Chairman
  1. To chair business meetings.
  2. To choose roles for the members.
  3. To choose honoraries for their year.
  4. To support members in their roles.
  5. To represent the table and build relations with other clubs and area.
  6. To elect a master at arms at business meetings.
  7. To deal with ad-hoc situations and manage any drama.
  8. To lead by example.
  9. To announce the next 3 events at end of every meeting.
  10. To thank the host and organiser at the end of every meeting, and guests for coming.

Chairman Advice – Always try to appoint a table aged person for master at arms, and newer members to do aims and objects, etc. And try not to dominate the business meetings – ask the quieter guys for their opinions from time to time, to bring them into the discussion – and hold people to task if they talk other others or do not stand to give reports.

Ask those members with roles to give reports at the meeting and give them a nudge on what you would like covered a week or two before the meeting.

Don’t let the meeting be 90% on charity. Put programme and membership at the top of the agenda and try spend more than an hour here, before getting onto the other stuff – then charity can come in.

Without new members, we can’t raise money, and without a programme there is no new members, so keep programme and membership high on the agenda and it will serve charity in the long run.

Vice Chairman
  1. To chair meetings in the absence of the chairman.
  2. To prepare to their year (this should begin around October)
  3. To organise any chuck outs in the year.
  4. To think about the programme, membership, roles for members and honoraries ahead of their year.

Vice Advice – Preparation for your year ahead should begin around October time, to allow conversations with members on the roles you would like them to do, and with the honoraries you would like to have involved.

Try to rotate honoraries and avoid having them year on year. Try to also explain to members what you would like from them in the roles.

By Jan/Feb, start planning what your incoming chairman speech will say and what your goals are for the year – keep them simple and try to have a target for at least 2-3 new members in the year.

Immediate Past Chairman
  1. To support the table to achieve it’s goals.
  2. To support the new members in table and help settle them in.
  3. To take new members for a beer 3 months after joining, to check in with them.

IPC Advice – Don’t check out.

Try to support the newest guys in table as that will be invaluable to the club and give you a new sense of purpose after handing over the chains.

Remember, if you support your table well after your year than you should only ever be chairman once, as the new guys will have their chance.

President
  1. To support the chairman and help him clarify his goals.
  2. To support table, but not to interfere.
  3. To advise on points of order, traditions and table etiquette.

President Advice - The president does not have to be a past member, it can be a member of another table or a long serving member.

And the president should be someone who backs the chairman’s views and goals.

Honorary Member (over 45)
  1. To support table, but not to interfere.
  2. To advise on points of order, traditions and table etiquette.

Hon Advice - Honoraries are limited to 4 per table (plus the president).

All are given a 1-year position, which is not automatically renewed - the chairman chooses their honoraries each year.

Rotating honoraries is vital as it allows other past tablers to come in and provide their wisdom and guidance.

Honoraries are not able to do more than 3 years in a row and a final note to say that having more than 3 honoraries for tables under 15 members is not advised.

Secretary
  1. To prepare agendas for business meetings.
  2. To prepare minutes from business meetings (within 2 weeks of the meeting is advisable)
  3. To submit the Annual Membership Return (AMR), working with chairman and treasurer.
  4. To keep track of membership data such as numbers, emails etc when relevant.
  5. To keep on top of any ‘’housekeeping’’ or ‘’admin’’ issues.

Secretary Advice – This is no longer a big role in table.

The best time to prepare the minutes is the day after the meeting so that they are done and information is fresh.

Also – Feel free to make the minutes a good laugh with jokes and banters, in true table fashion, without losing the accuracy.

Treasurer
  1. To submit the Annual Membership Return (AMR) and to pay the balance due before 31 May.
  2. To keep track of the bank account movement and to maintain accurate paperwork.
  3. To report to the members at every business meeting what the bank balance is, what has gone in and what has come out of the accounts. Also, what is owed and what is due in.
  4. To keep on top of what subs are owed by members and avoid anyone going into arrears.
  5. To speak to the national or area treasurer for advice if needed.
  6. To maintain the bank mandate and ensure signatories are up to date.
  7. To field any questions from members on finances.
  8. To make sure the club is solvent and to raise concerns if it will not be.

Treasurer Advice – The person in this role needs to be competent with money and needs to understand the importance of it – and the pressure that can sometimes arise.

If you raise charity money, the role is then even more important.

This is the only role that can impact people’s personal lives very badly if something goes wrong so it is important that the person in the position is committed to it.

Ideally an accountant or bank manager – and if you do not have one of these, recruit one!

Membership Officer
  1. To make sure table recruits at least 2 new members each year, to avoid decline.
  2. To keep track of the number of members, and who will age out and when.
  3. To report this at business meetings and the average age of the club.
  4. To keep track of all prospects and continue to try and get them into the club.
  5. To speak to prospects weekly and keep them up to date with the next event.
  6. To speak to prospects the day after each event that they attend, until they join.
  7. To discuss the details of joining after prospects have attended 3 events.
  8. To sign prospects up on tabler world when they agree to join.
  9. To arrange the induction at the next possible social event, and ensure that the new member pack is paid for and arrives on time.
  10. Try to arrange lifts and car sharing for prospects, especially on their first event, as it reduces cancellations and increases conversion rate.

Membership Advice – This role needs someone who can communicate and is friendly. It can be the most important role in table.

Programme and Events Officer
  1. To oversee the programme for the year.
  2. To spread the events evenly amongst members and to support them organising good events. With meals after.
  3. To ensure a minimum of 3 months ahead is booked in and the event activity is confirmed.
  4. To encourage strong, attractive events that you cannot do with friends from the pub.

Programme Advice – Balance in the programme is essential. If in doubt aim for 1-2 Charity events, 3-5 Weekend events, 4-5 Business Meetings and 15-18 Social events. Without a programme tables struggle.

Social Media Officer
  1. To post on FB after each event with photos of the activity.
  2. To post weekly on upcoming events.
  3. To manage any enquired on the social media platforms.
  4. To actively broadcast that table is looking for new members, and the events we do.
  5. To cover any other media/PR roles within table.
Social Media Advice – This is a very important role in table now, with not much work needed to get it right.
Mental Health Officer
  1. To reach out to tablers that they know are struggling and offer a coffee or catch up.
  2. To arrange the ‘’goodwill gestures’’ that table does for it’s members (flowers if a new child has been born, gifts for weddings, showing support for tablers with bad news, etc)
  3. To know the limits of what can and, more importantly, what cant be offered by table in terms of mental health support. Pass on CALM’s number to members that are struggling and need more support.
Mental Health Officer Advice – Tables have begun to have mental health sections at their business meetings where members put pens down for 10 minutes and open up, in strict confidence. This has had a very good response.
Area / National / International Officer
  1. To work with programme officer to get 4 social events in the programme with local tables or with area.
  2. To encourage one of the weekend events in the year to be a national or international trip, such as national sporting weekend or a euroweekend.
  3. To attend other table’s events in area from time to time, and to try swag some branded gear!

Advice – Inter-table relations is a big part of table and helps keep members interested.

Not every tabler will be interested, however it should be available to all members and having area, national or international events from time to time will keep your table strong.

Community Support Liaison Officer
  1. To be the point of contact with all charity enquiries.
  2. To collate these enquiries and propose them to the table at business meetings.
  3. To coordinate donations on agreed donations and to gain media traction.
  4. To maintain the charity status of table and to submit the annual returns to the charity commission.

Advice – Before presenting to table it is wise to have the name of the person/organisation the money is going to, the amount being requested and what the money is going towards.

It is also advisable to have access to emails and facebook for your table, as the requests some in to the table via multiple platforms.

Charity Officer

One needed for each large charity event

  1. To run the charity event in question, with the support of table.
  2. To liaise with and report to the table on the progress of the planning for that event.
  3. To make proposals and conduct votes on any decisions that have a key influence on the event and it’s fundraising potential.
  4. To ensure that the event is compliant and that risk assessments, event plans and insurances are all in place.
  5. To liaise with local councils, suppliers and stakeholders.
  6. To coordinate manpower for the event itself.
  7. To deal with outside sponsors, suppliers and vendors required for the event.
  8. To ensure the social media officer has the appropriate information to advertise the event.

Charity Officer Advice – Larger charity events will require you to delegate tasks to other tablers, however the onus is still on you to ensure that these tasks are seen through.

It is also important to be able to determine which discussion points require table wide approval and which points are minor details and do not need to be raised.

Events may also be run as a subcommittee in larger tables, however even if this is the case it is important for all of table to be involved in the larger decisions and remain invested in the events.

Advice on Charity at business meetings

Charity will always be discussed at great length at business meetings, therefore ensure that membership and programme are discussed before it.

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