General Meetings
When it comes to making decisions that affect the club, clubs will have to first hold a general meeting. General meetings are split into two categories, Annual General Meetings, Extraordinary General Meetings.
AGM
An Annual General meeting (AGM) is a mandatory meeting which includes both a debrief from the club committee as well as elections for the following year. Discussion topics include the club’s achievements, finances, constitution or any other issues raised by members. Following the debrief, several rounds of elections should be held to vote in the new executive team.
AGMs are especially important if your club is an incorporated association, as they are required every year to comply with NSW obligations. For more information on your club's legal obligations, see the 'Incorporated Associations' card at the bottom of the page.
EGM
An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is a meeting held any time during the year as needed by the club. EGMs must be held when proposing new changes to the constitution or electing new members into the executive team. The procedure is for EGMs are similar to AGMs, though the requirements are less stringent.
Calling a General Meeting
Before the meeting, the secretary must send out notice of the meeting to all members and stakeholders, typically via email. This notice must be sent a minimum of 14 days in advance for AGMs and 24 hours in advance for EGMs. This notice should include the following information:
Date, time and location
Agenda
Any relevant information on who can attend and vote at the AGM/EGM
Information on any proposed constitutional changes
Positions open for election/re-election
Templates for the above can be found at the bottom of this page.
Conducting the AGM/EGM
Before a meeting can take place, it must fill quorum. By default, the quorum for Sport Clubs is defined as having at least 50% of membership in attendance or 15 members (including executives), whichever is lesser. However, this definition may be different depending on your club constitution
Prior to the meeting your team should agree on who will be taking the meeting minutes. This is a summary of discussions and key decisions held during the meeting. The meeting minutes are a mandatory AGM document required for reaffiliation. A template for the meeting minutes is available at the bottom of the page.
A typical AGM should follow the following procedure:
Once quorum is filled, open the meeting and note the time in the meeting minutes.
Announce apologies (executives who could not be in attendance)
Motions to accept:
Previous General Meeting minutes
President's Report
Treasurer’s Report
Constitutional Amendments
Elections of executive positions
Nominations
- Brief speeches from each candidate
- Short time allocated for questions
- Voting
- Announcement of results
- General Business
- Close the meeting and note the time in the minutes.
Where to hold a General Meeting
A general meeting can take place in-person, online, or through a hybrid of the two.
If the meeting is in-person, ensure you have booked a space (on campus or otherwise) that can fit your expected capacity. The building rules, restrictions and maximum capacity should also be considered when booking a space.
If the meeting is online, tools such as Microsoft Teams*, Zoom, Google Meet or other conferencing software can be used to host the meeting. These meetings should be password protected to ensure the integrity of the voting process and for general security.
If the meeting is hybrid, the meeting should be held in a room that supports video conferencing (Such as the CATS rooms on campus). Before the meeting, test the equipment and ensure virtual members have visual and audio access to the meeting.
*If your members are all students, Microsoft Teams is a good option as students have a free account using their student e-mail.
Voting
Members should only vote for one position at a time, after speeches are done. Voting does not have to be anonymous, however it is good practice to do so. A minimal requirement is to make sure the candidates do not see the voting process.
All votes should be weighted the same, and there should be no gatekeeping of candidates. All recognised members of the club should be eligible for nomination.
If the meeting is in-person, voting can take place through a show of hands or by secret ballot. If the general meeting is being held online, tools such as Google Forms or Slido can be used to collect votes. Hybrid meetings can be any mix of the two, so long as the votes are counted accurately.
You can also give members who cannot attend the AGM the option to vote through proxies. Proxies are members who have been elected by another member to attend the general meeting and vote on their behalf. Members who wish to vote through a proxy should send a proxy form to the secretary before the AGM. This proxy form becomes invalid if the member attends the AGM. A template of the proxy form is available below.
After the AGM/EGM
Handover
Retiring executive members should give new executives an overview of their role and discuss future plans and challenges, to ensure the new member can resume the position successfully.
Banking
Following the AGM, appropriate members should be given access to the Club's CommBiz account (see Sports Handbook for more information).
Documentation
Once the General Meeting has concluded, fill in the Arc Sport Post General Meeting Submission Form with each of documents below following the requested naming format:
Meeting minutes (SportClub_AGM_Minutes_20XX)
Annual Report (SportClub_Annual_Report_20XX)
Financial Report (SportClub_Financial_Report_20XX)
Membership Database (SportClub_Membership_Database_20XX)
Amendments to Constitution (if any) (SportClub_Constitution_20XX)
New Executive Details (SportClub_Exec_Contact_List_20XX)
Templates for the above documentation are available below. Please note that the membership database template is mandatory for clubs to use. This is so clubs record and report on the necessary demographics and return this information in a standardized manner. Other templates such as the financial report and annual report serve as guides and are only the minimal requirements for each document.
All the above documents are required for an AGM. EGMs, however, do not require an Annual Report, Financial Report or Membership Database.
