?Takes It What Have You Do

Hey all,

It had been an amazing year for us - the MSA committee members of 2007/08. We had heaps of fun planning and organizing events for our members. It’s now time to step down and hand over our duties to the capable hands of current ordinary members. If you think you have what it takes to be part of the committee and you’re serious about it, don’t be shy to nominate yourself for the position.

This year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on the 17th September 2008 from 4pm to 7pm at Macquarie University . We will update you again for the exact location of the AGM. There will be 13 positions available and they are:

1. President
Duties: Lead the organization and make sure that it functions well, chair/attend all internal (MSA) and external (MASA-UTS, MSO-UNSW, SUAMS-Uni Syd) meetings/events, motivate and encourage participation of committee members, and run for positions at MASCA (state) level.

2. Vice President
Duties: Assist the President in every way, administer the organization in the absence of the President, help chair/attend all internal and external meetings/events, and watch over the committee system and committee chair, and run for positions at MASCA level.

3. Secretary
Duties: Prepare meeting minutes, attend all meetings and events, and represent Vice President in the absence of the Vice President.

4. Treasurer
Duties: Prepare and look after the finances of the organization, attend all meetings and events, and represent Vice President/Secretary in the absence of the Vice President and/or Secretary.

5. Social Director (2 positions)
Duties: Organize Dance Parties and other social events with other social directors from their respective societies (MASA, MSO, SUAMS), attend all meetings and events. This position requires you to do a lot of traveling to the city especially nearing the date of the event. Dance Parties are traditionally held once every semester (total twice in a year) and it is the main income generator for the four organizations.

6. Sports Director (2 positions)
Duties: Organize the annual Sports Carnival (first semester), National Games and Conference (NCG), other sporting events, and attend all meetings and events. This position requires you to do a lot of traveling to the city especially nearing the date of the event.

7. Cultural Director (2 positions)
Duties: Plan, prepare and cook for MSA eating events, become team leader for cultural performance for Malaysia Fest and/or Malam Gema Merdeka (MGM), and attend all meetings and events. This position requires you to have culinary and performing skills. Over the years, MSA has been the main contributor in regards of performances for the annual Malaysia Fest. This position requires you to do a lot of traveling to the city and hectic dance practices especially nearing the date of the event.

8. Activities Director (formerly known as Public Relations Officer)
Duties: Plan events for MSA members, inform members about events (e-mail, Facebook and Blog), retrieve information regarding logistics, and attend all meetings and events.

9. Publisher
Duties: Liaise with the Activities Director and IT Director to do a recap of every activity/event to be posted on our blog, create MSA’s annual newsletter, and attend all meetings and events.

10. IT Director
Duties: Manage members’ mailing list, blog and official website, and attend all meetings and events.


Please note that besides the specific duties that are being listed above, all committee members will have other commitments such as preparation of events (i.e shopping, cooking, cleaning up, etc) and attending the events held not only by MSA but by the other three Malaysian student societies – MASA (UTS), MSO (UNSW) and SUAMS ( University of Sydney ).

Besides holding a position in the MSA committee, committee members will also have a commitment to other collaborated events such as Malaysia Fest, Malam Gema Merdeka and the Annual Dinner and Dance.

As a tradition, the President will be in the Malaysia Fest team and the Vice President will be in the Annual Dinner and Dance team. Half of the committee members will join the Malaysia Fest team and the others will be in the Annual Dinner and Dance team. Committee members are encouraged to run for Executive Producer positions in the collaborated events to represent MSA. Committee members who do not wish to run for any positions will automatically hold the director’s position. Most meetings will be held in the city and this requires committee members to go to the city quite often especially nearing the date of the event. All travel costs are at the committee member’s own expense.

For the positions of President and Vice President, any current ordinary member can run for these positions. However, since these two positions will be opened to ordinary members with no prior experience within the MSA committee, the current MSA President, Galven Chia, and current MSA Vice President, Shirlynn Ong will be elected as MSA Advisors to train and guide the new President and Vice President of the insides and outs of the organization.

None of the 2007/2008 MSA committee will be running for positions this coming AGM. So please do not assume that top positions will be challenged by the current 2007/2008 committee. Everyone will have a fair go at any of the positions listed.

The important thing is we want ENTHUSIASTIC, RESPONSIBLE, SOCIABLE AND DEDICATED members to be running for these positions. So if you’ve got these characteristics already, please, we urge you to run!

So what should you do in the AGM if you would like to run for a position?

Come dressed formal (if possible), otherwise smart casual would be fine.
Provide a short speech of around 3-5 minutes (a brief description of yourself, your past experiences/achievements with other clubs/societies if any, your qualities, and basically anything that would help you persuade members to vote for you)
Be able to answer questions from the crowd.
Lastly, MEAN WHAT YOU SAY. If you provide a very convincing speech and eventually get elected, we expect you to live up to your word. If you’re all talk and no action, then please do not bother running because it will just defeat the entire purpose.


A NOTE TO ALL VOTERS: THIS IS NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST. We urge you not to vote just because he/she is your friend, but vote because of his/her capabilities. Vote rationally please.

So if you think you’ve got what it takes to be part of this great society, please reply to Ophelia at o.domingo[at]yahoo.com stating the position(s) you would like to run by this Saturday ( 13/09/08 ). However, if you do not reply this e-mail, on-the-day nomination is still allowed.

Note: You can run for as many positions you want, but we highly suggest you stick to just one and the most two. For example, if you think you are not confident in getting the position you wanted, you can run for another position.


Regards,

MSA commitee 2007/08