ISC AGM - Election and more!

Dear All

It is with great pleasure that I today can call the first ever ISC Annual General Meeting!

We have a constitution and a committee to elect!

This is a big change from earlier years in which the selection procedure for new members of the ISC Committee was rather obscure, so please do come along and support our new, more open, and improved method of electing a Committee!

When: Monday 26th of March at 8pm

Where: To be disclosed

How: All positions in the Committee (details below) must be voted upon and we will also be ratifying the new constitution (please have a look at here).

Details of the election:

Any matriculated student at the University of Edinburgh can run and vote in the ISC elections. Please bring your student card as proof.

An additional requirement if you wish to run for a position is that you must be at the University of Edinburgh for the whole of the office term (i.e. the academic year 2012/2013), you MUST also have sent a Statement of Intent for the position(s) you wish to run for to iscedi@gmail.com AT THE LATEST on Monday March 19th. Note: This Statement of Intent will be made public on Tuesday March 20th. You will also be expected to give a very short statement on the election night at which you can convince people to vote on you.

And DO RUN - somebody else isn't, and besides can somebody else really do a better job than you?

You may run for up to two positions, however since you may only hold one position you must state your preference in the unlikely case that you are elected for both. For the exact procedure in special cases see our constitution.

All positions in the committee is up for election, following is a description of each and what the position entails:

President

Job Description:

• As President you are responsible for the overall running of the ISC. You'll be heading committee meetings, deal with the IO, EUSA and other outside bodies. It is your responsibility that things happen, and happen properly and in time. You must take the initiative to get things done if they aren't and make decisions when others cannot. That includes making sure everybody in the committee is doing their job, but also to ensure that things which nobody in particular are responsible for (Pub dealings, Garments, etc.) are done.
• Despite not having any greater formal power than other committee members, you will have the opportunity and position to shape the ISC much the way you wish. You set the general agenda and can enforce it within the ISC but also towards other bodies such as the IO, EUSA and the University in general.
• Therefore you must have good leadership skills, be reliable, ready to work at any time and a drive and vision for the ISC.

Essential qualities:

• General Leadership skills
• Organised
• Driven
• Reliable
• Ability to make decisions and be decisive when appropriate
• Be friendly and diplomatic

Vice-President

Job Description:

• This position is often misunderstood as one which ranks highly but comes with little work. In reality, however, at the ISC, this role is varied in that the VP functions as a second-help not only to the President, but also to the Trips Co-ordinator for weekly trips and to the Events Co-ordinator for the larger events. 
• To the President, the VP helps liaise with EUSA, attending the monthly International Society Round Table meetings and actively trying to engage with cultural societies and other large international-based societies such as Exchange 360 to create larger events or to recruit them for ISC events. 
• Given the volume of work undertaken by the Trips Co-ordinator, the VP must ensure to attend the Trips Sub-Com weekly meetings (NOT as co-chair) and help with administration work. 
• To the Events' Co-ordinator, the VP must help with the larger events of the year, such as International Desserts Night and International Evening, by helping recruit cultural societies from EUSA for setting up stalls.
• Although all core committee members are liable to providing help and support to Trips and Events Co-ordinators, the VP acts as their constant support throughout the year, providing some relief to the two most administration-wise demanding roles. 

Essential qualities:

• Hard-working
• Leadership and Teamwork skills 
• Reliable (there'll be a lot of meetings to attend!) 
• Initiative and drive as the job of the VP is very dynamic and changes as per the needs of the three aforementioned positions that it supports

Treasurer

Job Description:

• Look after the money that goes in and out of the ISC. The Treasurer is the only person besides the President who has a counterpart at the IO--in this case, the IO Accountant, who helps us with invoices, cash flows, payments and audits the accounts.  
• Monitor the funds for each of the ISC sub-committees and subunits (Trips and Events as well as the Lounge itself, Volunteers Parties and the like).
• Responsible for all of the money at the ISC, which is considerable.
• Is a signatory for major purchases.
• Produces the ISC budget.
• Maintains the internal Balance Sheet.
• Forecasts for the rest of the semester/year.

Essential qualities:

• Organised
• Basic numeracy
• Has some knowledge of Microsoft Excel

Secretary

 Job Description:

• Write meeting minutes. Minutes have to be typed up and sent around to the rest of the Core Committee. At the end of each meeting, points to be discussed at the next meeting and tasks each Core Committee member has to accomplish should be included.
• Responsible for all correspondence sent to the ISC Gmail account. This includes replying emails, forwarding emails to the relevant Core Committee member, and informing the rest of the Committee/The ISC regarding offers that are sent to the email.
• If any letters need to be written, this should be your responsibility.

Essential qualities:

• Good command of English (the grammar/spelling in your minutes should not have to be checked)
• Organised
• Diplomatic in dealing with external correspondence.

Publicity Secretary

 Job Description:

• Essentially: to promote the ISC and anything that is happening at the ISC
• This would usually entail writing newsletters on facebook and the blog on a weekly basis and using twitter if necessary.
• Other things that may need to be done: advertise weekly events on facebook by occasionally making 'events' on these weekly things to remind people. Also: assist with editing the main uni website regarding the ISC (if necessary), making flyers for advertising the ISC, making new signs in the lounge if needed. And basically any other advertising the trips or events committee require.

Essential qualities:

• Organised, with eye for detail
• Perceptive (knowing what people will want know about happenings at the ISC)
• Creative (when advertising and the way you word things)
• Diplomatic (to deal with questions that people may have regarding events or happenings at the ISC).

Trips Coordinator

Job Description:  

• Responsible for the organization and running of the weekly trips
• organize the schedule of trips for each semester
• Make sure that each trip has buses, volunteers, schedule, flyers, posters, and proper pricing
• Job is not to organize all the trips themselves but manage the committee to make sure all jobs are done fairly and on time

Essential qualities:

• Leadership skills
• Ability to delegate and run a committee,
• Good people/public skills
• Good time management
• Good problem solving skills

Events Coordinator

• As the events coordinator your main duty is to organise and chair the events subcommittee, ensuring the weekly events take place ; these can be anything from cultural nights to film nights to potlucks. In organising these events it is your responsibility to speak to the relevant individuals regarding hosting, room bookings and any other organising outwith the ISC. It is also your responsibility to ensure that those within your committee are contributing to the workings of the committee. It has recently become the events coordinator’s responsibility to organise the trips to Edinburgh Castle, as well as multiple other large events throughout the year, including the International Desserts Night and the International Evening. In organising these events, it is the responsibility of the events coordinator to maintain an overview of these events, ensuring all pieces fit together as required.
• As a member of the core committee, the events coordinator must also attend and contribute to the internal workings of the ISC, assisting in such aspects as event organising in conjunction with other EUSA societies, fresher’s week, and other projects taken on the by the core committee.

Essential qualities:

• Motivated
• Organised
• Able to communicate and work with others
• Good time management

Lounge Coordinator / Social Coordinator

Job Description:

• Responsible for running of the ISC Lounge.
• Work closely with the House Manger to ensure the Lounge runs smoothly.
• Help recruit enough volunteers for the semester and co-ordinate the lounge volunteers throughout the semester.
• Create a roster showing the weekly volunteers and continually check the sign in book to make sure volunteers are showing up.
• Replace or kick off volunteers who aren't showing up to their times.
• Find replacements for where people are unable to show up and find replacements for those who have dropped out.
• Arrange events/ socials to help foster closer ties within the three voluntary sections of the ISC
• As a member of the core committee, you must also attend and contribute to the internal workings of the ISC, assisting in such aspects as event organising in conjunction with other EUSA societies, fresher’s week, and other projects taken on the by the core committee

Essential qualities:

• SOCIABLE - This is an absolute must!
• Motivated
• Confident
• Outgoing
• Organised

House Manger

Job Description:

• Makes sure that the ISC always has everything it requires to run smoothly: Coffee Evening supplies, milk/coffee/tea for the Lounge, stationery for the Office, etc..
• Keeps the ISC in a presentable state: tidy the place when you're around, fix or get replacements for broken furniture...
• Takes care of recycling things.

• As a member of the core committee, you must also attend and contribute to the internal workings of the ISC, assisting in such aspects as event organising in conjunction with other EUSA societies, fresher’s week, and other projects taken on the by the core committee.

Essential qualities:

• Organised
• Reliable

It will be possible to have a chat about the position you are interested in with the current office holder at the following times:


Tomorrow, Tuesday, Coffee Evening:
Treasurer, Vice-President (5pm-6pm), House Management


Thursday at Pub Night:
President, Lounge/Socials Volunteers Coordinator, Trips Coordinator, Events Coordinator, Publicity Secretary, Secretary


You are also welcome to ask questions by mailing iscedi@gmail.com

I hope to see you all there!

Rasmus Dall

- President