Secretary's Report

Secretary End of Term Report Summer 2009

Hello and welcome to the job of Secretary for the Computer Science Society. This report will hopefully give you an idea of your duties as Computer Science Society Secretary. My first recommendation would be to read all previous reports on Computer Science Society Secretaries that are posted on the Computer Science Society website.

During the summer of 2009, my duties as Secretary were mainly focused around taking accurate notes on what went on in all Computer Science Society meetings. This meant that I had to show up for every regular society meeting and any executive meetings. It also required that I stay at these meetings for their entirety and record the minutes.

For taking minutes I did my best to keep things short and concise. I would lean towards focusing on the issue, the main arguments, and the final decision and or vote taken instead of the little particulars. I also did my best to have the copy of the minutes out to the council as soon as I could. This works best if you either a) bring a laptop and type up the minutes or b) type them up as soon as you get home after the meeting. This wasn't always possible but I did try to ensure that the minutes at least got out before the next meeting. When sending the minutes out there is also the issue of formats in which to send them, I have found that in general the way to please the most people is to have the minutes written directly in the email or send them as a pdf. That way anyone who can get the email has a copy of the minutes. Also you need to post a copy of the minutes in pdf form on the computer science society website. And the last task with the minutes is ensuring that the minutes are approved each week.

That more or less covers it. Other pieces of advice I would offer are first of all, don't be shy about asking someone to repeat what they said or clarify it so that minutes are accurate. Secondly, always bring a copy of the agenda with you for yourself and also, I try to bring an extra copy in case anyone else wants/needs a copy. Third of all, keep a record of all minutes and if possible bring them with you to meetings in case people want to bring up past issues. And lastly, as of February 2008 we now have a student newsletter and for each issue the Secretary has a column for which they can communicate the current news from the council meetings to the student body. This newsletter goes out once a month so you will get an email from the editor approximately a week before the end of the month asking for your column for the next month.

Liz Legere
Secretary, Dalhousie Computer Science Society
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