Societies Chairperson's Manual 2019/2020 - UCC Societies
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Societies Chairperson’s Manual 2019/2020
Contents President’s Address 3 Your Societies Executive 4 Chairing & Leadership 5 Senate & Societies Guild 8 Accessibility 9 Trainings 11 Entertainments/Events 12 Mid-Year Review 13 Sustainability 14 Awards 15 Sponsorship 16 Finance 23 AGM/EGM Procedure 31 Welfare 32 Welfare & Accessibility Resource 37 Development 39 Secretary 42 Public Relations 47 Office 49 Societies List 50 Risk Assessment Templates 54 Policies & Procedures 73 CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 2
President’s Address Hi everyone! A huge welcome to Chairperson’s Training 2019! I want to say a big thank you to you all for coming and I hope you learn a lot from our speakers, executive and fellow chairperson’s. My name is Michaela Maher or Kayla as most of you will know me by and I’m very lucky to be your Societies President for the upcoming year. My role is to support you, your committee and your society in whatever way possible so don’t ever hesitate to contact me if you need to ask a question, need advice or need help with anything! I’m here to help! I was very lucky to be a chairperson twice in my time studying in UCC for two different societies, Choral Society and Cancer Society so I know exactly how you feel coming here today. Being a chairperson brings a lot of work and responsibility, but it is equally rewarding and you’ll never regret taking on the position. Don’t ever be afraid to depend on your committee or the Societies Executive if you need a helping hand! I’m very lucky to have a very strong executive behind me to deliver what will be another strong year for UCC Societies, and we’re very excited for you to be a part of it! With new societies added to the fold, let’s continue to be one of the most important experiences of student life! Best of Luck with your year and remember, we at the Societies Executive will support you all the way! Le Meas, Kayla CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 3
Your Societies Executive 2019/2020 CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 4
Chairing & Leadership Kayla Maher It’s important for you to know that now you’re a chairperson, everyone is going to look to you to when things go wrong and when things go right, it’ll all part and parcel of the job. Chairing a meeting: 1. Make sure you sit in a circle – WHY? Equality! It’s a small thing but the last thing you need is someone hiding in the background in a meeting. It’ll keep your committee more focused. Take this into account when booking your room! 2. Agenda – you need one. Not only is it more professional, it ensures meetings are ran more smoothly. 3. Follow the agenda and don’t leave people stray off topic. Don’t be afraid to tell them to come back onto topic either. 4. Ensure everyone in the room says something. If you’re talking about something PR related, ask the PRO what they’re thinking and if there’s uncertainty in the room, ask the quietest person in the room, they tend to have the best points! 5. Restrict phone usage in meetings. By all means have paperless meetings, but inform your committee that you expect their full focus in the room. 6. DELEGATE! It’s not your job to do everything, it’s your job to help everyone. Remember that people signed up for these roles, they have to be under the expectation that they’re obliged to do them, so give them the jobs to do. 7. Be transparent! This is what meetings are for. You should have nothing to hide, tell them everything that’s happening, they might have a connection that you didn’t know about. Leadership: 1. As a leader, you’re not expected to know absolutely everything, there’s absolutely no way you possibly could! This is why you have experienced people to ask, so don’t be afraid to say “I’m going to check with Kayla actually and get back to you.” Your committee will respect you more for being honest than you trying to blag your way through it. 2. Give opportunity to your committee and listen to what your committee have to say, it’s important that they feel heard and respected, and are given equal opportunity to shine. No favouritism! 3. Be transparent! This is what meetings are for. You should have nothing to hide, tell them everything that’s happening, they might have a connection that you didn’t know about. Try the following exercise with your committee: 1. Give everyone a sticky note and ask them to write down an event/campaign they’d like to do. 2. Collect all the sticky notes and work as a team to place them on the below graph. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 5
3. As you’re placing them on the graph, have a discussion and use the points from the
‘Chairing a meeting’ section to get people from your committee involved.
4. When all these events have been placed on the graph, you can immediately say no to
everything in Box 4 and aim for events/campaigns in box 1.
Delegation then comes into the mix. You need to look at the different aspects of your event
and delegate the jobs accordingly.
Simulation: Organising a quiz
1. Make the list of what you need to do.
Graph below
2. Delegate the jobs accordingly to the people
3. Leave yourself free to pick up the slack from other people
4. Expect something to go wrong.
5. Have list of jobs for the night
a. Who’s correcting
b. Who’s announcing
c. Who’s picking up sheets On the night
d. Have a runner in case of questions
e. Who’s collecting entry fee (Finance Officer)
6. Make sure to thank sponsors and the venue before the last round/at the end
when announcing the winners
7. Time the food to come in when tallying up the rounds
8. Get pictures (PRO)
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 6
DON’T FORGET YOUR RISK ASSESSMENT CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 7
Another app you can use is Meistertask, which is completely free and share it with the other members of your committee. With this app, you can add tasks and move them as they are completed and designate day-to day jobs without calling meetings. It can quite dependent on the evening but if people have busy timetables it can sometimes to be easier to delegate using the app, as people are less likely to read minutes from meetings. Senate What is Senate? Senate is a large meeting where we have a representative from all societies in one room. We can talk about any issues you’re having and help you through them. You can also see and ask questions about what your Societies Executive have been doing during their time in office. When is Senate? Senate must happen 4 times a year, as by guild constitution. We generally have senate in October, November, February and March. The senate in March will also incorporate the Societies Executive AGM. Societies Guild Who are the Guild? The guild is made up of every society chairperson and the Societies Executive. So therefore, Senate is a meeting of the Societies Guild, essentially. Who are the Societies Executive? The societies executive are a team of students who have been elected by a democratic vote by societies in the previous academic year to represent student societies. The executive are made up of: - President - Finance Officer - 6 OCM’s (President picks the roles in which these officers will work in) - 1 SU Rep Note: The Societies President is constitutionally an Ex-Officio on every society committee in UCC. What do the Societies Executive do? The Societies Executive are there to help if you need anything over the course of the year. Each member of the executive, apart from president and the SU rep have a repping group and they will be in constant contact with their group throughout the year. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them or Kayla (Societies President) if you have questions or need anything. They’re here to help! CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 8
Accessibility
Hannah O’Connor
Accessibility is described as ‘quality of being easy to obtain or use.’ In the context of
Societies, this means creating a society that facilitates and is inclusive of everyone.
The role of Accessibility Officer is a new role and so is in it’s very early stages,
If we divide the different facts of Accessibility into different elements;
• Events
• Promotion
• Finances
• Pronouns
• Welcoming Atmosphere
• Hidden Disabilities
We can look at how to implement different strategies so as to make these elements of
Societies more inclusive!
Events:
• Wheelchair and Mobility Devices Access: Ensure that the venue itself is accessible
o Wheelchair ramps where required (eg. Aula Maxima Stage)
o Elevator Access throughout building especially to nearby amenities
o Transport to and from the event location (speakers traveling to and from;
buses to and from balls)
o Any equipment used; podiums, microphone stands, etc.)
• Visibility
o Allow space between seats, in aisles, etc.
o Make sure rooms are adequately lit
• If catering/ food provided
o Ask about dietary requirements
o Be mindful of allergies
• Busy Event
o Have a quiet zone somewhere near the event, especially if a big event
Promotion:
• Add closed captioning to video promotion and use them at Screenings
• Printed Information
o Use high contrast in posters
o Avoid using colour to differentiate/highlight points
o Use easy to read fonts, ie. Sans Serif, Verdana
o Minimum font 16
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 9
Finances:
• Keep the costs of events as low as possible - allows students with low income to
attend
• If your society organises competitive/ non-competitive trips etc. → Try to keep
student contribution to a minimum
• When organising committee gear - try and keep costs to a minimum- or subsidising
costs through sponsorship
• Provide free food at events as much as you can
• Make events that would normally cost money for students free- workshops, speakers
etc.
Pronouns:
• Encourage the use of pronouns;
o In email signatures
o When greeting new people - ‘Hi my name is Hannah and my pronouns are
she/her’
o In icebreakers (Welcome nights, freshers week events)
• Avoid the use of Gendered speech
o Try using ‘A chairde’ instead of ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ when opening emails
o Swap ‘he/she’ to ‘they’
o When addressing a room, try ‘hey pals/folks’ instead of ‘Ladies and
Gentleman’
Welcoming Atmosphere:
Going to your first event with a new society can be scary, especially as a Fresher (we were all
there once), and it was through that one nice person at the event that made us stick around
• Make an effort to spread your committee out during events- avoid the ‘committee
gang’
• Introduce a ‘welcoming committee’ - Have a group that specifically interact with
newer members and make them feel welcome (Fresher’s Week)
• Just be nice - It’ll take you a long way
•
Hidden Disabilities:
Not all disabilities are visible, and for people with hidden disabilities it can sometimes be
more difficult to navigate accessibility. By having an awareness of hidden disabilities and
making your events more accessible, this will make it easier for people who attend your
events
• Avoid using ableist language
• Pay attention to people around you - Be mindful of your interactions with people. If
someone mentions that they have a hidden disability, or mentions needing specific
provisions, take note of this so that you can accommodate them in future events.
• Be respectful of people’s privacy- Don’t pry but allow them to share whatever
information they’re comfortable with.
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 10Accessibility Awareness Award:
This year we are introducing a new domestic award, the ‘Accessibility Awareness Award’.
This will be awarded to the society that demonstrates conscious efforts towards making their
society more inclusive. You can do this by implementing some of the tips above, running
campaigns, organising fundraisers, whatever you can think of!
Trainings
Adam Burke
Hello! My name is Adam and I’m your Vice-President and Trainings and Workshops Officer
for the year! There isn’t much for me to say here but my job is to make sure that you and your
committee are trained to do your jobs as well as you possibly can. I’ll be organising role-
specific trainings and some life skill trainings throughout the whole year so that you can all
maximise your time with Societies! If there’s any trainings you’d like to see run throughout
the year, just send me an email at adam@uccsocieties.ie and I’ll see what I can do! Just for
your information, here’s a list of all the upcoming trainings that we’ve already got planned for
the year:
• Finance Training – September 9th
• Secretary Training – September 17th
• PRO Training – September 18th
• Sponsorship Training – September 24th
• CPT II – October 1st
• Ball Training – October 2nd
I’ll let you know about locations closer to the time, and I’ll have a poster in the Societies Hub
where I’ll do my best to keep an updated list of what the next trainings are!
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 11Entertainments/Events Irina Fernandes This section was written by Irina, she is usually highly caffeinated, all over the place and tends to ramble a bit. These are some recommendations on how not to burn the place to the ground and make the best out of your event! If you have any questions or just want to send her pictures of your cute puppies the email to use is irina@uccsocieties.ie or ents@uccsocieties.ie Planning: The sooner you start planning the better. Although big events are a no brainer when it comes to planning early, you can’t underestimate the smaller events. Murphy’s law is real, people! Plan for the small things, because there is always someone who forgets to get the sugar or to bring the banner down. This is normal, it happens more often than you would ever imagine but it is important to tick every single box a day or two prior to the event. The earlier you have all the planning finished the easier it will be to deal with formalities. You don’t have to do everything alone: You have a committee. They signed up to help running the events with you. Don’t let all the pressure fall on your shoulders. If you are planning the whole event on your own, then something is wrong. Not only are you more likely to forget the little things, but you will also be way more stressed than you need to be and might end up not enjoying yourself as much. Delegation is important. Have everyone doing something: Have your secretary book the room or contact the venues, one of your OCMs do the shopping and your PRO the advertising. Keep tabs on everyone, make sure things are done, no “buts” allowed (hehe). On the other hand, make sure that delegation is done as evenly as possible. Even if one of your committee offers to do most things, sometimes people bite more than they can chew and it’s important to make sure that there isn’t two people with too many jobs. Sharing is Caring: While planning an event, it is very handy to have something like Google Drive or a Dropbox where all documents can be stored. Not only does it prevent an air head from forgetting to bring the PowerPoint to quiz night, but in case they are sick and can’t make it to college that day, you have a backup that can be easily accessed. A group chat is a must when it comes to organizing events. Not only does it help you keeping tabs on people, it also allows for solving any problems that might come up. Sometimes you end up waking up too late and don’t have time to go into town to get the snacks for the event and you need someone else to do it. It happens. Don’t be afraid to stand your ground and tell people what you want: Miscommunications happens more often than one might think. Don’t be afraid of telling someone exactly what you want to be done, or to follow up on them as much as needed. Sometimes people need to be questioned before they admit that they are struggling and need help with their task. Don’t assume something is a “given” or that someone will just do it, CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 12
assign it to someone, make sure it’s done. When it comes to negotiating with organizations, don’t be afraid to ask for a cheaper deal or more funding. Sometimes all you gotta do is ask. That being said, sometimes people forget that there is so much you can ask from someone before it goes wrong. Sometimes you just gotta be thankful and not push it. Social media is key: Remember when you were a kid and your parents/guardians would make you pose for loads of pictures because they wanted to show everyone just how much fun you were all having? Yeah, get ready to be the parent/guardian. Pictures, videos and events are bread and butter when it comes to make a presence online. Most people now-a-days are glued to their phones, give ‘em something interesting to look at! Feedback: After an amazing or awful event, make sure to reflect on what went well and what went badly with your committee. Sometimes there are things we don’t notice that need to be address or things that went well and need to be appreciated! It is a good idea to make note of them, good or bad, so you can make it better or keep up the good work next time. All this being said… Not everything will go as planned, and that’s okay but it is important to stay flexible, for your own sake and your society’s. Work with what you are given. Not all events will go perfectly. People mess up and even though you might want to call them every name under the sun, it is important to note that everyone in your committee is a student. Just have fun with it and remember that it’s not the end of the world if some stuff goes wrong! Mid Year Review Kayla Maher The Mid-Year Review is where the Societies President sits down with each guild rep and discusses each society within their group and their work so far. This meeting typically takes place in January. Societies are marked based on compulsory sessions such as trainings/senate attendance, participation at societies day/failte fest and engagement plus amount of events. If a society fails the mid-year review, they will receive an email from the president asking for a meeting to determine the status of the society moving forward. If the society can show they can approve over the course of semester 2, that society will be monitored until the end of term and the societies executive will make a decision in relation to the societies activity for the upcoming year. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 13
Sustainability
Irina Fernandes
You’ve heard it a million times, the environment needs our help otherwise we will be in
trouble. UCC societies has begun its movement in order to make events as sustainable as
possible.
It can feel a little daunting but it’s very doable! I have gathered a few tips on how to make
your society as environmental as possible.
Planning Process:
• Instead of planning in paper, have in on a google doc, this includes minutes and
committee reports.
• During meetings, if you want to note stuff down, a mobile device will save you some
paper down the line! Also, if you use the likes of OneNote or Evernote which sync
across devices, you can access your meeting notes on the go and sharing plans will be
easier that way as well!
Advertising and Posters:
• Not all events need to have a printed poster. Balls and bigger events that happen
annually have enough buzz on social media that justify not printing posters!
• If you do want to still put your event across campus but want to save some
paper, you can do so by having it on the electronic notice board by the quad.
• Send you poster by the Friday of the week before your event is due at
admin@uccsocieties.ie
• It is very easy to overprint posters and end up with spares. If you do want to put up
posters make sure you know where you would like to put them, so it makes it easier to
keep left over posters to a minimum.
• Once you collect your posters back, make sure to recycle them! Or bring them back to
the hub where the back can be reused for other printing.
• Flyers are handy to give out at freshers and socs day. However, if you want to
advertise more than one event through flyers, consider put them back to back!
Event Running:
• If you have refreshments served at your event, promote bringing reusable mugs!
• Sometimes when you order food for your event you end up having too much, if your
committee doesn’t want the left overs, consider donating to a local charity.
• If you can make snacks for the event than do! It might end up being cheaper in the
long run and it’s an easy to make your events unique in that way.
• Having an event outside campus? Make sure it is easily accessible and reduces the
need of transportation!
Just remember, every bit matters!
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 14Awards Kayla Maher Awards or STARS take place every year in March and this academic year they will take place on the 12th March 2020. Every society can apply for STARS and we’d encourage you all to do so! It’s a very fun evening! For each award you will need a portfolio, basically a scrapboo with pictures of your work over the year. This can include emails and screenshots from the portal, social media, everything and anything! (Just be careful to block out people’s names, GDPR!) Don’t worry there will be awards training and emails throughout the year regarding awards. I was the awards officer last year on the executive and am handling the awards again this year, so email with any queries, president@uccsocieties.ie The List of awards are listed below, the awards listed in green are the awards in which the winners will be representing UCC in the national awards, BICS in April 2020. List: Best Society in a Cultural/Academic or Social Field Best Political, Activism & Debating Society Best Creative Society Best Society in a Charity/Civic field Best Event (Sub- Awards for Charitable/ Creative/ Academic/ Social/ Political, Activist & Debating) Most Improved Society Best New Society Best Individual Best Fresher Best Poster Best Publicity Campaign Best Promotional Video Best Photograph Best Intervarsity Best Mental Health Promotion Event Most Sustainable Event Best Financial Management Innovation Best Collaboration Community Engagement Accessibility Award (New for 2020) CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 15
Sponsorship Adam Compagno What is Sponsorship? The Executive will help you in anyway we can throughout the year, but we do understand a lot of you will have plans for events and the such that we are unable to fund. Due to this you will need to find alternative means from external organisations. This can be in the form of cash, goods, or subsidised products etc.. One important note is the difference between sponsorship and fundraising. Basically fundraising is one way, with you raising money through collections or bake sales in aid of either the society or a cause. Whereas sponsorship goes two ways. It will benefit all parties in some form (usually money for publicity). How do I get it? Well I’m glad you asked disembodied voice in my head. The first step in obtaining sponsorship is preparation. Start by making a plan before you contact anyone, this will save you time during any negotiation and also make you look more professional, which obviously helps you convince them to sponsor you. To do this start with four key questions. ● What does your society do? ● What do you require the sponsorship for? ● Why are you worth sponsoring? ● What are you looking for in terms of sponsorship? Once you have done this, lay out your objective using the SMART system. ● Specific – Your objectives should specify what is that you want to achieve. ● Measurable - Is it possible to measure what you are trying to achieve and if so measure it (makes you look more professional). ● Achievable – Are the objectives that you have set achievable ● Realistic - Are your objectives realistic? ● Time – Will it be possible for your society to achieve this objective is a timely fashion? And always remember when you are giving them a brief not to oversell or undersell yourself. These are the two cardinal sins of looking for sponsorship. You must never promise more then you can feasibly achieve, a society can’t launch a space shuttle to the moon so don’t promise that. On the otherhand is underselling, remember a company will only value you as highly as you value yourself, so make sure to never sell yourself short (this advice also extends to real life, you can do the thing my friends). Tell them all the great things ye do, feel free to brag a little if you’ve done something big in the past, such as winning awards at STARS and Clubs and Socs Ball. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 16
What Should I Include?
• Try and include as many figures as possible
• Membership base (how many people have ye signed up on the portal)
• Events ran last year
• How many competitions have ye competed in/ won
• Tell them how many students there are in UCC (~22,000)
• UCC societies raised almost €200,000 for charity last year
• Give them your target audience
• Don’t just keep going on about what you want, tell them what you can give them
• Whether this be putting their logo on stuff
• Promoting the company
• Using their products
• But remember the first law of alchemy - Equivalent Exchange
• Make sure what you promise is proportional to what you ask for
• For them this is marketing and PR to tap into the student market, which is very
lucrative, but not enough that they will give you Carte Blanche. So again, don’t
oversell or undersell.
The Proposal:
Make sure you emphasise what you can do for them. If you word this in a professional way
that they will thing aligns with their business goals you’re well on your way. The best way to
do this is to do your initial preparation well.
● Provide plenty of detail but keep it relevant. There’s no point adding anything
irrelevant as this will just confuse the process.
● Promise only what you can deliver. To ensure future sponsorship you want to be
able to keep your part of the bargain.
● Use professional language, it will impress the reader and boost your chances
● Make it unique, don’t just copy and paste with a few changes. Make the proposal
target that particular business, this will show effort and that you are keen to work
with them.
● And remember most importantly KISS (Keep it simple stupid). You don’t want to
confuse them or, even worse, bore them.
It should include:
1. Your past successes - For example, awards, an annual report or favourable press
cuttings.
2. Your future objectives - What you need and what you are going to do.
3. Why the company should sponsor you and what they can expect in return - What
they can get from you is probably the most important thing for them. They are not
going to give you the money without something in return. More on what you can
offer a sponsor later.
4. How you fit in with their business objectives
5. How the money will be spent – presented like a shopping list so the company knows
their money will be spent wisely.
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 176. Your marketing plans – What will you do to promote both yourself and them 7. Contact information The Approach: There are two main ways you will use for first contact; phone call and e-mail. For first contact phone call is probably the best course of action. Usually you will get onto the receptionist who will guide you to the specific person you should contact, which is obviously very important. If at first they don’t know who to best talk to, or you want to skip this step entirely, here is a list of possible people you should try in order 1. Marketing Director – The says it all really here, this person is in charge of the sponsorship budget, so they are probably the best port of call here (pardon the pun) 2. Corporate Affairs or Community Relations Department – This department is in charge of all interactions with the general public, so will probably be well suited to help you out. 3. General Manager or CEO – Depending on the size of the company you can ask for this person. In a large company you won’t (you’re hardly going to directly ask for Tim Cook or Sundar Pichai) but for a small local company you can go directly to this person. Make sure you record all correspondence between you and the company, obviously don’t delete emails about it either. This will help avoid any confusion later down the line. Also remember to use the correct name for people, you don’t want to be calling someone Steven only to find out his name is Olan later. This really lowers your chance of getting anything off them. Different Forms of Contact: By phone When you’re speaking on the phone you may be asked to give your outline right there and then. As such its important to have this prepared beforehand, following the handy dandy steps above. Remember don’t panic and go slowly. This is basically a sales pitch on why they should sponsor you so its important to be thorough and to really sell your society to them as something worth their time. If done well this can leave a lasting impression on them and be key to getting the sponsorship. This is also the perfect time to get immediate feedback and have a conversation about the sponsorship opportunity. If they seem interested, try and organise a face-to-face sit down to finalise the details. Remember to practise the phone call beforehand with another member of your society, or if you want a more accurate to life experience you can always organise a meeting with me beforehand where I can help you run through what you will say and any questions they might ask. If it helps to write some notes out to help guide you do so. Again, here preparation is key. Tús maith, leath na hoibre as we say. Email/Letter On first contact if this is the method you choose instead of phone call, this means you have time to prepare it and make it perfect, without the need to worry about being caught off guard by being put on the spot. The negative though being companies get a lot of unsolicited post, so may just discard it (so it might be more advantageous and prompter to CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 18
go with a phone call) ● When you send it out make sure it’s as personalised as possible, you don’t want them thinking you sent off 100s of them. Also, a generic one will probably be dumped immediately. You’re more likely to get sponsorship from one good letter than 100 generic ones. ● Outline why you are sending this, and what they have to gain. ● Show tham how ye can both help each other. ● Don’t write 5 pages of fluff, keep it short and sweet. (Remember KISS) ● It’s very important to keep it professional if you are writing an email, its no different to the letter. ● If you are writing a letter, think back to Leaving Cert English, and all that time you spent study professional letters (you most likely never actually studied these cause you fell asleep at the thought of it or have repressed that horrible boredom from your memory so there’s a sample attached below for you to follow) Face-to-face This can happen either as after a phone call or email you’ve been asked to go into them to speak or you just walked in to begin the conversation. All the things I said above about preparing goes double for this. Unlike on the phone you can’t have too many notes in front of you if you get lost so you really need a plan going in of what to say and what kind of questions may be asked. Stay calm and take advantage of the fact that these kinds of interviews can be flexible. If you panic and fudge a word or say the wrong thing, its okay. Just take a breath, apologise and try again, they’re human too and will understand if you are a bit nervous. What’s important here also is dress and body language. I can’t stress this enough, wear nice clothes. A shirt and slacks/skirt go a long way in making you look professional. Basically, if you show up wearing a tracksuit this already puts you on the back foot, so please dress smartly. Also remember to maintain eye contact and keep open body language. Don’t fit there with your arms folded looking like you’d rather be anywhere else. I know these sound like they wouldn’t make much of a difference but you’d be surprised just how important they are. General Notes: ● Stay on their good side – Thank them, tell them you are looking forward to working with them etc. Pretty much butter them up in any way you can. ● Keep them updated – Send them updates throughout the year if the sponsorship is ongoing and send them a formal thank you at the end with a summery of the years success ● Keep your end of the bargain – It’s important to follow through with what you said you would do to help ensure future sponsorship ● Invite them along – Show off what they are sponsoring to them, you never know they might be so impressed they expand the sponsorship ● Don’t lie – Pretty straight forward one here, nobody likes a liar. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 19
Important Things to Note: 1. Bank of Ireland is the official sponsor of UCC Societies, so you can’t be sponsored by any other banking institute 2. Contracts are mandatory. If anything goes wrong the contract will help find a solution. 3. All societies must forward on a copy of said contract to the finance officer, myself (finance@ucsocieties.ie), and the societies president, Kayla Maher (president@uccsocieties.ie) prior to signing anything. This is so we can make sure everything is above board. 4. Always remain professional in business dealings, and make sure they stay professional with you. Remember respect is a two-way street. 5. If you need any advice come to me immediately, its better safe than sorry with this kind of stuff. Adam Compagno (He/Him) Finance@uccsocieties.ie Appendices Appendix A Initial Phone Call: Student: Good morning, my name is Jane Doe and I’m phoning from the UCC Harry Potter Appreciation Society. We are contacting local businesses to see if they are interested in working with our society on a sponsorship deal for the upcoming year and I was wondering if you can tell me who the most appropriate contact at your organisation is to speak to? Secretary: That would probably be Mary, She is our marketing manager. Should I connect you to him? Student: Yes please, thank you for your help. (Connect to Mary and introduce yourself the same way as you did when speaking to the receptionist) Mary: Thank you for thinking of us when considering your sponsorship for next year. What can I do for you? Student: I’m wondering if you would be willing to consider our sponsorship proposal. We think it would be a really beneficial partnership because we can help you promote your new store in Cork and would love to work with you in the next academic year. What is the best way for me to talk to you about what we can offer you? Mary: What would I get from this sponsorship? CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 20
Student: We have 300 members in our society. All of our members wear society hoodies
which will carry your logo. We will put your logo on all promotional material which is given
out during Freshers Week, societies day and before all of our promotional events
throughout the year.
We have a few more things which are included in our sponsorship proposal and if I
can e-mail that over you can give it some further thought and perhaps show it to members
of your marketing team?
Mary: You can e-mail me all the information and I’ll have a look at it when I get chance.
My e-mail address is mary@genericbusiness.ie.
Student: That sounds great. I’ll send over an e-mail and follow up with you in a few days.
Appendix B
Formal Letter:
Society
X, No. 6
Carrigside,
College Road,
Cork.
January 1, 2018
Mrs. Mary
Doe, Big
Business,
Oliver Plunkett
Street, Cork.
Dear Mrs. Doe,
My name is Joe Soap and I am contacting you on behalf of Society X in UCC. I am pleased
tosend you this sponsorship proposal for our highly anticipated “Event”, which will take
place on the UCC Campus on Friday, April 1, 2018. My fellow committee member, Jane
Doe, with whom I am co-organizing this event, had mentioned that this is something you are
possibly interested in sponsoring as you are looking to re-launch your new student friendly
product and the day of our event would be an ideal opportunity to do so. We are actively
seeking sponsorship towards the costs of this event, which we are anticipating to have costs
of €500.
We expect this event to have 300 students in attendance. We have already had a
number of interested students sign up to volunteer and the event planning is well under
way. The event will be advertised throughout campus via:
• Our newspaper
• Our Website
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 21• Posters and flyers distributed all over campus If you are to sponsor this event, you can be assured that you will be highlighted as our exclusive sponsor on all promotional activity. We are confident that the local press will attend to cover the events of the day. We would like to set up a meeting to further discuss the proposal and the benefits of sponsoring this annual event. I will give you a call within 1 week to set up a meeting time which is suitable for you. We have included our sponsorship proposal and marketing plan with this letter for your review and consideration. I look forward to speaking with you. Your Name Committee Position of Society 18/19 Appendix C Email: Subject: Reach the student market and enhance your brand Good Afternoon John, I am contacting you from UCC Society X with regards to our end of year ball, which is coming up in June of this year. This event is a formal affair with the capacity to entertain 250 students. This ball sells out every year and this year will be no exception. I am writing to enquire whether your Highland Dress Company would be interested in sponsoring this prestigious event as many of our attendees will be hiring formal wear for the event and the marketing would be highly beneficial for your company. I have attached the sponsorship proposal as an attachment to this e-mail for your review and consideration. I will follow up with you next week to discuss any initial questions or comments you may have. I hope this event sounds like something you might like to sponsor, as we would love to have you on board. Kind regards, Joe Soap Sponsorship Officer of Society X 18/19 All Appendices above supplied by Kayla Maher, our glorious Societies president, because I’m too lazy to write my own and this manual is due in an hour. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 22
Finance Adam Compagno What is Funded? To find out what we fund all you have to do is log onto the Portal and go to “Admin Docs” and click on the Schedule of Allowances. The schedule of allowances is a guide of what is and isn’t funded by the Societies Executive. It contains a lot of information on what you can apply for and how much could potentially be granted depending on the type of application. The schedule of allowances should be consulted before making all applications if you’re unsure. It will be your best friend throughout the year and while it may seem dense and difficult at first it is very straightforward. If there’s something in particular you need from it, Control+F is your friend. Once in here click on the schedule and work away. Remember to please use this anytime you make an app and when you’re writing a budget, as it will make all our lives easier. Budgets: Budgets are submitted directly onto the portal, the deadline of which is the 23 rd of September. Think of this as your financial road map of the year. Sit down and discuss your plans for the year to come. Make a set flow of the year and look into how much money you would need to carry out these plans. After you have the basic flow laid out, look into where your income will come from (whether this be guild funding or any other way). Once you have everything planned out you are now ready to start making the budget on the Portal. In here you can enter in all the details of both your income and expenditure. It’s important to make your budget as detailed and accurate as possible in order to make it easier for us to approve it. When completed the budget should have a full breakdown of all your projected income and expenditure for the year, it is then submitted for approval by the finance committee. Important to note that we have a pot of €300,000 to split between all 106 societies, so if we don’t give you all you’re looking for we do sometimes need to be strict to make it go around. The max we can also give one society is also 8% of this, so €24000. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 23
Apps:
An app, or financial application if you want to be fancy about it, is you asking us for funding.
An app must be sent in at least 2 weeks before the money is needed (e.g. if you are
travelling to Dublin on the 21 st it must be sent in prior to the 7 th ), except for foreign trips
where the deadline is 3 weeks. Apps can also not be done retrospectively as these will be
denied instantly.
Once in this menu you will se a list of different heading. Ensure that you go into the correct
section when making the app. Each one has slightly different options. For all of them the
amounts we will fund is available on the Schedule of Allowances
Select the class of funding that best applies to you from the list (more information
available in the schedule of allowances):
• Administration costs
• Capital Equipment and Materials e.g. a banner for your society/trophies that will be
used yearly
• Conference organising
• Guest speaker – can apply for tokens of appreciation, accommodation costs, travel
costs for guest speakers
• Printing
• Production – costs for running a production for the society
• Publishing – costs for magazines/publications when the quality of printing in the hub
will not suffice
• Special Event that the society wants to run
• Teachers and Workshops – classes or workshops that you want to run for your
members
• Travel e.g. for competitive trips abroad – can apply for registration fees,
accommodation costs and a proportion of travel costs to be funded
Please again try and give us as much information as possible to make it easier on us to
approve your app. Examples of Travel and Guest Speaker apps below
Apps will be assessed once a week and once we have approved an app it will take a couple
of days for the office to authorise the transfer and for the money to enter your bank
account. If we deny an app we will leave a comment as to why, and if you have any
questions you can email me about it. After the weekly finance meeting a blog post will be
made on the portal containing the approved and denied apps.
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 24Sample Travel App CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 25
Sample Guest Speaker App: CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 26
Entering Income onto The Portal: Over the year you will most likely be handling cash at some point. If you are it is very important to lodge it into the bank as early as you can to lessen the risk of anything going wrong. To do this you go to a lodgement Bank of Ireland ATM, one in the student centre branch on main campus, and using your lodgement card you all have you can lodge the cash. Alternatively, if you don’t have the card you can press the touch screen and enter your account details found here: After lodging the cash in the bank you must enter this into the portal as this is not done automatically. Click on the income tab and fill in all the section similar to how its shown in the example below. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 27
It is very important to enter the income in correctly and on time as if you don’t this will cause issues in the end of year finances for the office, and could cause discrepancies between your portal and your actual bank account figure which will lead to you incorrectly managing your society financially. As such I’d recommend doing it as soon as you can after you lodge the money. Spending Money: When you are spending your money, you do this though the expenditure section on the portal. Whether you are paying by cheque or bank transfer its all done here. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 28
Adding a New Payee Whenever your making an expenditure request you must select a payee (the person in which you are paying). If you have already sent money to this person then you just select them from the dropdown menu, but if they are a new payee you will have to create them on the portal. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 29
Important notes:
• If you are sending a Bank Transfer, you must add a receipt to the request or the
office will not process your expenditure request until you add it
• Allow 1 or 2 days for bank transfer to reach account
• If you are using a cheque you must get it signed by either the Exec president (Kayla)
or the Socs officer (Michelle).
• If you are spending money you got in an app, you must select “from grant funding”
under “Where is the money for this expense coming from”
• You will then be asked from which funding request item is it
• It is very Important to get this right, as if entered into the wrong section here it could
result in incorrect clawback at the end of the year which could potentially put your
society in a lot of debt.
• Please over the course of the year keep an eye on your current balance as well as
keep on top of any potential clawbacks to ensure a smooth financial future
Credit Card:
The credit card is available for use in the office. In order to use it you will be asked what
society you are from and will have to fill out a short form. The form is mandatory as after
using the card you do not have to enter anything into the portal yourself (only time that you
don’t have to) as the office will enter it for you
Make sure all of what you wrote in is accurate and if your money came from guild funding
ensure you have the app number written down so the office can spend it against this
request.
Checking your Account Balance and Status:
As its important to regularly keep an eye on the status of your account you will need to
know how to access this on the portal too. Left – income. Right - Expenditure
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 30AGM/EGM Procedure Kayla Maher For your AGM/EGM you need to follow a certain set of rules in order to have a fair general meeting. Organising your AGM/EGM: EGMs/AGMs need to be promoted 2 weeks in advance with all positions promoted. You must notify you Guild Rep first and get their availability before promoting the event. Failure to do this will lead to you postponing your event. You must notify your guild rep of any pending constitutional amendments. At the EGM: You must begin with constitutional amendments. These should be projected on screen with removals in red and additions in green. Each amendment will need to be voted on separately. Moving onto elections, you must go in order of your society constitution beginning with the highest ranked member and moving downward. Votes must be monitored by the guild representative and the chairperson. If a position has only one candidate, and you’re voting by a show of hands, that candidate must leave the room. If a position have more than one candidate for one position, a secret ballot will be taken. As chairperson, do not vote! If there is a draw in this instance, the chairperson has the final vote. At the AGM: You must begin with a finance report, detailing the income and expenditure for the society over the year. (Use your financial summary on the portal for this, if you’re not using excel) Continue with constitutional amendments. These should be projected on screen with removals in red and additions in green. Each amendment will need to be voted on separately. Moving onto elections, you must go in order of your society constitution beginning with the highest ranked member and moving downward. Votes must be monitored by the guild representative and the chairperson. If a position has only one candidate, and you’re voting by a show of hands, that candidate must leave the room. If a position have more than one candidate for one position, a secret ballot will be taken. As chairperson, do not vote! If there is a draw in this instance, the chairperson has the final vote. CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 31
Welfare
Hannah O’Connor
First of all congratulations on being elected Chairperson, and secondly, Good Luck!
You’ve probably heard that phrase a hundred times over since you took your position as Chair,
and it’s usually said with a hint of forewarning. Ask anyone who’s been a chairperson before,
they’ll almost always look like they’re having war flashbacks.
It can be stressful being a chairperson, on top of trying to study towards a degree, possibly hold
a part-time job and have a life outside of all that, but it shouldn’t be! Being a chairperson is
one of the best things I’ve ever done, and one of the most stressful things I’ve done. This year
I’m going to attempt to eliminate at least some of the stress for you, so keep reading to find out
how!
Quick Disclaimer: I won’t pretend to be an expert on this, and I’m 100% still learning, so this
is a very rough guide, open to input!!
Step 1: Back to Basics
To bring your full self to whatever you do, you have to master the basics of welfare first!
This means;
• Eat at least two meals a day! (break them up into a load of healthy snacks if needs be)
• Get enough sleep (7-9 hours)- Anything less than 7 hours can have a detrimental
impact on your brain tissue health if you commonly sleep less than 7 hours
• Get your heart rate up; Exercise for 20 minutes each day- This has been prescribed to
people with mild-to-moderate depression and can be more effective than SSRI’s
• Stay hydrated! 2L of water a day- Your body needs water to carry out any
biochemical reaction- brain function, motor function, etc. - and is important for focus
• Treat yourself like a Sims character- the more you keep your bars in the green, the
more benefits you get from carrying out other tasks or things in life!
Step 2: Time Management
The hardest adjustment you will face is organising your time to fit everything you need to do
in!
My first piece of advice is to prioritise you above everything else!
• Schedule in time to look after yourself, make food, tidy your room, exercise. If you
find yourself neglecting small tasks in favour of other things, schedule them into a
planner or google calendar
• Schedule in time out if you’re bad and taking time to do nothing.
• Your degree should not suffer as a direct result of Society work, that’s not what we’re
here for! Societies are a chance for you to develop your passions and an escape from
academia. But you still need to prioritise your degree! Make time for study, revision,
assignments, Continuous Assessments, Exams, etc. and don’t be afraid to ask your
committee for help when you have a heavy workload for your course!
Our parents were sorta right, but also sorta wrong… Your phone can be your worst enemy, it
definitely is mine at times (like while writing up this manual, but I digress)
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 32However, there are so many apps that are so handy for time management;
• Google Calendar → Genuinely a lifesaver for me, it’s the only way I still have my
head screwed on. You can schedule your day through ‘colour blocking’, use different
colours for different areas of life
• My ‘Google Calander Key’
• Forest → I struggle a lot with procrastination and spend WAY too much time on
Instagram and Twitter. Forest is a timer that locks you out of your phone for a set
amount of time. If you leave the app before the timer is up, you ‘kill’ the plant you’re
trying to grow
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 33• Wunderlist- To-Do list app that allows you to share lists with people and set
reminders for tasks
Something to be wary of if you find yourself taking WAY too long to carry out tasks is
something called Parkinson's Law. This states that a task will always take up the time you
allot to it, and it can be the reason behind poor time management
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 34Step 3: Stress Management
What stress looks like?
• Mood swings, irritability- A decrease in mood, or more volatile moods can be the first
indication that you may be under severe stress
• Loss of concentration and motivation- This creates a vicious cycle of stressing
because you’re not getting work done, but then not being motivated or not having the
concentration to do the work you need to do
• More prone to illness - Stress releases cortisol in your body which can reduce your
immune system
• Insomnia and Fatigue- Another vicious cycle of ‘ too stressed can’t sleep, too sleep-
deprived so stressed’
• Displacement Activity
o Method of procrastination in which you focus on one task or activity to avoid
doing another ie.
▪ Doing socs work to avoid that assignment that’s due tomorrow
▪ Housework
▪ Redecorating
▪ Binge-watching a new Netflix show three days before exams
▪ Running for 2 positions that you know will get super busy a month
before your FYP is due (Hi that’s me!)
What causes Stress?
• Major life changes such as becoming Chair of a Society
• Workload- Your workload may massively change this year through your Society,
academics, work etc.
• Financial Stress - Changes in financial situations
• Work/Life imbalance - You may find yourself working a lot more this year than
previous years- this major shift in work/life balance will cause increased stress
How to manage stress?
• First, make sure you are covering the basics I previously mentioned
• Recognise what is causing you stress and find ways to fix this or to change your
mindset towards this so as to decrease stress
• Ask for support- from friends, family, Significant Others, committee, Socs Exec,
Supports in College
• Incorporate self-care into your life, however that looks for you!
• If you struggle to slow your mind down- Try meditation, yoga, or mindfulness
exercises
• Laughing!
• Get up and get active! - Exercise releases endorphins and helps release stress
• Listen to music
• Find what works for you!
• Energy Accounting
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 35o For every action you take that uses up or ‘withdraws’ energy, you must
balance it out with rest or activities that ‘deposit’ energy
o Examples of Energy Withdrawals;
▪ Lectures
▪ Committee meetings
▪ high effort events
▪ Studying
o Examples of Energy Deposits;
▪ Watching your favourite TV show
▪ Eating a healthy meal
▪ Sleeping in an extra hour
▪ Basic self-care;
• Have a look at the TED Talk by Kelly McGonigal, ‘How to make stress your friend’
Burnout:
Our generation is often described as the ‘Burnout Generation’. That is we overwork ourselves
to the point of being incapable of carrying out simple tasks, making us seem ‘lazy’ or
‘unmotivated’.
Burnout is something you will, unfortunately, become very acquainted with in your time as
Chairperson.
There is a very good article that I have linked in the slides that goes through what burnout
looks like. This is a shortened version of that article.
There are 5 Stages of burnout:
1. Honeymoon phase;
o Job satisfaction, Sustained energy levels, High commitment to job; Free-
flowing creativity
2. Onset Of Stress;
o Anxiety, Avoidance of decision making, fatigue, inability to focus
3. Chronic Stress;
o Missed work deadlines and/or targets, Persistent tiredness in the morning,
apathy, cynicism, Feeling under pressure
4. Burnout;
o Behavioural changes, Obsession over problems at work or in life, Pessimistic
outlook on work and life, Physical symptoms intensify and/or increase, Self-
doubt
5. Habitual Burnout;
o Burnout syndrome, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Chronic Sadness
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 36Welfare and Accessibility Resources
Hannah O’Connor
Welfare Resources:
• Information on Burnout: https://www.thisiscalmer.com/blog/5-stages-of-burnout
• Information on Energy Accounting: https://www.purpleella.com/2018/06/07/energy-
accounting/
• Explains Displacement Activity well:
https://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~pgro/TPM/procrastination.htm
• Parkinsons Law: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/how-to-use-parkinsons-
law-to-your-advantage.html
• ‘How to make Stress Your Friend’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU&vl=en
• Effects of cortisol on health: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ways-to-lower-
cortisol#section1
Mental Health
• Niteline:
o Free Phone 1800 32 32 42 or online chat at
https://im.cork.nightline.ac.uk/webim/
• UCC Counselling
o (021) 490 3565 or text 087 215 2505 or by email counselling@ucc.ie
• Mindfulness and other online support
o https://www.ucc.ie/en/studentcounselling/online/
Physical Health
• Student Health:
o +353 (0)21 4902311
• CUH:
o (021) 492 2000
• Southdoc (Out of Hours) (Free for Medical Card Holders):
o 1850 335 999
Sexual Health
• Student Health
• Sexual health Cork
o 021 427 6676
• Sexual Violence Centre Cork
o freephone 1800 496 496 or text 087 1533393
• YHS Cork
o Website http://www.yhs.ie/
o Phone Number 076 1084150
Addiction and Harm Reduction
• http://www.askaboutalcohol.ie/
CHAIRPERSONS MANUAL 2019 37You can also read
