Annual General Meetings for Special Interest Groups and Regions

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1 Annual General Meetings for Special Interest Groups and Regions INTRODUCTION The following guidance has been developed to assist you in the delivery of your SIG or Region Annual General Meeting (AGM), and is aligned to BIFM National AGM processes and procedures, to ensure a cascade of good governance throughout the whole of BIFM. HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Before planning the content of your AGM, you should always have a clear purpose and understanding of what you aim to achieve and communicate to your member base. BIFM is the leading professional body for advancement of the FM profession, and we always stress the importance of providing our members with current, relevant and accurate knowledge and information, and this should be borne in mind when organising your AGM event. Purpose The purpose of holding your AGM is as follows: To provide your members of an annual record of everything that has occurred in the last year within your Group To provide and present a report on the group activities during the year and the group finances To give members the opportunity to put questions to the Committee on any aspects of its work, including activities and finances in the past year and operational or development plans for the future. To elect new members to the SIG or Region Committee Planning for your AGM The lead up to any AGM is vitally important, not only to inform Members of the forthcoming meeting, but to also make them aware of any vacancies on the Committee that they may wish to nominate themselves for. Detailed below are some important points to be borne in mind when planning your AGM. Remember to advertise/promote the meeting well in advance. This should be done between 25 and 35 days before the actual meeting date. All SIG or Region members for the relevant group should be notified and encouraged to attend. Your AGM should be held within 15 months of the previous AGM

2 Article 8.3 AGM 2016 For the meeting to be declared quorate (able to make a decision and call itself the AGM) you must have at least 50% plus one of your minimum number committee members present e.g, the minimum number for a SIG or Regional Committee to be operational is 4 (and the maximum 12), so the minimum number required present to enable the AGM to be declared quorate is 3 if your committee is made up of 4 members, and 7 if your committee consist of 12 members. Bylaw 7.6 AGM 2016 Venue choice is an important consideration. Points to factor in are room size, accessibility, IT and AV facilities if required, parking and availability of public transport, refreshments and/or catering. Please don t forget to utilise potential in kind sponsorships available to you through your Committee and wider membership and networking contacts to assist with the costs of delivering your AGM - usually provision of a venue, refreshments, catering Promotion can be in various forms, including bulk s, direct mails, uploading to the BIFM events calendar on the website, and the use of the online facility Eventbrite as a booking facility (free to use for free events). BIFM Head Office is happy to help on all aspects. It is a good idea to link your AGM to another event, especially with a wellregarded speaker or interesting topic, to help drive up attendance Check your dates try to avoid dates when other meetings or AGMs are taking place (you can check the events calendar on the BIFM website first). You want your members to be present and engaged. Also, try to avoid any bank/summer/christmas holidays, or large sporting/social events to maximise attendance. Invite/attract members to nominate themselves for election to the Committee if there are vacancies to be filled Nominations should be sent to the Committee Secretary (or Chair if no Secretary in place) days before the meeting, and should be made on the Expressions of Interest form, forms available on the Volunteer Resource Centre, with the names and membership numbers of two sponsors (members who support applications for Committee membership, as opposed to financial sponsors for activities) Sponsors can be ANY paid up member of the BIFM (this does not include Corporate nominees)

3 Bylaw 7.3 AGM 2016 In the event that no committee is in place, but an AGM is still to be held, as best practice, Head Office will invoke and administer the process, to ensure that there is continuity of the work of the former committee and services and support to its membership In the event that there is no Chair of the Committee in place at the AGM, then the Chair will be elected by the Committee once in place Arrange Committee meetings prior to the event to plan and confirm the AGM agenda, allocating roles and responsibilities for its smooth running as necessary. Discuss any re-elections necessary or proposed changes to the Committee. A formal agenda including running order and times should be made available at the meeting - see next section AGM the event When the day of the AGM arrives it is important to have a clear and concise agenda and timing plan. It is also essential that you have everything prepared with regards to speakers, the venue and the comfort of your members. Ensure your AGM Agenda includes: Chairman s welcome, if applicable Apologies from non-attendees Minutes of the previous AGM, if available Matters arising from previous AGM, if any Election of Committee Members & potentially the appointment of a new Chair Chair to report on the Institute/Group for the previous year and moving forward Treasurer to report on the accounts and financial position of the Group Secretary to report on meetings held, the programme for the year ahead and communication to the group After the AGM At the end of your AGM it is important that the minutes of the meeting, including any decisions or action points are typed up and circulated to the attendees and to those members who were unable to attend. The minutes should be uploaded to the documents section of the web page for the Region or SIG on the BIFM website. Head Office can help

4 with this if necessary and should also be sent a copy of the AGM minutes to retain as an accurate record of the proceedings Head Office should be notified of all Committee changes and the Community Development Team will then communicate out any further governance processes necessary and send out any documentation to be completed, including an invitation to an Induction session. Future AGMs The Procedure Hopefully you will be planning future AGMs, therefore it is recommended that you follow the below procedures: A handover meeting should be held soon after the AGM with both the old and new committee members attending. The purpose is to present the new committee members with documentation relating to the group and for the new committee members to gain as much information as possible to enable a smooth transition. Where this is not possible, appropriate or relevant, Head Office will help to ease the transition for a new committee or committee member (s) by facilitating the flow of relevant information to enable work to be picked up and developed Where possible, old committee members should reach a logical/reasonable handover point on any projects they were involved in, to support the new committee or committee member(s) in taking the project forward for the future Allow for continual development of the Institute/Group Handover notes specific for roles e.g. Treasurer, Secretary, Chair Other relevant information Chair of Region or SIG Must be of Member grade or above Chair or Committee Member of Fellows SIG Must be of Fellow grade Other committee posts Term of Office* For newly established groups Committee Meeting Committee AGM Can be any other grade but must be a BIFM Member Two (2) years: Chair can be re-elected up to the maximum of 6 years The voting for these takes place at the first inaugural committee meeting, from those present who wish to serve on the Committee but you must adhere to the grades above for the Chair and for a committee meeting of at least 3 members present (this depends on the number in the committee) Must be quorate to be an official committee meeting and for decision making (see point 3 under Planning for AGM, above) Must be quorate to hold an AGM, see point 3 of Planning for AGM above

5 BIFM hope that this guide on how to run a successful AGM will be of use when you look to perform such an event within your group. If you would like further information please contact BIFM Head Office and we will assist you in the best way possible to ensure your event goes without a hitch, and is of benefit to all. *please note that following the 2016 AGM and constitutional changes the relevant transition arrangements will apply to this rule

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