Being elected as either President, Secretary or Treasurer at your club comes with huge responsibility. There can be a lot of pressure put on you and the roles can be challenging at the best of times, especially if this is your first time as a club executive.

Each individual club will have a specific job description for each of these roles, so it’s important to follow them closely. But overall, there are a lot of consistencies when it comes to the responsibilities of these roles and how you should go about handling them - no matter what university you go to, what kind of club you’re in and no matter its size.

We’ve split up these roles and put together your key responsibilities and how to succeed.

President

Being elected as the President of your club is such a huge achievement – congratulations! While being President comes with a lot of freedom and allows you to initiate change and innovation within your club, it also comes with a lot of responsibility. You are the leading face of your club, and people will expect things from you – not just your executive, but your members, your sponsors and your university, too.

The main role of a President is to lead and manage. Your job is to oversee all aspects of the club and ensure everything runs smoothly, tasks are completed on time and everyone else in the club is doing their job. You set the standard for the club and set everyone up for success. Essentially, your role is to provide your other executive members with the tools and confidence they need to fulfil their individual role to the best of their ability.

Along with this, there are some key responsibilities you hold:

1. To act as the official representative of the society;

2. To oversee activities of the society;

3. To coordinate and manage the society’s relationship with the university;

4. To chair the meetings;

5. Direct, coordinate and supervise the work of the other elected office-bearers;

6. In consultation with the treasurer, monitor club accounts and finances;

7. Be a co-signatory on the society’s cheque account;

8. Be the spokesperson of the society on matters of concern to members of the society;

9. Participate fully in the committee handover period;

10. Ensure your club’s constitution and Code of Conduct is adhered to.

If you’ve never been in a managerial position before, wrapping your head around these responsibilities and figuring out how to balance them can be a challenge.

How to succeed:

1. Manage your time.
   The role of President is one of the most time-consuming roles, so being on top of everything and managing your time is super important to ensure everything gets done and to stop yourself from getting too overwhelmed with the workload. Having a society calendar can help manage all of this.

2. Oversee and provide advice and insight, but don’t control.
   As President, your job is to help other executive members do their job to the best of their ability. Even though all major decisions get passed by you and require your tick of approval, it’s important to not be too controlling. Allowing each of your executive members some freedom to get creative and trial new things is all part of growing your club.

3. Touch base with your team regularly.
   As President, you’re all over what’s happening in your club and who’s currently working on what. However, other members of your society don’t have this luxury. It’s important to regularly touch base with your team, whether that’s in person or over Zoom, to let them know what’s happening in the club and where the club is going moving forward. This also allows heads of individual departments within your team (e.g. Professional Development, Events, Marketing) to update the rest of the team on how their department is going and anything they have in the works. These catch ups can also be a great way to brainstorm new ideas – the more brains, the better!

4. Reflect on previous management.
   If you haven’t had a managerial role before, it can be good to think about managers you’ve had in the past, whether that be in your club or at work. What did you like about their management? What didn’t you like? Incorporating aspects you liked and avoiding doing the things you didn’t like can be a great place to start.

Overall, there’s no strict right or wrong way to go about your presidency. Above all, don’t forget to enjoy it! A year goes by so quickly, so treasure every second.

Secretary

You’ve been elected as your society’s Secretary! This is incredibly exciting and presents so many opportunities for you to grow as an individual and allows you to contribute positively to your university club.

Secretaries provide an important link between the President, club members and your overarching Club management body. While your role primarily concentrates on administration of the club and assisting the President, there are some key responsibilities to keep in mind during your time as Secretary:

1. Keep and maintain all minutes, records, and correspondence as may be reasonably be required by the executive for the proper conduct of the society’s affairs;

2. To prepare and maintain a register of all members of the society;

3. To oversee that all meetings, notices and other acts and things required under the constitution of the society are duly summoned, given notice or implemented; 

4. Be a co-signatory on the society’s cheque account;

5. Advise your managing association/Union of any changes to President, Secretary or Treasurer;

6. Inform the President of any correspondence requiring urgent attention;

7. Advise members of a scheduled Annual General Meeting within an appropriate time as set out in your constitution;

8. Submit minutes from the Annual General Meeting to your managing association/ Union within an appropriate timeframe as outlined in your constitution.

How to succeed:

1. Be organised!
   The key to be a successful Secretary is organisation. Organising meetings and agendas, having minutes organised in a neat and readable format and ensuring you meet submission deadlines is vital. Having a calendar to keep yourself accountable can help with this, as well as an organised Google Drive where all minutes are uploaded and accessible by other executive members.
   

2. Use templates and prepare.
   One of your key roles is to collate and record minutes at meetings. If you prepare a template to take minutes into, this will save you time and ensure consistency across your minutes. It’ll also help you to write minutes quicker and help you keep up with the quick pace of a meeting.

3. Be proactive.
   Overseeing administration for your club means you need to be proactive about completing these tasks. Don’t wait for instruction from your President or from your managing association/Union – know if something needs completing and try your best to keep on top of your workload.
   
   

Treasurer

Being elected as Treasurer is such an achievement and shows that your other executive has a lot of trust in you – it’s time to use those math skills from high school! As your club’s treasurer, your main responsibility is to monitor, record and report on your society’s finances. Without you and your ability to manage this, your club could easily run out of money. And we know that without money, your club can’t run events.

Some specific responsibilities as Treasurer include:

1. Keep records of income and expenditure through receipts and recording in the general ledger;

2. Keep the club informed of its financial position;

3. Ensure all payments made are legitimate and have been authorised by the society executive, not one individual;

4. Ensure that society funds are not used for personal investment or gain;

5. Pay invoices and manage grant funding;

6. Be a co-signatory of the society’s cheque account;

7. Attend and participate in executive meetings;

8. Present a financial report at the Annual General Meeting;

9. Prepare a financial statement of all major transactions for the annual audit;

10. Conduct a thorough handover for the new incoming treasurer.
    
    

How to succeed:

1. Work as you go.
   One of the keys to be a successful treasurer is to work as you go. This means collating receipts and keeping records of all transactions as they happen. This isn’t just important so that you’ve always got an accurate representation of how much money your club has, but also makes your job easier when audit time comes around.

2. Be organised.
   Being organised doesn’t just mean you have a spreadsheet with your club’s income and expenditure, but it’s also important to stay on top of funding you receive from sponsors. Keeping an organised record is paramount to ensure payments get made and received before due dates. This also includes keeping a neat record of all invoices and receipts organised so you can easily find them.

3. Plan ahead.
   If you know your club runs certain events every semester or year, take these costs into account when working out how much money your club has for other activities. Work backwards from this to help you determine how much tickets should be sold for and if events are financially viable for the club.