President #010 - Stephen Tedja

Chapter President of AIYA (Australia-Indonesia Youth Association) Victoria

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenstedja/

“I would then go beyond the PD's and get to know each person's skill sets and commitments.”

Insight #1

Build rapport with your team members immediately. E.g. During regular meetings, I would dedicate time to just talk about how everyone is going. Meetings should also be light-hearted with occasional jokes.

Insight #2

Set clear expectations about each role. E.g. I think PD's [Position Descriptions] are useful to guide us in setting expectations. I would then go beyond the PD's and get to know each person's skill sets and commitments and go from there. E.g. A Secretary with strong excel skills may help out treasurer with budgets should treasurer be too busy with other stuff.

Insight #3

Set an achievable goal for the organisation for the year. This is specific to AIYA, but I would hopefully get more Indonesian learners to join and promote Indonesian studies and the bilateral relationship.

---

Campus Challenge

Define success for each team member

Have you ever had someone become frustrated with you? Yep. Me too.

Frustration comes from expectations. They expected you to behave one way, and you behaved differently.

This gap is where frustration is born in personal relationships amongst friends, family and couples as well as in work relationships amongst team members. One key to relationship happiness (work/personal) is not low expectations, but shared, agreed upon, expectations.

Write down what you define success as for each member of your team.

E.g. Secretary – Prepare/distribute/collate/report-on surveys for student engagement each semester;  Take minutes and distribute via email within 1 hour of meetings concluding; Reply to emails within 48 hours; Record attendance at every event and collate into a report each semester.

Be explicit. Include timings. Remember, this is just your perspective.

Then ask each member of your team how they’d define success. Explain that it’s important for you to know what they see their responsibilities being so you can both be on the same page. Compare your perspective and theirs then decide on what they should be working towards given their strengths, what they want to get out of the role and what the society needs them to perform in order to best serve the students.

President #009 - James Mallett

President of UNSW Civil & Environmental Engineering Society

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mallett-236759133/

Insight #1

You’ve got to set the standards yourself.

Insight #2

Use the knowledge of the past leadership team.

---

Campus Challenge

Write down and share your own standards

Set norms for your own behaviour and make them available to your team. For example:

I commit to provide each team member with two-paragraphs of written feedback after the first month of the calendar year. Then? Ask for feedback from your team. You’ll know exactly how they feel.

OR

I commit to sharing what I am working on, in an open, accessible, online format with a summary each week for the whole team to view and pose questions about. Set the strategy and you’ll be surprised how many creative tactics/ideas come from your wider team.

---

If you're interested in learning more about becoming a student society leader, apply for our Campus Leaders Fellowship via:
www.facebook.com/events/751680191688602/

President #008 - Sanjida Huda

President & Founder of Macquarie [University] Marketing Student Association

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjida-huda/

“It was … basically a small business.”

Insight #1

The biggest challenge (which I thought I would absolutely nail) was to maintain morale and culture within the team and continuously increase team engagement. For me, I had never stepped out of my comfort zone before and started something new like I did with MMSA, so I was never familiar with not only managing my own team from scratch but forming a team of individuals that would aim to achieve the goals of the society as much as I did. This was unexpected as it was all volunteer work for students, but it was also basically a small business.

Initially I had quite a few people join the executive committee and I interviewed them myself, but soon after they decided to leave. It was important for me to then realise that we needed to establish a great culture within the society and so … instead of booking meeting rooms, I planned team lunches and dinners to get the team motivated as well as get to know each other a bit more. We now have a very strong executive team behind all of the works, and will soon be on boarding our directors so we can achieve, bigger and better, in 2018.

Insight #2

Although we are an established society, our biggest win so far would be selling out our Industry Event in late October this year. This was … right in the middle of [the] assessment period before finals.

Who would show up to an event at 6PM when they've got 50 assignments due in the next week right? But our marketing was absolutely amazing thanks to my team and we made the event a success and every individual that attended had benefitted.

What’s on the horizon for 2018?

In 2018 we have big dreams of planning a variety of social and industry related events, through which students and our members are given opportunities to develop their marketing technical skills, as well as develop professionally. We aimed to increase attendance at these events. MMSA currently has 130 registered members, and we aim for this number to reach 400 by the end of 2018.

One of MMSA's biggest aims in 2018 is to increase the number of industry connections. We believe that students and the society can benefit through managing relationships between companies and industry mentors, so we would love to design some sort of program which will enable students to apply for a mentor from the marketing industry.

---

Campus Challenge

"Simple – get OFF campus (briefly)"

Plan a team lunch outside of your normal meeting times or have the team over for dinner if someone has a large enough dining room to cram everyone in. In the working world, companies have staff retreats, picnics and celebrations to get to know one another outside the office.

Take the chance to build strong friendships and watch this cross-over into improved working relationships and improved results.

President #007 - Rhys Kissell

Co-Founder & President of QUT Energy, Renewables, Environment and Sustainability

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhyskissell/

“Think about how you can make it [the society] even more appealing than it already is.”

Backstory:

I identified a need for a renewables club because I personally am very interested in the field, and couldn't find anything relevant to that interest at my university.

I discussed the idea with some friends and acquaintances and it soon became pretty clear that people would join if someone just took the initiative.

Insight #1 – Signing up 150 new members in 3 days

[We used] Facebook advert coupons and some demographic targeting to find the right people to show the page to.

From there, people began inviting their own friends to follow our Facebook page and club Facebook group. The club initially focused solely on renewables, but it seems like it's naturally expanding into sustainability and green tech generally just because of member interests.

Insight #2

I'd say that you can think of it [a new society] as a product you're trying to sell. It just so happens that the product in this case is an idea. Think about what kind of person would be interested in "buying" that idea from you, and think about how you can make it even more appealing than it already is.

What can your idea offer them, and what do they want? You can usually assume they'd want the opportunity to meet professionals in that sector, but what else? Do they want the opportunity to do site visits, or get a chance to experience using the tech in the industry? Are they possibly interested in club projects that they can add to their resume and talk about in interviews? That sort of thing. The few times I've been asked by members what ERES [Energy and Renewables Engineering Society] can offer them, those are the kinds of things they're thinking about.

Insight #3

My university doesn't offer any engineering classes on renewables, so you can also look at whether your club can represent the members' interests on campus. We're planning to do that by lobbying the faculty to add an elective on renewables.

---

Campus Challenge

Think about the benefits of a pivot

If you were FORCED to ‘pivot’ your society and either merge it with another, or change the direction in a significant enough way that it would warrant a name change, what might you change? What benefits/opportunities might this provide? Would you be able to represent a wider demographic of students or could you pool resources (funding/talent/events) with a very similar club? Brainstorm the potential improvements and even without a formal change this will challenge the status-quo of previous years and spark new ideas.

President #006 - Patrick Yan

President of the Australia Finance Conference

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-yan-48481213/

“Never settle. Only go up.”

Insight #1

[Re: Getting speakers at the event.] You'd be surprised how many of the highest calibre speakers in Australia would be interested in participating. I tell my team, “Never settle. Only go up.”

Insight #2

A lean and inspired team is more efficient and value adding than a team that is too large to motivate.

Insight #3

Venture into areas no other society is looking into.

---

Campus Challenge

Invite Alumni back to speak or judge a competition

Patrick’s tips were some of my favourite in the eBook. For this Campus Challenge, let’s think about how you could be bold in requesting high-flying Alumni to contribute to your events. If you need a panel of speakers, or judges for a competition, reach out to Alumni and you’ll be surprised by their generosity. Determine how many Alumni have attended events in the past, reach out to new Alumni and break another record! If you set a goal and work towards it, there’s no limit!

President #005 - Kristofer Wright

President of Curtin Global Exchange Society

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristoferjameswright/

“I like seeing how, even from one event, we can make a student feel welcomed and know they are not alone”

Insight #1

Our initial strategy was to get interaction between the incoming exchange students and our current campus students. The belief was that with more interest in the program from local students we could grow our numbers and our funding opportunities. This would ideally lead to a cyclical system that drew in more international students and thus provide more opportunities.

Our International Office had a welcome event and a buddy program already established (which I helped to oversee) which allowed us to promote the club through these interactions. Working with assistance from the Curtin International Office we were able to create a Facebook group and page that allowed us to market towards international students as well as their buddies.

Insight #2

Definitely the key here is for engagement, as no one wants to be in a club that is boring and doesn't provide them any outlets. What we focused on was providing multiple events that allowed for more club member interaction. I feel that the more the members can be involved the more likely they are to help out. Another thing is providing outlets for all members as peoples tastes vary and thus you can't just hold parties and think you'll succeed. The key is to build member interaction early which leads to greater involvement and assistance in projects.

Measuring effectiveness is all about how we perceive the interactions with our new students and the benefits they get from it. We measure success by the number of students of the cohort that attend these events (via a percentage) and we feel anything above 33% is a good target for us.

Insight #3

The hardest part I think is the same as in business and that is building the boat, launching it and keeping it afloat. A lot of our challenges were about promotion and funding as we were such a small club. We had to manage our finances well and make them go as far as we could, and definitely getting help from the International department was a big kicker. We survived one year and have built from there.

[The] most rewarding part is seeing how we create interactions between our exchange students and our local students as this helps both groups in their transition. I like seeing how, even from one event, we can make a student feel welcomed and know they are not alone.

I think the best advice that I can give is to not chase profits - that's an absolute death wish. You have to start small and slowly, building to get things going and off the ground. Always do an event for the benefit and enjoyment of members, not to just make a buck - as people can pick up on it if you charge ridiculous amounts.

---

Campus Challenge

Ask your faculty/overarching body to cross-promote

President #004 - Jessica Fung

President of Beta Alpha Psi (UTS Chapter)

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-jy-fung/

“Take the time to talk with each committee member and get to know what they like, what they hope to get out of their role and what they would like to achieve throughout the year.”

Insight #1 – Be part of a family

Being president of a society doesn't mean just putting a fancy title onto your resume, it means leading your team and knowing how everyone works. Take the time to talk with each committee member and get to know what they like, what they hope to get out of their role and what they would like to achieve throughout the year. From this, you not only create a strong team, but you create a family of people who you can trust to organise events, talk to sponsors and put forward brilliant ideas. The culture of your team is so important for people to feel valued and to enjoy this extracurricular work. Go out for dinners or drinks, create a non-serious work chat, you'll also come out of the society with (hopefully) an amazing group of friends.

Insight #2 – Communicate

During busy seasons such as exam periods or assessment periods, it's easy to put your society commitments to the side. This is A-OK because you are first and foremost still a student studying a degree. But, as a president or anyone on a committee really, it is important that you *communicate* what you're doing with everyone else.

If you need some time off to do a 50% weighted essay and you know planning for an event is coming up, let your team know and see if anyone else can fill in for you during a meeting, or see if anyone can take minutes and relay them back to you (this is also a really important skill to build up in your exec committees - succession planning!).

Insight #3 - Delegate

It is also A-OK to delegate work and not take on too much for yourself personally. Even though it feels like you have sole responsibility of making events go smoothly, it is the team's responsibility as well. I know that I have a habit of taking on too much work than I should - but that is because I am a perfectionist and I want to see work done to a high consistent level. However, your team are there because they are capable individuals themselves. Don't be scared to delegate and always communicate if you feel overwhelmed.

---

Campus Challenge

Make your work-load transparent

Consider utilizing an online platform (e.g. Trello, Google Sheets) or establishing a system to track work-flow to maximise communication.

Why?

Being able to see at any time what every member of the team is working on is valuable for many reasons, including:

(1)     Your team knows what you’re spending your time on and can ‘manage up’ if needed.

You know what your team is working on and can refocus or redirect to ensure the whole team is working on the biggest projects.

President #003 - Harkiran Khanna

President of Macquarie University Women in Science and Engineering

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harkirankhanna/

“Being a leader also encompasses developing relationship.”

Insight #1

I would encourage them to not be afraid of starting new initiatives - whether big or small. This could be mentoring programs organised by society executives in conjunction with industry professionals and academics, or charity events to raise awareness about global issues.

Insight #2

I would also emphasise that being a leader also encompasses developing relationships with Faculties and other societies on campus. Inter-society and inter-disciplinary events not only attract a larger audience, but are also imperative in improving the student experience at universities.

Insight #3

Our STEMMx event is not as big as TEDx events but we invite speakers with STEMM backgrounds to give inspirational TEDx-style talks. This year, we had an engineer from Schneider Electric, and academics from the Department of Computing, Engineering and Biology who gave presentations on 'Women in STEMM industries: challenges and achievements' theme. We had 45 students at the event, and we hope to increase our numbers next year.

---

Campus Challenge

Create a charity event + invite another club + utilize a well-known model

Harkiran’s tips were all so good that they have been combined into one, super-sized Campus Challenge.

Yes or No: Does your society currently run a fundraiser in support of a charity?

If your society, a group of likeminded, passionate students have come together to form a community, then coming together to contribute to a cause larger than yourselves is the next step up.

If the answer is Yes, you have a head start. Your challenge could be to break the record for your club in dollars raised.

If the answer is No, you have low-hanging fruit. Low-hanging fruit is an expression that represents an easy win. If no one in the club has formally organized a fundraiser in the past, then proposing it and forming a committee or students to support you to do it is your challenge.

Key steps (and for full details check out Campus UNLEASHED):

(1)     Reach out to other clubs and brainstorm options for challenges/fundraisers;

(2)     Pick a cause that aligns with your shared interests;

(3)     Set a goal and assemble a team;

(4)     Share. Share. Share. Facebook & LinkedIn are your friends;

Consider running an event with admission going to charity e.g. STEMMx

President #002 - Giulia Portelli

President of La Trobe University Psych Society

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gportelli/

“Be kind to yourself and know that you can ask for help.”

Insight #1

Be sure to pay attention to your constitution, and any obligations that exist in your framework, such as membership to your University Student Union etc. It's really important to make sure that you're getting in any necessary paperwork, particularly when it comes to grant/funding applications. And if you're ever confused about the processes, be sure to ask!

Insight #2

Focus on your fellow committee members. A volunteer role is a big responsibility, on top of university and everything else. Make sure they feel supported, listened to and nurtured in their role. They're likely doing a lot for the club and are key in working together for its success, so think about what you're also giving back to them. Maybe you've heard of some good resources they might find useful, you could acknowledge their efforts in meetings or even put aside some time at the start of every meeting as a casual 'committee catch-up'.

Insight #3

Utilise your network. Reach out to the academic and professional staff at your University. If staff endorse something students are more likely to think it's a good thing to get involved in. They can also be a great support and possibly a good future reference!

---

Campus Challenge

Invite stakeholders to your events

Take care of yourself too! Be kind to yourself and know that you can ask for help. Planning ahead by avoiding events in busy times might also ease the pressure for you later on.

Engaging with your stakeholders is vital. So what’s a stakeholder?

A stakeholder is anyone who is a supporter (financial, resources etc.) of your society. If you are a faculty aligned academic society, this might include Deans, Professors and Tutors. If you are a sporting club, stakeholders might include professional bodies, university faculty staff or representatives (university/state/national level) that you engage with. The same is true for Not-for-Profits or Cultural Clubs (with overarching bodies).

Do an audit of all your events for the previous year.

(1) How many different stakeholders did you invite to attend?

(2) How many attended?

(3) Set S.M.A.R.T. goals for the next 12 months to improve these figures.

(4) Bonus Marks: Ask stakeholders for feedback on how to improve the events AND increase the value to stakeholders.

President #001 - Courtney Basso

Co-President of UWA Student Managed
Investment Fund

LI: www.linkedin.com/in/courtneybasso/

“The main aim of any club is to benefit the students.”

Insight #1

Make sure you understand all aspects of the club before coming in and implementing changes. It can be very exciting starting your role as President and you have probably come up with a list of new ideas, but it's important to talk to the outgoing executive committee on what they tried and tested and what worked/didn't work.

Insight #2

Have a strong executive team. There is a lot of work that goes into running a club and you can't do it alone. Depending on your club's constitution you may have the ability to choose your exec. Don't pick someone just because they are your closest friend.

Insight #3

Set yourself clear goals at the start of the year and plan how to achieve them.

Insight #4

Continue the existing relationship your club may have with the faculty and other clubs. It is important to have a strong relationship with the clubs you may view as your 'rivals.' For example, if you are the President of an engineering club and there is another engineering club on campus you have to remember that the main aim of any club is to benefit the students and your events will benefit the students more if the clubs collaborate.

Insight #5

Don't be afraid to ask for advice. Being President can be scary and you might not know exactly what's going on (especially when you're asked what size tent your club wants on O-Day) so don't be afraid to message the Immediate Past President as they have a lot of experience and are always happy to help.

---

Campus Challenge

Build a relationship with your predecessor.

Reach out to the outgoing committee member who held your current position in the previous year. Note that they might have taken on full-time work and hence be time-poor. If they can offer the time below, here’s what to ask for:

(1)     One off, written response
Ask them for their top three learnings from the role.

(2)     One off, 30-minute meeting/call
Conduct an 80/20 analysis on their time in the role. Ask them which actions they conducted that yielded the most benefits and where they felt they spent a lot of time to little avail.

(3)     Monthly, 30-minute meeting/call
As above during the first meeting, then ask to check in with them to get feedback on your progress each month following. Say, ‘Thank you’ … a lot!