Resources for Club Executives

Running a club handbook

Check out the Running a Club handbook.

This super useful document has frequently asked questions about processes involved in running a club, useful skills and tips for running your club as well as sections on problem areas like delegating duties and conflict resolution.

2018 Council dates

Clubs and Societies Council Dates for Semester One 2018.

The dates for Semester One are March 8, March 29, April 19, May 10 and May 31!

What is C&S Council?

C&S Councils are one of the main forms of communication between clubs, societies, the Clubs and Societies Officer and the LTSU elected General Secretary.

These councils occur 8 times a year and go for about an hour.

During this time representatives from clubs and societies, as well as LTSU Office bearers and the Clubs and Societies Officer, come together to discuss events, ideas, training, affiliation, grants, and more. We discuss vital updates and club opportunities. It's also your chance to meet executives from other clubs and potentially share ideas or plan events together.

The meetings usually feature free food and drink (including Halal and vegetarian options)

Orientation week (before week 1)

Census Date Semester 1 (about the end of March roughly)

Ongoing clubs must re-affiliate by this date to claim the Orientation Grant, and be able to claim grants from Jan 1 - census date

Re-Orientation day

A smaller clubs festival held after mid-semester break in semester 1.

Week 1 of Semester 2

Back 2 Uni Festival featuring a clubs carnival

October 1

Clubs can begin the process of re-affiliation for the following year.

AGMs held from October 1st onwards can be counted towards the next year's re-affiliation process.

Planning your budget can be confusing as funding can go up or down every year depending on a number of factors. Check in with the Clubs and Societies officer at the start of each semester to find out how much your club has been allocated.

The amount of funding for a club who affiliates in Semester One 2018 is $1400 for the year. If a club affiliates in Second Semester they will be allocated around half of this amount.

Please note, money available in your budget can only be accessed through applying for grants on the grants page

Helpful resources:

Managing club finances tips

Club budget template

Compulsory to do's

• Book space in the Agora or hire equipment (BBQ, PA, Marquee, Trestle tables) either by contacting the Clubs Officer ( clubsofficer@latrobe.edu.au ) or by calling LTSU Reception on 9479 2314.

  Note: You must book this in advance to avoid disappointment. All sound must be turned off in the Agora by 2pm (University policy)

• Make sure you have read our policies on risk management and if you're having an event for more than 30 people complete the risk assessment form.

• Submit the LTSU club event booking form to clubsofficer@latrobe.edu.au

Optional and highly recommended resources

• Download the very useful club running an event checklist

• For general information read the running an event overview booklet

• Standard club meeting template (for taking minutes or structuring meetings): Word version; PDF version

• Events attendance list

• Visit the event section of the FAQ page

• Read up on safe manual handling and safe food handling

• View a map of bookable places in the Agora

• Locate power points in the Agora on this map

• How to run a BBQ

• Report an incident in the Agora

Please attach the LTSU logo to all of your club posters, merchandise etc to show your club's affiliation to LTSU and La Trobe University.

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The LTSU's Graphic Designer can only design marketing for LTSU staff and departments, and sadly cannot help you design your logo / posters. There are many easy design programs available online. We recommend the free and easy online software Canva (no download required).

The LTSU runs a comprehensive FREE training calendar to help equip club committee members with the skills they need for running their club. Committee members or club members designated by the committee are encouraged to sign up and come along.

For enquiries about upcoming training sessions please contact the Clubs and Societies Officer by calling 9479 3752 or emailing clubsofficer@latrobe.edu.au

Upcoming training sessions (click to sign up):

First Aid Training, Friday March 10 2017

Previous training topics include:

Food Safety and Handling Certificate

Responsible Serving of Alcohol Certificate

First Aid Certificate

Conflict Resolution

Mental Health First Aid

Workload management and delegation

Creating a positive club culture and conflict resolution

Marketing

Basic bookkeeping and financial management for clubs

Standard club meeting template (for taking minutes or structuring meetings): Word version; PDF version

How to plan do successful committee member handover

How to plan do successful committee member handover

Avoid and manage stress - including time management and delegation

What do I do if a committee member resigns? Get your club committee / executive to fill out this form authorising the change

Managing conflict

When your club first affiliates successfully with LTSU you will be given an email address in the format xyzclub@listserv.latrobe.edu.au.

Any emails sent to this address are forwarded to your executive committee team (using the email addresses written on the affiliation form) and any other generic club email addresses that were nominated on your affiliation form. This is the email address which is listed for publicity, and which the LTSU will use to communicate with your club.

We highly recommend keeping thorough record of successful club events. You can use this information to apply for club awards in semester 2 of every year.

Individual club members can use their club activities to support applications for scholarships, especially in regards to community and University contributions.

Find more information on the scholarships and awards

The Clubs and Societies Officer exists to answer all your club and society questions and queries. Get in contact on 9479 3752 or email clubsofficer@latrobe.edu.au

Executive Committee Skills

There are a few important things that all club Executives should know how to do in order to run a successful club.

Whether you are the biggest club on campus, or a brand new one just getting started it is important that you are aware of your responsibilities to your club, the LTSU and the La Trobe Community.

Handover

Handover is the number one skill to learn for a club to continue functioning. This is because if you do a good handover everything mentioned below will be included in it. If you’ve never heard of a handover before the way it works is an outgoing executive team will impart as much knowledge and information onto an incoming team as is possible.

This can be done through word of mouth, but ideally each club should have (or start) a handover manual. This document should include notes about what the club did that year, what worked, what didn’t, key contact information and more. Eventually over the years this document will become invaluable to your club.

More information about handover can be found here **INESRT DOC**.

Common club problems and how to fix it.

Whilst each club is different the actual processes they all go through are identical and most clubs have the same questions about the same things. Below are some quick examples of the most common troubles clubs face and the solutions to them!

• "One of the Executive team has resigned, what happens now?" This one is super simple. This sort of thing happens a lot actually, with people graduating or taking a break from study. The solution is to complete the form found here.

• "Conflict has arisen within the club and we're not sure how to deal with it!" This one is less simple to solve, but fortunately it doesn't happen as often. Sometimes unfortunately, for any number of reasons, relationships within a club can break down. If it gets really bad it can paralyse a club, which isn't good for anyone.

  If the situation gets to a point where the club can't deal with it DO NOT HESITATE to get in contact with the Clubs Officer. The earlier any issue can be resolved the better for everyone and the Clubs Officer will be able to help you come up with a way to manage the problem to, hopefully with a positive outcome for everyone involved.

  Each situation is different and there is no one solution, but **INSERT DOC** this guide has some general tips about managing conflict

• "Everything has gone wrong and I'm really stressed and I don't know what to do!" University is a stressful enough time as it is, these days more than ever. Students juggle study, work and every other life activity and even the most organised person can find themselves overwhelmed.

  With that in mind it is important to be mindful of your own well being and take care of yourself.

  Being involved in a club's executive committee means that being a little bit stressed about something is okay, it shows you care and are passionate about what you're doing. But if you find yourself with troubles piling up you should DEFINTIELY let the Clubs Officer know about it.

  The Clubs Officer can't do anything to help you if they don't know about what is happening. But if they do know what is happening they'll do everything they can to help you out.

  This document **INSERT DOC* also has some good tips about how to manage stress and delegate tasks and responsibilities effectively, all of which will help both your life and club run smoothly

• "MY PROBLEM ISN'T LISTED HERE! WHAT DO I DO!?"

  Get in touch with the Clubs Officer either by email, by phone (03) 9479 3752, or in person.

  If you want to meet in person come up to the LTSU's Reception (Lvl 2, Agora West) and ask to speak with the Clubs Officer. Please note that the Clubs Officer might not always be able to talk to you straight away, but they will endeavour to have at the least a brief conversation to be followed up on.

Graphic Design

All Clubs & Societies should attach the LTSU logo to all of your club's posters, merchandise, banners etc to show your affiliation to the LTSU. You are free to included any other groups or organisations that supprt your club as well.

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The LTSU does have a graphic designer on staff, however they are not able to do any design work for clubs or societies. I can almost guarentee that someone in your group will know someone who does really good graphic design, so just put the word out and you'll find them.

Please make sure that you don't take advantage of any graphic designers you work with, you should pay them for any work they do. If they don't have an ABN you can have them complete a statement by a supplier form

There are also a number of free and easy to use graphic design programs that are online, so definitely check them out! Canva is one such program, check it out here.

Running a Club Handbook

Info about the Running a club handbook goes here.

Planning Events Step by Step guide

Advertise your Annual General Meeting widely, including on your LTSU website as an event for one week in advance.

Your AGM should be held on campus, during semester to allow as many people as possible to attend.

Book the LTSU boardroom by emailing the Clubs Officer or call LTSU's Reception on 9479 2314.

Book a room in the library

Book a room on campus through Book La Trobe.

Email the Clubs Officer with the date and time of your AGM (clubsofficer@latrobe.edu.au).

Managing Risk

You need at least 10 people to attend your AGM, 7 of whom must be La Trobe University students.

Elect committee members: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Council Delegate. All of these positions must be filled by La Trobe students. You can also make any other roles you wish and these roles can be held by non-students.

You must elect a different person for the roles of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer, but your council delegate person can have more than one role.

From 2016, at least one of these executive members must identify as a woman.

Nominate which Executive Committee members will be able to access your bank account. You need at least two people to be able to access the club's bank account, but you can have up to four. The LTSU reccomends electing four people.

Set your membership fees for the year (you don't have to have a membership fee).

Past Event Templates

Record what happens during your AGM (take minutes) on your Affiliation Form. Get all attendees to write down their names and student numbers as AGM attendees AND as members on your Affiliation Form.

This includes the Privacy Policy section, model constitution and membership list (you can either list members or add them to your LTSU club website as members for the current year.

Managing Grants

The club's President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Council Delegate must have current LTSU membership.

Additional executive members that your club has created do NOT need LTSU membership.

You can buy your membership online at thethe LTSU's website or in person at the LTSU's reception at Lvl 2 Agora West.

If your club holds an AGM for the following year in the current year, the executive will not be able to become LTSU members until the next year's membership program has launched. It generally becomes available in January.

Clubs & Societies Council

New clubs must start up a new bank account under their club name (we recommend Westpac on campus as the easiest to navigate for clubs).

Each club must get an Endorsed Bank Statement for the current year from their bank.

Please note, an Endorsed Bank Statement is **NOT** a screenshot or your bank balance.

Step by step instructions for this step are found here.

NOTE: please ensure to follow these steps exactly as we are very strict about this step due to audit requirements.

Important Club Dates

Either email the completed documents through to the Clubs Officer or submit in person via LTSU Reception, level 2, Upper Agora West (behind the student lounge).

Training

Info about what training stuff we do

LTSU Awards