All Bristol SU groups are democratic organisations. As such, all groups must have an AGM (Annual General Meeting) once a year. It is your group’s most important democratic meeting, giving your members a chance to attend to hear about how your group has developed over the year, what the financial status of the group is and to vote for a new committee.

As an elected committee, you represent and are responsible to your members. All members should have this opportunity to ask questions of the committee and all are eligible to stand in elections for committee positions. 

Most groups hold their AGMs in March or April and often combine with a social event. 

Preparing for AGM

Before running your AGM you must check your group's constitution for information on: 

• When you should run your AGM
• How much notice you should give members
• How many people need to attend in order to vote
• Your method of vote counting

You should be able to find your constitution in the Bristol SU Portal. If you are having trouble finding it, please email us – bristolsu@bristol.ac.uk 

Taking your AGM Online

Groups needed to run AGM and elections online during the coronavirus pandemic. It may be that this suited your group and you are planning to continue to do this in the future. Some benefits of running online AGM:

• Good for large memberships – no need to book a big space
• Cheaper to run
• Accessible to members who don’t live in the city / have other commitments
• Please note that you must elect your committee with free and fair elections where all of your members can stand and vote. An application process, interviews or screening candidates is not permitted by SU Byelaws. 

Annual Report

It is good practice to prepare a report about the core events and activities of your group over the last year. This should include things related to your groups’ development, for example:

• Recruitment of Members
  • How do membership numbers compare with last year
  • Are there any trends you can share
  • Participation in Give it a Go! / Welcome / Refreshers
• Strategic Plan
  • How have the groups aims and objectives changed over the year
  • What do future plans look like
• Events
  • What events have you run this year
  • What has been successful
  • Plans for future
• Financial Report
  • Breakdown of income and expenditure
  • Outstanding loans or debts
  • Grants and funding awarded over the year
  • Sponsorships
• EDI
  • Report on Equality Officers work over the year
• Awards and Accreditation
  • Has the group won any awards or gained accreditation 

There should be time for your members to ask the outgoing committee any questions about the report

Minutes

Minutes must be taken by the groups Secretary during the AGM and circulated to your membership after the meeting. They are an important document and should be stored by the group for future committees. 

Your minutes are also used as evidence of your democratic election process at Reaffiliation. 

We have a short guide on writing minutes and agendas here

Your Election

You must elect your committee with free and fair elections where all of your members can stand and vote. An application process, interviews or screening candidates is not permitted by SU Byelaws.

Groups run their election process in different ways. Your constitution will give you information on this and should be the first thing you check. Some common methods are shown below:

Running your Election via the Bristol SU Website

If you would like, we can set up an election for your group on the Bristol SU website where registered members can stand/vote. If you'd like to do this, please email bristolsu-development@bristol.ac.uk with the following:

• The role title of each committee position
• The number of people you will be electing for each committee position e.g. some groups elect 2 social secs.
• A role description for each committee position (optional)
• Nomination start/end time - at least 24 hours (48 - 72 hours recommended)
• Voting start/end time - at least 24 hours (48 - 72 hours recommended) and enough time after the nomination period that we can approve all your candidates etc.

For other votes (e.g. constitution changes), we can set up a referendum online too. For this, we need:

• The question you would like to be asked
• Any additional information you'd like to provide e.g. the precise wording you'll add/edit in your constitution
• Voting start/end time - usually best if the same as your elections
• Options (if not a simple agree/disagree)

 

FAQs

For further info on running your AGM

Bristol SU Training Base