The Role
of the Secretary
A Secretary needs to be a practical person who will pay
attention to detail and likes to get things done. The Secretary will need to
work closely with the Chairperson, and also with a group's co-ordinator or paid
staff, if there are any. The Secretary is an official member of the Committee
and has the right to vote.
The Secretary usually has a number of responsibilities:
- organising and following up meetings of the
group
- looking after the overall administration of
the group
- dealing with correspondence of the Chairperson's
signature
- contacting other members to follow-up tasks needing
to be done
- seeing that employees are paid and official returns
are attended to.
Some groups have a Secretary for these tasks and a Minute
Secretary, who has no voting rights, but takes the minutes of the meetings.
This usually depends on how many willing helpers you can find in your group.
While the Minute Secretary takes the Minutes, it is the Secretary's job to make
sure that they are accurate, copied and circulated to members.
Duties of the Secretary
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Before the meeting:
- make sure a place is available for
the meeting,
- make sure that the Minutes of the
previous meeting are written up and a copy circulated to
all Committee members with notice of the next meeting (date,
place, time) and a draft Agenda for the coming meeting,
- settle the items of the agenda with
the Chairperson and prepare copies for all members,
- keep all the papers that may be needed
at the meeting in a folder - they should be arranged in
the order that will be needed,
- have any reports or information ready
which may have been asked for at the previous meeting.
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At the meeting:
- you should be at the meeting ahead of
time with the books, correspondence and other necessary papers,
including the Constitution, a membership list and the Minute
book, to check past decisions,
- make a note of those present and also
of all apologies,
- see that a quorum is present before any
committee business is done,
- read the minutes of the previous meeting
and obtain the Chair's signature
- take notes of the business of the meeting
for the minutes, unless there is a Minute Secretary available,
- assist the Chair with any information
required, including giving advice on the consequences of the
Correspondence items or other documents.
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After the meeting:
- draft or check the Minutes as soon
as possible and submit them to the Chair for approval,
- write any letters, secure any information
or take any action on matters decided by the committee,
- write up the Minutes for circulation
- have the Minutes typed, copied and
sent out to all the members of the Committee,
- if action is to be taken by anyone
else, check that they know they are meant to do that job,
and when the Committee needs to have a result.
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Hints for Minutes Takers:
- listen for key words or phrases
- try to capture basic ideas and the essence of what
people say
- don't write down every word
- write as clearly as possible
- abbreviate words, use initials to save time circle
key ideas, statements or decisions
- underline highlights and differentiate important
ideas
- use stars, arrows, numbers
- number all sheets
- note ‘Action’ beside motions or decisions requiring
specific tasks
- note who is responsible for the action
- speak up when the action is too fast !