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Managing Your Organization

Video conferencing and online collaboration tools have made it easier than ever to sustain your organization while we are physically apart. Here are a few ways you can make the most of this time.

Continue to Meet!

To the extent possible, we encourage student organizations to stay connected with regular meetings via video conferencing.

  • Tools like Zoom or Google Hangouts are just two video conference tools you can use to gather.

  • Schedule a regular time to meet, even if it's just for social purposes. With members spread around the globe, you may want to revisit your meeting time, or it may be helpful to keep your time consistent with when you would meet on campus. Understand that everyone may have different commitments where they are living now, and try to be accomodating when possible.

  • Learn more about Zoom

Elections and Leadership Transitions

Just as you would in person, you should move forward with officer elections and transitions - you can manage your elections online in Engage.  Student Involvement has brainstormed some different ways you can conduct your election:

  • Set up ballots in Engage for each position you are electing (e.g., president, treasurer). Set the period of time the ballot will be live, and chose to have your election show up on your organization's page. Don't forget to also set your election so that only members on your organization's roster can participate. For help creating an election in Engage, check out this page. 

  • Host a Zoom meeting where candidates give their speeches and/or answer questions. Group members can vote in Engage after the meeting.

  • Ask each candidate to write a statement explaining their platform and answering any questions about their candidacy. Written statements can be sent to the person in charge of elections, who will copy and paste or attach each statement to the electon ballots in Engage. Group members can read the speeches and vote right in the form.

  • There are likely more ways - get creative! If "elections" doesn't quite capture how your group manages leadership transitions, the Student Involvement team is happy to consult with you to think through ways to make your system work remotely.

Prepare for the Future

Life on campus often leaves little time for long-term planning. Think about ways you can use this time to plan or do some "deferred maintenance" for your organization. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Create officer transition reports
  • Review your organization's constitution and bylaws and update
  • Survey your members on organization satisfaction
  • Prepare for re-registration by updating your Engage organization page (roster, description, etc.)
  • Create or revisit your organization's annual goals
  • Connect with your organization's advisor to discuss how they can better connect with your group
  • Upload files (including officer transition reports) and photos to Engage for organizational continuity and institutional memory