As the new convener of a committee, you have several important responsibilities. Though Quaker custom leans towards an all-equal basis for everyone on your committee, it’s your job to lead your committee in its work throughout the year. To do this effectively, you’ll need to:

 1. Call regular committee meetings, either on a monthly schedule or as needed.

 2. Prepare an agenda for each meeting and E-mail it to members before your next meeting.

 3. Designate a person or persons on the committee to take notes of the minutes of each meeting to be compiled and sent to all members before
     the next committee meeting.

 4. Keep a record of the agendas and minutes of each meeting.

 5. Create and keep up to date an archive looseleaf notebook containing copies of the agendas and minutes of each meeting, plus other materials,
     such as press clippings, announcements of events, and such for future reference. Decide on a location to keep these records of the committee’s
     history so that future conveners of your committee will know where they are.

 6. Contact the Meeting Treasurer to find out the annual budget for your committee so that you can work within it.

 7. Contact the Meeting Treasurer or a past convener of your committee to find out the procedure for filing expenses and getting reimbursements.

 8. Prepare a set of goals for your committee for the calendar year in order to accomplish the work that needs to be done.

 9. If there are regular duties to be performed, prepare a time line so that everyone will know what is due when.

 10. Engage help from committee members by doing any of the following:

a. Find out what sort of interest each member of your committee has in carrying on the work of the committee–organizing events, preparing printed materials, preparing presentations, publicity, etc. More work gets done if you divide the work of the committee up among its members.

b. Notice the strong and weak points of committee members and encourage each member to do what he or she does best.

 c. Determine what skills committee members possess and use them to accomplish the committee’s goals.

 d. If a committee member repeatedly misses committee meetings or doesn’t help with committee work, speak to that member and find out why. Perhaps the member doesn’t see how he or she can help.

 11. Prepare an annual report of the committee’s work for the year and send it to the Assistant Clerk, Annual Report Writer, and Webmaster before it’s presented at Meeting for Business.         

12. Present the committee annual report at Meeting for Business or ask another member of your committee to do so in your absence.

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