Elections

A list of candidates for presidential and exec positions is now online.

The elections for the 2010/2011 exec will take place on Thursday March 4th.

The election process

The election will take place during the league session on Thursday. There will be two rounds of voting. The first round will be to elect one of the presidential candidates. The second round will elect four candidates to the executive committee. Candidates who stood for president but were not elected may still run for the exec. Each member of the society will be entitled to one vote for president and four votes for exec. Candidates for the exec must vote for exactly four candidates for the exec (no tactical voting by only voting for yourself!), while non-candidates can vote for up to four if they wish. Re-Open Nominations (RON) will be an option on all voting forms.

Absentee ballots will be accepted from the moment that the candidate lists are posted online. You can either email the secretary with your university number and votes (which will be treated in complete confidence) or write your votes down, place them in an envelope with your university number and name on the outside and leave it in our pigeonhole (#433 in the resources room in Union North). Ballots will be separated from any identifying information before the counting process. The deadline is Thursday March 4th at 5pm.

You may vote for "The losing presidential candidate" as one of your votes for the exec in an absentee ballot.

Exec Positions

Once elected, the new exec will decide between themselves what positions each committee member will take. These must (along with President) include Secretary and Treasurer. One exec member must be responsible for Equal Opportunites (although a dedicated Equal Opportunities Officer is not a requirement). Other positions will be up to the exec, but a list of conventional positions and responsibilities (that candidates might wish to refer to when writing their manifestos) appears below.

All exec members should be involved in major decisions, should communicate their ideas with other exec members, and exchange feedback. Traditionally each exec member has a key role, but smaller tasks may be transferred between exec members if it is appropriate to do so. Delegation is key; a job requiring a large amount of work should be carried out by a team of some or all exec members. Furthermore, the following guidelines should be considered primarily as suggestions as to each exec member's responsibilities: They should not act as constraints upon an individual member's initiative, though they do provide a basic idea of what each position will entail. Any potential candidate should ideally already be an active member of the society, and know to some extent how the society runs. Only the keenest, pro-active and dedicated people need apply.

Mandatory Committee Positions

President

The President is the head of the executive. As such, the President should be present at all internal meetings and, where appropriate, external ones. It is the President's responsibility to co-ordinate other exec members and keep them working effectively. The President is also the society's chief representative, and must maintain good will towards the society at both a local and national level. The President should be capable of making good decisions, listening to the views of others, and should have the society's best interests at heart. The President will have direct influence over the direction that the society takes, so those that shy away from such responsibility need not apply.

Treasurer

It is the Treasurer's role to organise and maintain the society's financial well-being. This position involves largely, but not exclusively, week-to-week running of the society (e.g. dealing with cash takings), long term investment (purchase of banners, trophies etc.), and short term rewards (prizes). It is imperative that the Treasurer is aware of any major discrepancies between outgoing and incoming costs and keeps the other exec members informed, to help the exec make the best financial decisions possible.

Secretary

The Secretary's role consists primarily of enabling the executive to communicate effectively amongst each other, and with the rest of the society. This may include, but is not limited to, taking minutes in official meetings, keeping other exec members posted about their duties and upcoming tasks, keeping society members informed of exec decisions, and record keeping for society events.

Other Current Officers

Events Co-Ordinator

The Events Co-ordinator'’s main roles are obviously running the events that the society has, as well as organising and suggesting events for the future. This includes running the weekly GPS, any tournaments during the term, and of course running (along with others) any tournaments held by Warwick. Traditionally the events co-ordinator will also act as the main publicity aspect of the exec, and will also send out the weekly email. It should be noted that the majority of the work for the whole exec comes under the above list (in particular, the Warwick Open has never been organised and run by a single person, nor would this be advisable). As such, this role is expected to be shared to some extent between multiple exec members.

Logistics Officer

Planning transport, accommodation and other arrangements for a tournament is often a difficult task, which is why we've assigned a dedicated exec member to it. The Logistics Officer is responsible for making sure everyone knows how they are getting to a tournament or match - which can involve dealing with any last-minute crises that arise.

Social Secretary

The Social Secretary is responsible for planning, organising and (if required) running the society's socials. Such events may be targeted at attracting new members to the society, or simply to provide an alternative activity which society members can participate in and enjoy. The social secretary will want to take on board the views of others to plan the best socials as are possible, and try to create a good and friendly atmosphere for all the members at the socials.

Historical Committee Positions

Equal Opportunities Officer

The idea behind this role is to promote a spirit of equality amongst the members: The Equal Opportunities Officer must ensure that the society has a well maintained equal-opportunities policy, and generate ideas as to how it should best be followed through. In addition, should any groups (e.g. of a particular gender or race) be under-represented in the society, it is the Equal Ops Officer's responsibility to suggest strategies in order to attract such members.

External Affairs Officer

The External Affairs Officer's main area of responsibility lies with contact and communications with other societies/organisations, clubs/teams outside of the university. It is also their responsibility to organise events involving such groups, and to keep the rest of the society informed regarding national-level events. There has not been an External Affairs Officer since the departure of Adam Baker from the exec. This role is now expected to be performed largely by the President.

Publicity Officer

The Publicity Officer exists to raise the profile of the society. This will include, but is not limited to, arranging society involvement in university-wide events, securing new channels through which the society may become better-known, distribution of promotional materials, and co-ordinating society efforts to recruit new members, particularly at the start of the new academic year. This role was abolished since it was not felt it merited a dedicated officer, and the above responsibilities have been taken on by the exec as a whole.