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Please find my OCM manifesto for the UCC Societies' Guild of 2015/16
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Cliadhna Dinneen (Ní Dhuinnín)
OCM Manifesto UCC Societies’ Guild 2015/16
About Me My name is Cliadhna Dinneen and I am a final year English and Irish student. In September of 2012 I fell into the world of societies by joining Dramat and getting elected as the First Year Rep on that committee. As First Year Rep, I learned a huge amount about being on a committee as well as societies in general. I was put in charge of several collaborative events and I also headed up the second term short play festival. Because of my work in first year, I was short-‐listed for Fresher of the Year. In my second year, I ran for and was elected as secretary on the Dramat committee. As secretary, I had to take minutes, secure performing rights for all our productions and book up to 20 rooms a week for rehearsals. In this role, my organizational and scheduling skills were developed as well as my communication skills. Being hugely dedicated to the society, I decided to run for auditor after my term as secretary was up. This year I held the position of auditor of Dramat – leading a committee of 13 people. After 9 mainstage productions, 8 short play, countless workshops and collaborations and a charity pantomime, we were honoured to win 5 society awards including Best Collaboration with the International Relations Society, Best Creative Society and Best Society. We managed to turn what would have been considered an insular society into a far more open community, increasing our membership base and, by extension, the quality of our show and the society as a whole. I also had the honour of sitting on the Strauss Ball committee, as secretary, where I got to work closely with representatives from the creative societies and LGBT*. I have enjoyed working on and with societies so much over the last three years and I can’t imagine how I could give back to UCC societies as much as they have given me through out my time in the university. I am dedicated 100% to societies and I can honestly say that I would work to the absolute best of my ability to each and every society if I were elected to the Societies Guild of 2015/16.
PR Societies Guild Website – The Societies Guild website is a huge asset and one of the most important tools that we have to showcase the phenomenal work of all our societies. This is something we could take more advantage of. At the moment, it needs to be completely updated – so much so that there are new societies that need to be added to the ‘Join a Society’ tab. Updating and maintaining the website is a small thing that could make a huge difference to society promotion. Individual Societies Websites – A solid, easily maintained website can be so beneficial to a society – not only for PR purposes but also as an archiving tool for the future of the society. If elected, I would love to work with societies to make sure that each society has at least a simple website before Fáilte Fest. Before I joined Dramat, I practically memorized the website and it made it far easier for me to approach the committee as I had an idea of who they were. This is something so simple that can be achieved so easily. If this is done before September, it could have a massive effect on attracting new members. Digital PR -‐ For years there have been problems with the poster boards being too full and the printer bring too busy to print posters. The best solution to this is to have more of a digital presence on campus. Obviously, it’s unrealistic to switch completely over to a digital format but by utilizing the screens on campus more it could save a lot of hassle and it would cut down on the amount of posters being taken down and thrown away after each event is over.
Entertainments Societies Christmas Party – If elected, I would work to bring back the Societies Christmas party, which was one of the few all-‐society events of the year. Because of the nature and quantity of societies, it’s not often that representatives from all societies get the chance to socialize through out the year. Christmas is the perfect to strengthen links between societies as the first term will be coming to an end and it will set up the opportunity for collaborations in the second term. Repping Group Social Nights – Sometimes it can be very daunting for auditors at the beginning of the year trying to engage and participate in steering meeting, especially if they’re not familiar with the other auditors in their group. To combat that and create a more comfortable and productive environment in meetings, I would suggest have a social night for the specific repping groups with their guild reps at the beginning of the year, outside of Auditors’ Training. Collaborative Events – Something I’ve tried to promote in Dramat and something I feel very strongly about carrying through to Guild, should I get elected, is an increase of inter-‐society collaborations. It seems as if societies feel restricted to just their own events or to only collab with other societies within their repping groups or with direct links to them. With a bit of creativity and thinking outside the box, I’d love to work with societies to try and organise some innovative collaborations which would help with inter-‐society relations, individual membership and get societies working together, adding variety to the events calendar.
Development and Engagement “RAG Year” – With the incoming Students’ Union proposing to extend the RAG week initiative to span the year with a more focused RAG Week in February, this is the perfect opportunity for societies to get more involved and continue the growing pattern of increased community engagement -‐ sing the extended time to not only ‘raise’ money for charity but also to ‘give’ back to the community. It’s also the perfect opportunity to link up with the SU to make sure that the events receive university-‐wide coverage and increasing student participation in community-‐based projects. First Year Rep Coffee Mornings – Having been a first year rep, I understand how difficult it can be to link up with other society freshers as the only place you’re likely to meet them is in the Hub or at the end of the year, at Clubs and Socs or another mammoth all-‐socs event. I believe that the best way to tackle this issue is by setting up some sort of coffee morning or something equally as informal where the auditors and first year reps from specific repping groups get the chance to meet regularly and create inter-‐society links. It would benefit both the freshers and the auditors of the year and the societies as a whole as, very often, first year reps re-‐join their committees and so the links with grow and develop. New Societies – Should there be any new societies set up next year, I would like to work as closely as possible with them as the first year of a society is often the toughest one. Working with the entire committee, I’d like to work to ensure that they start off strong and that someone is there to guide them through any difficulties they might have.
Training Second Term Trainings – Following on from the great work this year, I’d like to see the training portfolio grow and develop. Obviously, the bulk of training sessions would have to stay in the first term but I would organize for at least one session of each of the role-‐ specific trainings and one general committee training to be held in the second to accommodate committee members voted in through EGM’s as often they are already playing catch up and any additional help that can be given to them should be. Stress Management and Conflict Resolution – Two of the most difficult areas of running or sitting on a committee are dealing with the stress of balancing societies and academia and trying to resolve and conflicts that arise. I would try to afford these two areas a lot of attention when organizing training sessions as both are ridiculously common issues that occur and reoccur every year and ones that impact hugely not only on the success of the committee but on the welfare of its members. Teaching committees how to cope with and manage these issues should be a Guild priority. Fresher Recruitment Training – If elected, I would love to see a training introduced on how to sell your society and to make it look appealing to incoming freshers. Often, committee members are asked to stand at a table with their society banner and hand out jellies without any clue as to what to say to the freshers. I would like to introduce a training session which would cover what points to hit when encouraging people to join your society but which would also cover ideas on how to make the individual Fáilte Fest/Socs Day stands look interesting and stand out from one another. Weekly Emails – Continuing on from the system this year, I would like to send out weekly emails or weekly posts on the ‘All Committee Facebook Group’ to ensure that all members of every committee are made aware and/or reminded of the training sessions scheduled for the week.
Awards Awards Info Night – The award application process can be a challenging one and an information session on all things awards-‐based is completely necessary. While it was great to see that happen this year, if I were given the chance, I would ideally like to hold the same session slightly earlier to give societies a bit more time to work on their application preparation. Applications – In the last two years, there has been a massive improvement in the award application process but there are a few minor tweaks I would make, if given the chance. I would like to look into changing some of the questions and the way they are on the applications, particularly the personal awards. Also, I would like to look into defining specific criteria for certain awards to make the applications slightly easier to complete. International Student Award -‐ In the past it has been suggested that the guild introduce an award to recognize the contribution of international or visiting students to their societies. If elected, I would hope to hope to work on pushing through with this idea and introducing this award. System Test Run – Although the online application process is a huge improvement on the earlier application process, it does allow for the system to over-‐load and crash just before the deadline. To try and combat this, I would like to do a trial run either over the summer or early in the first term where auditors would be asked to submit blank documents and, if the system fails, we can pinpoint the problem and fix it before the actual deadline.
Extra Points Mid-‐Year Review of Guild Reps – All societies undergo a mid-‐year review to make sure they are actively progressing and developing. I believe that Guild Reps should also be subject to a mid-‐year review from their repping groups. As a support system, the guild reps have to maintain contact with the societies within their repping groups and if that communication breaks down and the support system falls apart it has a direct and hugely negative effect on the societies in question. If the reps know that they will be under review as well then it will encourage them to be as proactive as possible in communicating and engaging with their repping groups. Introduction to Carrigside 6 – Every year the Guild suggest running a ‘Hub Tour’ for new committee members but, I personally think, that it would be far more beneficial to have an introduction to the entire building. By that I mean that people should be introduced to the ASA staff and the ways in which they can help them. Along the same vein, people should be made aware of the Societies Officer and the work they do and what they should go to them for. All in all, the Hub itself is only a small section of the building and it’s often the only part people associate with societies. Thank you for taking the time to read my manifesto. The Societies Guild is well-‐established and I don’t want to radically change it in any way but I do want to make small improvements where they might be needed and to develop upon the phenomenal work that’s been done over the last year. I know that I have the experience, work ethic and dedication to be a valuable, contributing member of the 2015/16 Societies’ Guild and I would ask you to please consider giving me your vote on March 26th. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Mise le meas, Cliadhna Email: [email protected] Phone: 0851020904