you need to record at every meeting.

the name of your group, and the date, time and place of meeting
apologies: this is a record of people who haven't been able to come to the meeting but have let the meeting know that they won't be there. Don't record people who just haven't turned up
the names of any guests, and which organisation they are from
details of who is at the meeting. If it is a small meeting, list everyone by name. If it is a large meeting, note the committee members and the total number of members present
make up an attendance sheet in advance and pass this around for people to sign.

Keeping clear notes

The rough notes you take at the meeting are for your use, so you can use abbreviations and organise them in any way you like. Don't get too messy or obscure, though, as you need to be able to make sense of them when you come to write things up.

Organising your notes in the following ways can help:

number each item and give it a heading
leave a few lines of space between one item and the next, so you have room to add other points if the discussion comes back to it later in the meeting
underline or highlight decisions and who has agreed to do what
try dividing the page so you have a narrow column down one side for recording who has agreed to do what
if you are using a loose-leaf pad, number each page

Producing the finished version

the most important thing is to write the minutes up quickly. Don't put the job off for weeks. It makes a huge difference if the meeting is still fresh in your mind
if possible type the minutes up on a computer. Separate off each item and give it a number and heading
if you can't type the minutes up, then just write them up neatly
distribute copies to committee members and anyone the committee has decided should be sent minutes
file a copy.

Chairing meetings

A good chairperson helps the meeting to run smoothly and efficiently. They will make sure that:

all the business is discussed
everyone's views are heard
clear decisions are reached
the meeting starts and finishes on time.

Always be thinking about the meeting overall, not just the topic under discussion. This can make it more difficult for you to participate in the discussions.

Always aim to draw a balance between hearing everyone's views and getting through the business.

Never use your position as chair as an opportunity to put forward your views to the exclusion of others, or to dominate the meeting.

No one can do this without the cooperation and agreement of the whole meeting - the chairperson is not a miracle worker.

Everyone can learn how to chair well; it just takes a bit of thought and practice. You will get more confident with experience. Try watching how other people chair meetings and seeing what works and what doesn't.

Do you need a chairperson?

Some groups don't have a formal role of chair, or a named chairperson. However, even very small or informal meetings need some direction and organisation.

You could decide to rotate this role. This has the advantage that it spreads the responsibility and gives everyone a chance to be involved with the running of the group.

A potential disadvantage of rotating the chair is that no one takes responsibility for the role, or that the same person always ends up chairing without a proper agreement about this.

If you do decide to have a rotating chair, work out collectively what is expected of them and agree from the end of each meeting who will chair the next one. This gives them the opportunity to think about the meeting and their role in it.

Before the meeting

To chair a meeting well, you need to think about the meeting before you arrive at it. Ask yourself the following questions in advance of the meeting:

why are you having the meeting?
what end result do you want from it?
what will you discuss at it?
do you want speakers?
do you need to get more information to inform the discussion?
do you want to ask someone to prepare an introduction?
do you want to distribute any information in advance of the meeting?

It isn't the chair's job to figure all this out on their own. Work together with the secretary and other committee members. Find out what people want to discuss and think about how you can raise issues in a clear and informed way.

At the start of the meeting

You want everyone at the meeting to feel comfortable about speaking and putting their point of view. For a meeting to work well, everyone needs to feel welcome, included and informed.

Here are a few tips:

organise someone to welcome people as they arrive. Never let a new person sit ignored while everyone else chats
make sure everyone has the agenda and any papers - put them on chairs or give them to people at the door
introduce yourself and other speakers at the start of the meeting
if it is a small meeting, ask everyone to introduce themselves. Sometimes it works well to get people to say a bit more about themselves as part of the introductions
tell people what the meeting is about. Don't assume everyone knows as much as you do.

How will your meeting be run?

Every chair needs some guidelines about how the group wants their meetings to be run. It helps to set out some simple rules - these must be ones everyone accepts and is prepared to work with, or they'll be useless.

Once you've got some rules agreed, it is much easier to chair the meeting, and people are less likely to take it personally when you ask them not to interrupt or stop them from wandering off the topic. You need to work out the rules that suit your group, but here are some that are commonly used:

Examples of meeting rules

ask people to speak 'through the chair'. This means putting your hand up if you want to speak and waiting for the chair to say it's your turn
don't interrupt other people
stick to the item on the agenda
don't talk amongst yourselves
respect other people's views - don't groan or pull faces when someone else is speaking. Wait until they've finished and then put your point of view calmly and politely
keep contributions short and to the point
start and finish the meeting on time.

Remember...

you will need to remind people of the meeting rules at each meeting. There may be new people there, and even regular attendees will forget
a group can take a while to get used to the meeting rules you've agreed. If it doesn't work perfectly first time, keep on trying.

Chairing the meeting

The key tasks of the chair during the meeting are:

getting through the business on time
involving everyone
reaching decisions
dealing with difficult people.

Here are some tips on each of these areas:

1. Getting through the business

It's very frustrating for everyone if a meeting doesn't deal with the business it needs to, or if it drags on for hours. People leave feeling demoralised and irritated - and quite possibly won't come back. Here are a few tips:

have a clear agenda with rough timings
briefly introduce each agenda item (or get someone else to)
never assume people know what you're talking about. Take time to go over the issues and explain why you are discussing them
always keep an eye on the time and move items on if necessary. Make sure you've got a watch or can see a clock
stick to the agenda item under discussion. If people try to raise other issues, or go off-topic, acknowledge them, but don't get drawn in, e.g. "That's an important point which we can come back to later..."
stop private conversations and asides as soon as they start
tell the meeting what decisions you are making and why - e.g. "I'm going to give this discussion another 5 minutes and then draw it to a close."

Remember:

do not use your position as an opportunity to impose your views. You are there to facilitate the meeting, not dominate it
keep an overview - remember your role as chair
listen to other people
make sure all viewpoints get heard - including those you disagree with
do not be under-assertive. You've been given a role, and people will be looking to you. Do not be afraid of speaking out.

2. Involving everyone

Have you ever been at a meeting where no one spoke out against a particular proposal, but you discover afterwards that lots of people didn't agree with it? This happens far too often and means there will only be half-hearted support for the group's decisions.

You want to hear everyone's views, and make sure everyone is included and involved in the meeting. There are two sides to this:

restraining those who talk too much
encouraging those who are quiet, nervous, or new to meetings.

Ideally, you want an atmosphere where there can be genuine debate and discussion. People should be able to disagree with each other and listen to different opinions in a way that is constructive and moves everyone on. This takes time to develop, and requires the involvement of the whole group, but there are things the chair can do to help:

Some tips on involving people:

if lots of people want to speak, keep a list of whose turn it is to speak next to remind you. Make sure people know you have noticed that they want to speak
stop people from talking for too long. Be firm and consistent but not aggressive. If someone is talking for a long time, interrupt them and say something like "thank you for your contribution, you've raised some interesting points. I'm going to stop you there for the moment so other people can comment on this issue."
give preference to people who haven't spoken before. Say something like "I know you've got your hand up, John, but I'm going to take Mary first as she hasn't spoken yet."
give opportunities to everyone to put forward their point of view. Ask questions to draw people out, for instance "Does anyone else have any thoughts on this issue?" or " Is there anyone who hasn't spoken yet who would like to say something?"
try going round each person in turn to get their views on a topic, but remember that this will only work in a small meeting
stop people from interrupting. Step in immediately with, "Hold on, let x finish what they have to say". Make sure you don't forget to come back to the person who interrupted when it's their turn
make sure you don't ignore people who have their hands up in favour of those who are interrupting
listen carefully to what people are saying, and make sure their suggestions and considered by the meeting
make sure people expressing unpopular or minority views get heard properly and aren't intimidated out of saying what they think.

3. Reaching decisions

It's easy for discussions to wander around and then drift away without any decision or action agreed. Or discussions get bogged down, with no one taking responsibility for finding a way through.

The chair needs to keep an overview and help the meeting to reach decisions. Don't worry if you can't do this straight away - it's one of the most difficult bits of chairing, and it takes confidence and practice to do well.

A few tips:

listen carefully to the discussion and jot down key points
at the start of a discussion, remind people what the issue is, and what decisions need to be made
see if you can pull together the points people are making and suggest a constructive way forward. For instance, you might begin 'It seems we agree that..."
if there are two or three different points of view, try to summarise each one and present them clearly to the meeting
before you move on to the next item, go over what has been agreed. This is a way of checking you did all agree the same thing and helps the minute-taker to get a clear record
before you move on, check that you've decided who will do whatever it is you've agreed on. If you don't, either nothing will happen, or the person who always does everything will end up with yet another task
do not assume silence means agreement. Make sure people have been able to say what they think.

4. Dealing with difficult people

The chair can have to deal with 'difficult' people - the person who talks non-stop, or the person who 'knows it all', or the person who is just focused on one particular issue. There are no easy answers, but the general way you conduct the meeting will make a difference.

Here are some tips. Remember that the majority of people at the meeting will be supporting your efforts.

remind people of the meeting rules, and that everyone has agreed to these
be firm and consistent - don't allow difficult people to get away with things and then come down hard on people you find easier
when two people get into a heated discussion, summarise the points made by each, then move the focus away from the individuals by asking what other people think about the issues
when someone keeps repeating the same point, assure them that their point has been heard, and then turn the discussion back to the group
if someone is continually criticising try to turn the question round to them, for instance "what suggestions do you have for how this could be improved?" or "what would you do in this situation?"
on rare occasions you may have to deal with someone who is really disruptive in a meeting and won't listen to any of your helpful suggestions. If this happens, try asking the group for support - e.g. 'do people want to spend more time on this discussion or move on to the next topic?' This will make it clear to the person involved that everyone, not just the chairperson, wants to move on

How did the meeting go?

It is always useful to get feedback on how the meeting went.

One way of doing this is to ask people at the meeting what they thought of it. You can do this at the end of the meeting. Just ask each person in turn how they thought it went. You will get some useful feedback, and it makes everyone feel involved. This tends to work best with a small group that meets regularly but can also be useful in other situations.

If it is a big public meeting, you might want to have comments or suggestion forms for people to fill out at the end of the meeting.

After the meeting

Allow time after the meeting has finished to talk to new people or follow up suggestions and contributions people made.

Talk to your committee members about how the meeting went. Start thinking about the next meeting.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

What is the purpose of an AGM?

to allow your members to hear reports from the Committee on the achievements and work of your group over the year
to elect the Committee (either new or for the next year)
to adopt or make any changes to the constitution
to thank committee members for their work over the previous year
to present the group's annual accounts

Organising your AGM

Check your constitution for any regulations about your AGM. This may include for example:

how often do you have to hold AGMs?
how much notice are you required to give of the meeting?
who do you have to notify about the meeting?
how many people have to be at the meeting to make it official?
do nominations for new committee members have to be taken in advance or can you take them at the meeting? (It is usual to have a proposer and seconder for each nomination)

Agenda

Your AGM agenda should include certain items. For example, you might now want to have separate reports from the Chair and Secretary, and you might want to add in a guest speaker or performance.

Holding an AGM works best when held as part of a committee meeting. Participants should have the opportunity to attend the AGM without charge.

Minutes

Organise someone to take minutes of any decisions made at the AGM. It is particularly important to have clear records of the elections and any changes to the constitution.

Take down the names and contact details of people attending the meeting so you can contact them afterwards, for example you could get people to sign in as they turn up to the AGM.

Election of committee

Decide on your voting system in advance and make sure it is explained clearly at the meeting. For example: Do you want to have a show of hands or a private ballot?

Will it be a 'first past the post' election?

You may want to arrange a neutral person to count the votes. Think about the materials that you might need to prepare in advance, for instance, ballot paper/pens, depending on how you organise your elections.

Make sure the minutes show who was nominated, the proposer and seconder for each candidate, the number of votes each person received, and who was elected for each post.

If there are fewer candidates than committee spaces available, all nominees can be elected without challenge.

Conducting the AGM

The Chair should conduct the meeting and will usually talk through all the items apart from the Treasurer's report. All attendees should be asked to sign in at the beginning of the meeting.

1. At the start the Chair should announce that the official business of the AGM has started.

2. Once official business has begun, all information should be recorded in the AGM minutes.

3. All apologies received in advance of the meeting should be recorded. These can either be read out in full at the meeting or committee members simply by name.

4. Minutes of the previous AGM should be circulated in advance the meeting and those present should be asked whether the minutes are a 'true and correct record of the previous AGM' and should be asked to accept them. This should be recorded.

5. The Chair should give a brief report on the previous year's activities and highlights for the forthcoming year. This report is an opportunity to thank colleagues for their service. Any committee members standing down should be announced and those committee members wishing to remain on the committee should be identified as such. Any questions can be taken at the end of the session or deferred to 'Any Other Business'. A brief report of all aspects of the Chair's report should be recorded.

6. The Treasurer should circulate an outline of the Group's finances and briefly talk through the figures. The attendees should be invited to ask questions. A brief report of all aspects of the Treasurer's report should be recorded.

7. If there are fewer candidates than committee spaces available all nominees should be elected without challenge. Their names should be read out and recorded as elected. If there are more candidates than spaces then a vote should be taken at the meeting and the results of any vote recorded.

8. The Chair should announce that the formal part of the meeting is over and ask for 'any other business' and any questions. When this is completed the AGM should be declared closed.

9. The Secretary or one of the other committee members should write up the minutes of the meeting ensuring that the salient points and number of attendees is recorded.

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