AGM & Election Information (2023)
Whether you've been linked to this page or stumbled into it, the first thing I'd like to say is that I'm sorry. All of the information you'll ever need to know about the AGM/Elections, and more, is contained on this page. Not all of it will be relevant to you, and we'll try not to get too bogged down in edge cases, but do be aware this isn't a smooth read. - Keegan
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What is an AGM? Why is an AGM?
An AGM, or Annual General Meeting, must be held in Term 2 by every society. It's not always called that, but it's meant to be an event where the society looks back on the year's events, and looks forward to how it wants to plan things in the future.
Unless you're on the exec, want to be on the exec, or are extremely fun at parties, that probably doesn't sound like an appealing event on its own. So like most sane societies, we use the AGM to:
- run society elections
- vote on motions
- get feedback on the past year of events
- stuff everyone full of free pizza 🍕
Why are we doing this? Because we're a Warwick SU society, and have to follow Regulation 9 (don't click on that if you value your time). And just like bread, we don't want to have any stale and/or mouldy exec members around for too long.
Where and When is our AGM?
OC1.01 starting at 7pm, this Friday (17/02/23).
Who can take part in the AGM?
Any member of the society! Even if you're not standing, how you vote or what you say could drastically affect the direction the society takes in future.
Elections
Eligibility
Any standard member of the society can stand or vote in the elections. You need to have been a society member since at least 14 days before the AGM (that's 7pm on February 3rd). You can stand for a position at the AGM itself, if you want.
Roles Available
| Role | Slots* | Responsible for: | Recommended if you: |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | 1 | Giving the society a sense of direction for the academic year, and doing what’s needed to make stuff happen. | Can adapt to a wide range of situations. Aren’t afraid to shake things up a little. Have previous exec experience. |
| Treasurer | 1-2 | Managing the society’s budget - by negotiating with sponsors and approving purchase requests. | Have good professional communication skills. Can handle company bureaucracy via email. Want to handle society funds. |
| Secretary | 1 | Making sure things go to plan. Organising meetings, writing the weekly newsletter, and chasing people up. | Are generally organized and on top of things. Can write in a fun and engaging style. Aren’t afraid to chase up other exec. |
| Academic | 3 | Courses, Workshops, Student Talks, Industry Talks, Progcomps, CTFs, CompCafe, and Revision Sessions. | Want to make quality resources and challenges. Enjoy the wider field of Computer Science. Can explain things pretty well. |
| Gaming | 2 | Setting up and packing down Friday Night Gaming, hosting termly LANs, and helping our charity event WASD. | Want to help get people together and have fun. Enjoy a wide variety of games and consoles. Are used to staying up pretty late. |
| Social | 2 | More than just the pub meals! Hosts
 a bunch of cool, one-off events for members throughout the term. | Can organise events people want to come to. Enjoy both sober and not-so-sober socials. Want to collaborate with other societies. |
| Tech | 3 | Maintaining our Linux servers and member services, and looking after our open-source projects. | Want to get hands-on experience with servers. Accept things aren’t going to go to plan. Can quickly pick up new technologies. |
| Inclusivity | 2 | Creating a welcoming environment for members, regardless of background. Hosts Wildcards (women & NB) events. | Represent an under-represented group in CS. Want to improve outcomes for similar students. Can be pretty confident, but also friendly. |
| Publicity | 2-3 | Making sure people know what we’re up to, whether that be through social media, or something more unique. | Can make publicity graphics (preferably Figma). Know what makes social media platforms tick. Are creative, but can be concise. |
*the number of slots given for each position is only a recommendation, as the new exec can use the Shared Office clause to take more or less than this.
Voting
We use the STV, or Single Transferable Vote system. For each position, you can rank as many candidates as you want in order of preference. The system works in elimination rounds. If your preferred candidate is eliminated, your vote will be transferred to your next non-eliminated preference until a single candidate remains.
You can also vote to Re-Open Nominations, by selecting a candidate affectionately labeled as RON. Note that RON is an active vote against any candidates below that option, so you should only use RON if you feel the alternative really is that bad.
We'll be using our online voting platform, UWCS Vote. This will be open for 72 hours from the end of the AGM. Quorum is 33, so that many people need to vote on each position's election for it to count.
Shared Office
Introduced in the 2022 AGM, Shared office is a clause in the constitution which reads as follows:
- 6.3.1 The newly elected executive committee can collectively vote to agree that specified non-core offices should be shared among multiple individuals.
- 6.3.2 Further officers shall be selected by taking subsequent positions in the STV process,
until the required number of officers is reached.
- 6.3.2.a This selection cannot pass a vote to Re-Open Nominations
In other words: the new exec can agree to choose multiple candidates for a position, in rank order of the STV results. I would personally recommend doing this for most positions.
I WANT TO STAND
Send an email to president(at)uwcs.co.uk with the subject line "UWCS Elections" and the following information:
- Your student ID
- The position(s) you're standing for
- Whether you'll be there in-person or online
- Description (optional, max 100 words, per position)
On the day
Each position will be discussed in turn:
- A final call will be made for candidates to stand, before closing nominations for that position.
- All candidates will have the opportunity to give a 1-2 minute speech, without any other candidate in the room. You can say what you'd like, but we'd recommend talking about why you'd be a good fit for the position, and what you'd like to do. Slides are allowed, but aren't really necessary.
- We will then open the floor to a Q&A. At first, the questions should not be targeted at any particular candidate, so all candidates can answer in turn. We estimate the Q&A for most positions to take around 5 minutes, but obviously the ones with more people are going to take longer.
Motions
You can no longer submit constitution-changing motions. You can still submit motions that don't affect the constitution, but the society exec has no obligation to follow them even if passed.
List of this AGM's Motions:
On the day
Each motion will be read out by the returning officer (me), and time will be given for members to:
- Ask questions to the proposer/seconder
- Voice support for or opposition to the motion
Voting
You can vote to support a motion, vote against a motion, or vote to abstain. If more people vote to support a motion than vote against, and at least 50 people have voted on it, the motion passes.
We'll be using our online voting platform, UWCS Vote. This will be open for 72 hours from the end of the AGM.