Effective meetings

The frequency and format for meetings will not be the same for all clubs, so just make sure that it is right for your club and all that are involved. Below are typical meetings that your club will hold:

Committee Meetings

These are meetings where officers meet to discuss club business and related matters on a regular, recorded basis.

• Discussion items may vary from meeting to meeting and range from who is coaching the team next season, to who washes the kit.
• Your club constitution should state how often the committee meets and the minimum number of committee members in attendance needed (quorum). It is recommended that a club committee should meet at least once every 3-4 months.
• During the process of setting up a club it may be necessary to meet more often, reducing the frequency once the club is established.
• The club secretary is generally responsible for the meeting time and venue and for giving notice to committee members.
• You should appoint someone to take minutes at committee meetings to make sure all key discussion points and decisions are captured and recorded. These should be reviewed and approved by committee members and, if possible, circulated to the wider club so that they know what was discussed.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

These are open to all club members and are held to make decision that affect what your club does and how it is run.

• AGMs are an opportunity to:
  • Highlight the progress and achievements of the club over the past 12 months
  • Elect the Committee for the following year.
  • Discuss and vote on any changes to the constitution
  • Produce (and review) the club's annual accounts
• The secretary is normally responsible for making arrangements for the AGM.
• Usually the notice for an AGM is a minimum of 21 days (this should be stated in the club’s constitution).
• All members should be notified and invited to make nominations for the election of officers.
• The constitution should state the minimum number (or proportion) of members needed to attend for the AGM to be 'quorate' (to be empowered to make decisions).

Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM)

EGMs are called when a minimum number of club members (specified in the constitution) wish to;
• Amend a club rule
• Amend the constitution
• Discuss any other important or urgent matters which cannot wait until the AGM. (Committee members retiring en masse!)

• Your constitution should detail why, when and how an EGM can be called, the notice required and how it should be managed.

Tips for AGMs and EGMs

• Follow the constitution to the letter - don't leave room for protests that the procedures weren't followed correctly
• Involve others in the planning process for the meeting - share the workload and the responsibility
• Don’t use the AGM to ‘surprise’ people with important issues that were not raised beforehand!
• Make the business part as brief as possible and then follow it with some form of social gathering.
• Take advantage of the fact that it is a great opportunity to make your members feel part of a successful club and to get them involved with helping out.

It's as easy to get it right as it is to get it wrong. But if do you get it wrong, the meeting could be declared unconstitutional and you may have to start all over again!

Planning a meeting

Before you hold a meeting, ask yourself whether the meeting is necessary. To make sure the meeting will be an effective use of everyone's time, make sure you:

During and after a meeting

During your meeting you should have someone capturing the key points being discussed, any decisions that are made and actions that individuals have agreed to carry out after the meeting. All of this information forms the minutes of a meeting. We have a Minutes Template available for your club to adapt and use. 

Following the meeting, it's worth getting your club chair or other suitable committee members to review and sign the minutes, to show that they are a fair representation of the discussions. Ideally these can then be circulated to the wider club, to keep them involved in the club's affairs and promote transparency around decisions.

Even with good planning and preparation, problems can still arise in meetings. See our difficult meetings page for guidance on how to deal with issues such as absenteeism, conflict and challenging personalities.