Conducting your Inaugural General Meeting

Your IGM notice has been submitted and approved by the Clubs team, yay!

Please note, that at this stage, your Club is still not fully registered with USU just yet. You still need to submit your post-meeting documents and open your Clubs bank account.

Important terms you need to know

1. Meeting Quorum: You must have at least 15 Ordinary Members attending your meeting. You should record their first name, last name & USU ID in the Meeting Minutes Template.
2. The Chair: A Chair runs the meeting. It is their job to make sure the meeting is kept on topic (ie runs according to the agenda), and attendees have an equal and fair right to speak. The Chair is usually the societies President - as your society has not yet elected a President, it is recommended that the meeting be Chaired by the person who submitted the Society's application.
3. Returning Officer: A Returning Officer conducts the elections and determines the vote-count. The Returning Officer must not be a candidate for election and must not nominate any individuals for election or vote in the election.
4. Elections and Voting: ‘First past the postʼ refers to a majority vote, while ‘Single transferable voteʼ is a form of preferential voting. Your Constitution may also specify if voting is to be conducted by anonymous show of hands or by secret ballot.
5. Bank Signatories: At the IGM, your membership endorses the opening of your new bank account and for some execs to become signatories. The President and Treasurer should always be signatories and 1–2 other executives are chosen so, if 1 signatory is unavailable, 2 others can operate the account.
6. Help, a signatory isnʼt /wonʼt be available for a while

• Bank signatories need to meet in-person regularly to complete transfers and sign documents on behalf of the club.
• If you know you will be going away for a while following the IGM, you should reconsider if it would be appropriate to run for a core executive position.
• If you are already a signatory and know youʼll become unavailable, reach out to the Clubs Team for advice.

What should happen in an IGM?

Your IGM should follow the exact same agenda you submitted with your notice. The outcomes must be recorded in the minutes provided in your resources.

• Adopt your constitution: Your constitution should be adopted in the form that it was approved by the C&S Committee with your application. If you’d like to change your constitution at this stage, we suggest doing so after you finalise your affiliation process. Otherwise, you’ll need to reapply as a new Club next semester with the proposed changes.
• Elect Club executives: Each candidate must be nominated and that nomination must be seconded in order to be considered valid. Please see meeting minutes template for more details on how to record elections.
  • Make note of movers and seconders for your meeting minutes. Ensure the minutes are a full and accurate summary of what occurred during your meeting.
• Endorsing bank signatories: Once your new executive team has been elected, the Returning Officer passes the running of the meeting back to the Chair. The next thing on your agenda is probably General Business, which includes the endorsement of signatories. There's a template for you to follow in the minutes, but what this means is that your membership should endorse:
  • The opening of a bank account in your society’s name
  • The addition of 3 executives to be signatories on this account
  • Thereʼs more information on this in our Bank Account document

Post meeting documentation

You have two weeks from the date of your IGM to submit your IGM documents (explained in the next point). Please note that failure to submit your documents may result in your Club being rejected.

You will have to submit your meeting documents through the form named IGM Governance Meeting Documents on your Club Applicant Portal.

Documents you need to submit:

1. Meeting Minutes: ensure you follow the template provided.
2. Constitution: Note that your Secretary and President must sign the last page of your constitution either digitally or by hand. As an example:
3. .C&S Agreement: note that on the first page of your agreement, you need to fill out your Society name as well as your term for the agreement. As an example:

Note that your IGM date is when your Society was formally adopted. AGM month is the one you stated in your Constitution.

On your last page of your agreement, your President, Secretary, and Treasurer must sign it. As an example:

Once you submit your documents, youʼll get an email stating that you have successfully submitted the form. The Clubs Team are then notified that your meeting has been completed and weʼll begin to review it. Weʼll get in contact with the applicant and new executive team if we need to follow up on your documents!

Whatʼs next?

Once your IGM is approved by our team, itʼs time to open a bank account! This process is further explained in our Bank Account document, but as a summary:

In order for USU to pay your society grants, you need to be set up in our system with a vendor code. For USU to provide societies with vendor codes, we require a form of official documentation from your Bank. This could look like:

• A scan of your letter of account opening, probably will be given in person while you are at the bank or sent to you via email.
• A transaction summary, which should be able to be downloaded from NetBank right away.
• A bank statement, which may not be available for a few days.
• Once you submit your official documentation from the bank through the Bank Account Notice form, your club will be officially registered and affiliated with us!