Track COM
Organise the group
Starting one from nothing, running a meeting, dividing the roles, finding the money and keeping people going.
Money, for a group with no money
What a first year actually costs, itemised and dated. Then how to ask people for it, what a treasurer does, and what accepting somebody else's logo costs you.
8 minStarting a group from nothing
Getting from one person who cares to a group that still exists in a year. Three people, one line saying what it is for, and a list of names that has to be looked after.
7 minRunning a meeting when this is the subject
The ordinary chairing that earns its place, then the moments an agenda cannot reach: the indefensible thing said aloud, a row about Israeli politics, and the room looking at one person.
7 minThe list of people, and what you owe them
Where the membership list lives, who can see it, what you tell people when you take their details, and what to do on the day it goes wrong.
8 minRunning a vigil
A vigil is not a demonstration and it fails when it is run like one. Timing against the Jewish calendar, whether there is a minyan, how names are read, and what to do when somebody starts a chant.
7 minPostering
Where you can put one up and how to find out, what survives a wet Tuesday, why you go in pairs, and what to do when you find yours defaced or somebody else's next to it.
7 minThe group chat
Where your organising actually happens. What belongs in it, what an admin owes people, why one chat becomes four, and the fact that everything in it gets screenshotted eventually.
6 minWorking with other organisations
Coalition building. Who actually decides, what to ask for, what to offer, and what to do when a partner says something from a platform you cannot stand behind.
7 minAfter you report it
What the reference number is for, who decides how your report is classified, how to get that corrected, and what to do when the file closes and nothing has happened.
7 minThe member everybody works around
The person who has been there since the first meeting, does more than anybody, and frightens newcomers. Four problems that look like one, and five moves in order of cost.
8 minBringing in people who are not convinced
Why almost every group stops growing at about three months, and the method that gets past it: one person, asking one person, for one thing, on one date.
8 minWhen you want to stop running it
A student society has a clock because people graduate. A community group has none. Deciding to stop, saying it, finding a successor, and closing properly if there is none.
8 min