Society Roles

Considering setting up a society? Enjoyed your first year in a society, and are interested in being part of a commitee? This is the page for you!

Becoming an RSU society committee member is a multi-faceted role that is not only personally rewarding, in allowing you first-hand involvement with your area of interest, but also encourages the development of key skills (including communication, and organisation), all while fuelling the student experience for yourself, and those around you. This in turn allows you to build on existing skills, and gives you fantastic experiances to put on your CV and to carry into job roles in the future.

The three roles are signatories of each society. This means they are responsible for carrying out the role of management and responsibility for their society. They will be the main points of call and communication within the society, and will be in close contact with the Students Union and Activities Team.

The three signatory roles avaliable are as follows:

President

A president is there to oversee the work of their society, ensuring the all of the other committee members are acting efficiently in their roles, and acting as the main point of contact between the society and the RSU. The president is often seen as the face of a society, and is entrusted with the running of the society's AGM (Annual General Meeting), and overseeing the committee re-election process at the end of their residency. This will include:

Your the main point of call everyone will go to - whether they are a newbie or commitee member.
Communicating with your members, the Students’ Union and sometimes the University
Knowing the Constitution of your society – this will mean you’re down with the rules and be able to help your members in any situation
Your Manager of your Society. You need to ensure that the rest of the Committee members fulfil their roles
Hold responsiblity for the decision making of your Society, along with the rest of the Committee
Making sure you are involved and always informed as to the present activities, personnel, events, and financial position of your society.
Manage the running of your societies Annual General Meeting to ensure that it runs smoothly, presentations are made, and a vote is properly conducted
As a signatory , you will sign off any spend and be responsible for any events on and off campus.
Monitor your Social Media , Facebook account and RSU email on a weekly basis and respond to emails.

Vice President / Secretary

Organisation is the main function of a society secretary or vice president, whether this be in terms of sending emails, book rooms, or arranging meetings. The secretary acts as the main means of communication between the society committee and it's members. They will also be second in command for that society.

This also includes:

Your the face of your society and the first point of contact for any newbies. Bonus - you get to meet all the new members first! Looking after members is a key part of your role.
Keep the membership list up to date
Act as a communicator between all members and the Committee
Feed back all the great ideas from all members and see those ideas come to life in your society.
Keep an up to date copy of your Constitution and any other records
Let the Societies Coordcinator know immediately of any changes to your Commitee or if anyone leaves.
Attend to all correspondence for and on behalf of your society.
Meet with the Treasurer to make sure there is enough cash left in the pot at the end of the year to pay for the basic admin costs of your Club or Society until the start of the next academic year
Monitor your Social Media , Facebook account and RSU email on a weekly basis and respond to emails.

Treasurer

The role of a treasurer is to control their society's expenditure, keeping records of income and outgoings, and handling all cash. The treasurer will liase closely with the RSU societies coordinator, ensuring that the society is keeping on track with their budget. One of the main roles of the treasurer is to apply for funding on behalf of their society - further instruction on how to do this can be found here. Income from membership fees can also be tracked from the back end of the society page - under the 'Page Admin' drop-down, under 'Society Admin Tools'. Having clicked on the 'Sales Report' icon, and entered the relevant date slot, the treasurer will be able to view the membership fee intake for their society.

This also includes:

Maintain accurate financial records and prepare a budget at the beginning of the year
Prepare a budget for the forthcoming year describing all sources of projected income and expenditure
Authorise and be accountable for all petty cash transactions
Help your society be financially responsible
Prepare grant applications and keep track of any spend
Make sure the books are always up to date and can be presented at any time ( this does not have to be a complex report, and can simply be a excel spreadsheet - speak to the Societies Coordinator if you need any help!).
Meet with the Secretary / Vice President to make sure there is enough cash left in the pot at the end of the year to pay for the basic admin costs of your society until the start of the next academic year
Signing off any spending.
Liasing with the Finance Manager within the Union if any issues arrise.
Monitor your Social Media , Facebook account and RSU email on a weekly basis and respond to emails.

Non Signatory Roles

If your society takes up a lot of your time, or you have a society with 20 plus members, it may be worth looking at adding additional committee officers. These would be volutunteers who would take over roles within the society to carry out tasks that would support the signatory positions. Potential role options are shown below, and can be edited depending on the society requirements:

Social Secretary / Officer - Someone who plans the generic society socials - this is a good one for any society who like to hold monthly / bi-monthly societies on a regular basis. This could include anything from planning the socials, thinking of ideas, getting feedback from the members, and working with the treasurer to see what is financially viable.
Social Media Officer - This is a great role for any society, and involves being responsible for posting and keeping on top of any social media channels the society may have. The committee should have some access as well, but by having a social media officer, its a great way to keep members up to date. This role is especially worthwhile for anyone looking at entering Communications or Marketing in their future career.
Inclusion and / or Accessibility Officer - This is a role for any society which wants to bring their society forward . The idea of this role is to ensure everyone can get involved, supports equality and diversity within the society and keeps on top of whether the society is doing this, and challenges any difficulties. They can also represent any members and be a point of call for any members that have concerns. This role will be different for every society, but extremly worthwhile, especially in bigger societies. For some societies, Accessibility may be a concern
Training Officer - A role for any society which entails some sort of training to get to a certain level. This could be someone who finds and books individuals on to courses (e.g. First Aid etc) or is someone within an active society which may look to have different level of classes. The individual can carry out training themselves, but this should not be put on the individual.
Events Officer - A big one for any society that wants to have events! This can slightly go into the Social Secretary role, so have a think about how this would work best for you. This role is responsible for any event planning, risk assesments, finances and generic overseeing of any events within the group. This is a big role, and may need some support of the committee, and other roles within the society. If you have any ideas of big events / balls / dinners within your society, I would encorage you to consider this role for your society.
Transport Officer - Suited for any society that organises transport for activities or events. Niche role, but important for those who have this as part of their society.
Welfare Officer - If you have a medium / large society, or a society where vunrability may be a concern, I would consider including this role. It can be shared with the Inclusivity role as well, and combining the two. The idea of this role is for people to have someone to turn to if they want to share a concern, are aware of a potential safeguarding issue and may just need a little bit of extra support. The individuals should not be responsible for sorting out any issues, but can direct them either to support, or make the RSU and Welfare Team aware of anuy concerns of a delicate or sensitive nature. We can organise for anyone within these roles to have safeguarding training, and meet with the Welfare Team to ensure they are well supported. However it is to be made known anyone within these roles will need to respect confidentiality, GDPR and safeguarding,
Health & Safety Officer - If you have a society where an activity requireds a number of risk assesments, this one is for you! They will overseeing any event / health and safety issues.
Promo/PR / Publicity Officer - Simply a role to work on how to advertise, communitcate and market your society in the best way possible, and advertise anything new and exciting. They can be in the same role as a social media officer, but if you are a medium / large society it may be worth them both being seperate. They will be involved in creating posters, writing articles, planning a Freshers Stall and looking at advertising across campus.
Manager - In some societies, there will be a part of their activity which involves management of certain areas, and therefore it may be something that may be suited for your society. It is dependant on the activity and society themselves.

While its great to have a large committee, having too many people in leadership roles can be challenging to manage, difficult to run and can take over the society. Really think about what you need, how you would best operate and how you feel the society would be best supported. We encorage you to have a democratic way of managing as possible while still being a leader, so really think about what is best for the society, and how you can manage and encorage others to lead. Remember : in the end of the day you are all volunteers, and are doing the best you can.