Strategic Planning Guide

Strategic Planning Template

The Sports, Exercise & Health Department (SEH) has a key guide for Sports Clubs that you mind useful to refer to when writing your Strategic Plan

• SEH Sports Club Guide

Buddle.co offers free learning and support resources to inspire and strengthen clubs and community organisations offering sport and physical activity.

Our Student Conduct and Complaints page sets out essential information on how we ensure a positive and inclusive environment at Bristol SU and the part you as a student play in maintaining and fostering this community.

Other key documents, including the Bristol SU Byelaws, Articles or Association and EDI Policy can be found here

Where possible, use UoB e-mail addresses when inviting people to chat groups. This helps ensure they are who their e-mail indicates they are and helps keep anything you might share with them (e.g. information or access) within UoB’s account security.

Any participants of student group chats should hold an active membership to your group. This ensures that those participating in your group's activity, both in-person and online, are registered with Bristol SU.

It’s important you don't add people to a chat if they haven't consented to it.

For example, adding a student group member to a Whatsapp group without asking them makes their basic contact information available to other group members, including their phone number, which they may not want.

Instead, send them a link via their UoB e-mail address with the details on how to sign up, so they can make the choice themselves.

Group chats should, ideally, be deleted and recreated annually, to ensure active and recent consent from all participants. If this is not feasible, groups should ask all group chat members to re-consent to their inclusion at least once per year.

Your group chat should be part of a supportive and encouraging community, where members can make friends and discuss a variety of topics related to the group. Your members have a right to lawful freedom of expression, however as moderators you can take steps to ensure the WhatsApp chat guideline are being followed and take action if they are not.

Group chats, like social media platforms, are an extension of a groups activities and therefore all activities that occur on these channels must align with the standards set out in the Bristol SU Group Code of Conduct.

Committee members have a responsibility to monitor group chats and moderate any inappropriate behaviour. Below are some guidelines on using them well:

Respect and Inclusivity. 

All members should be treated with respect and kindness. Discrimination, harassment, or derogatory comments based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristics should be challenged by moderators and reported as appropriate

Be mindful of cultural and individual differences. Respect everyone’s opinions, even if you disagree. Group chats should not be used as a platform to express a dislike about anybody - this could be considered bullying and will not be tolerated by Bristol SU.

It is possible that people may wish to express opinions that are controversial and may cause offence. Although we all have a freedom of expression to do this, there are some ways of expressing opinions that are not ok, for example if it is causing harassment or intimidation.

Relevant Content.

Share information that is relevant to your group’s activities and avoid sharing content that is unrelated to the group’s purpose.

Personal messages should be directed to the relevant individual rather than posting them in the chat.

Avoid posting spam or irrelevant links. This includes repeated messages, promotional content, or links that are not related to the group’s activities.

Participation.
Members should be encouraged to participate actively in discussions, but participation is voluntary. If they prefer to remain silent, that's okay too.

Be supportive and help foster a positive and collaborative environment. Running things like polls is a good way to encourage engagement.

Feedback and Suggestions.
You should frequently welcome constructive feedback about your group, including the digital spaces your group occupies. Suggestions should be shared with committee during official meetings.

Sometimes group chat conversations can become unprofessional and inappropriate, meaning action must be taken. Along with using the guidelines laid out above, groups must abide by the Bristol SU Student Group Code of Conduct. 

A groups committee are responsible for ensuring any chats are used correctly. We would expect moderators to warn, mute or remove people temporarily if that's necessary to diffuse a situation - however the SU should be informed of all serious misconduct so that we can determine an appropriate process for following up.

If a committee member is aware of a conduct issue, they can raise this with the SU, by contacting the development team, or if necessary, by using the Bristol SU Formal Complaints Process. 

You may wish to add a disclaimer into your chat description. Feel free to use the below and adapt to your specific needs:

Whatsapp Group Chat Guidelines:

•    Be respectful: Treat each other with kindness and respect, and avoid bullying, hate speech, and abusive language. 
•    Keep it relevant: Stick to the group's purpose and avoid sending irrelevant or excessive messages. 
•    Protect privacy: Don't share sensitive or personal information without consent. 
•    Avoid spamming: Don't send spam or irrelevant links. 
•    Welcome newcomers: Make sure new members feel welcome and answer their questions. 
•    Avoid Harassment: Unwanted targeting or messages and comments at an individual may be harassment
•    Do not post off-topic: Chat should remain relevant to GROUP and its members
•    Only members of GROUP are permitted to use this chat
•    Note that, as with all WhatsApp chats, other members will be able to see your contact information, including your phone number
•    If you are uncomfortable with any of the content in this chat, please inform a committee member or contact Bristol SU Development Team – bristolsu-development@bristol.ac.uk 
 

You can find the 'Connecting with Alumni' training session from CommitteeFest 2024 here.

Academic Society Handbook

All group elections should give the option for voters to express their wish that nominations for a role should be re-opened. Voting for this option is usually taken when voters do not feel as though any of the candidates offer viable or credible policies. This is why you will see RON (Reopen Nominations) listed as a candidate.

If RON wins an election, nominations should be reopened for the role and another election should take place at a time deemed suitable to gain the maximum number of voters. This would usually be at an EGM (Emergency General Meeting), a week or two later but, if felt to be a suitable option, you could hold a second vote at the end of the meeting, allowing members to nominate themselves and to take a vote immediately. Any candidates who lost to RON should be able to rerun for the same position.

Get in touch with the Development Team – bristolsu-development@bristol.ac.uk – if RON does win and you want to talk next steps.

If you're concerned you might struggle to fill your committee positions this year, please get in touch with us!

A Development Meeting may be particularly helpful where we can help you decide on the best route forward for your group - this may include reducing your committee size, ways to encourage more nominations, merging with another group or closing your group.

Our Top Tips:

• Sell what's great about being on committee
  • Talk up all the things that make being on committee great and all the fab things that can be done next year!
• Invite members to a 'candidate academy' 
  • Give potential candidates a chance to ask questions and find out from the current committee what it's like
• Let them know support is available
  • From Committee Fest to Development Meetings, support is on-hand for all committee members - let candidates know!
• Be honest with your members
  • If you're struggling to find next year's committee, let your members know. It might just be the push someone needs to step up and run for a role.

Your constitution will tell you which system is used to count votes for your election. This will usually be either First Past the Post (FPTP) or Single Transferrable Vote (STV)

Bristol SU uses Single Transferable Vote (STV), a representation system in which a person’s vote can be transferred to a second or third choice (according to their stated preference) if their first choice is eliminated during the vote count.

If you want to understand more, take a look at this YouTube video explaining how another SU used STV. 

First Past the Post is the system used at UK General Elections where voters cast their vote for a candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. This video explains the system.

We reccommend outgoing committee through the below handover guide

• Handover Template - Canva
• Handover Template - Word

If you would like some further support, please do book in a development meeting. We're very happy to meet with new committees and can help with:

• Getting to know each other
• Communication
• Setting expectations for the year
• Strategic planning
• Defining roles

Once a group has held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the 2024/25 committee have been elected, the outgoing President, Club Captain or Volunteer Coordinator should access the Committee Hub to notify us of their successor. Check your emails - a bespoke link will have been sent with your Committee Hub log-in details. If you haven’t received this email please get in touch at bristolsu@bristol.ac.uk

The incoming President, Club Captain or Volunteer Coordinator is then automatically sent an email asking them to complete a number of tasks including:

Groups are asked to tell Bristol SU what ‘type’ of group they are during reaffiliation – a sports club, a society or a volunteering project. For some this is obvious, for others it can be less so.

Our definition of a Sports Club is a group meeting any of the below criteria:

• Group participation in BUCS
• Group affiliated to a recognised national sporting body
• Primary activity is a martial art

OR meets all of the below:

• Primary activity expresses or improves physical fitness
• Group self-identifies as a sport (and not a dance / performing art)
• Primary activity is done competitively against external groups

A Volunteering Project will be listed on our website here. Everyone else is a society.

The below table illustrates expectations for each group:

Your group's constitution sets out how you plan to operate, and what your members can expect from your committee. If you wish to make amendments to your constitution these should be done at your AGM with at least two thirds of those present voting in favour of the change. Minor changes such as removal of old policy or references to old systems can be made without consultation at AGM.

If you need a copy of your current constitution, please email Student Services

Template constitutions can be found below:

• Society Constitution Template
• Sports Club Constitution Template
• Volunteer Project Constitution Template

Usually this is because the person being named is either not a member of the group, or has only become a member very recently. The portal can take a couple of days to catch up with new memberships so give it a few days and try again.

As soon as possible! Starting the reaffiliation process as early as possible is good practice and can serve as a useful handover tool for groups

We ask that Student Groups start reaffiliation as soon as possible.

• All groups must have started reaffiliation by Friday 17 May
• All groups must have finished reaffiliation by Wednesday 5 June