How to run an EGM

An EGM is an Emergency General Meeting. An EGM can be held at any point during the academic year, when necessary. EGMs are usually held when you need to change your constitution, or when you need to elect a new committee member outside of the normal election cycle.

Under Club and Society Regulations, all club and society officers must be elected via a Union-facilitated online election such as the Leadership Race or Term 1 By-Election. If agreed in writing with the Student Activities team, your club or society may also use an EGM to elect committee members, or to ratify/change your constitution.

Read through Section 5 of the Club and Society Regulations for full details about organising General Meetings, and check out our how-to-guide on editing your constitution. You can also refer to the Club and Society Election Rules for further guidance.

Remember - clubs and societies must democratically elect all committee members through a free, fair and transparent election in line with the Club and Society Regulations.

If you would like to hold an online by-election to elect your committee outside of the normal election cycle, please submit the following webform.

If you are holding any voting at an EGM, please follow the instructions below:

Step 1

Your EGM needs to be held during term time. For more information, please refer to the UCL Term Dates.

Once you have arranged the date of your EGM, you need to ensure it is as accessible as possible. Your EGM needs to be held in a bookable space that is fully accesible, and does not serve alcohol. Have a look at our guidance on how to book a room if you need help. Don't forget to book as far in advance as you can to avoid missing out on your preferred room.

Your EGM should preferably be outside of working hours (e.g. evenings and weekends) to help make sure as many people can attend as possible.

Your EGM must be in-person, and not held via video conferencing (e.g. Teams or Zoom).

Step 2

You must publicise the date and time of your EGM to all of your members at least 5 term days in advance of the meeting. As president or treasurer you can download a list of your members on your club/society webpage.

You need to create an event with the EGM date and venue on the Students' Union What's On Calendar at least 5 term days before the meeting. Check out our how-to guide on how to add events to the website here.

You also need to inform the Student Activities Reception a minimum of 5 working days before your meeting. The best way to do this is to Cc [email protected] in the email to your members.

Your EGM must be advertised via email to a full and up to date membership list (as opposed to on social media, or through a freshers sign up list) to ensure all of your members are notified.

Step 3

You must circulate your agenda to all your members at least 3 term days in advance of the meeting. Please use the template agenda (found at the bottom of this page). Don't forget to Cc the Student Activities Reception ([email protected]) in to this email.

Step 4

Hold your EGM! You must take minutes (template below), an attendance record (template below), and record the results (template below). Remember to record the number of votes in your minutes. Your meeting must be ‘quorate’ - this means you are required to have a minimum number of members atttend and vote for your results to be valid. Quoracy for EGMs is 15% of your membership, or 10 members - whichever is the greater. If your meeting is not quorate, your results will be passed to the Activities & Engagement Officer, who can ratify your results, or ask you to re-hold your EGM.

Remember, Visiting and Associate members cannot vote in your EGM. In order to vote, you must be a current UCL student, and have been a member of the club or society for 28 days. You are also not eligible to stand for election unless you have been a member of the club or society for 28 days before your EGM.