VSA at USYD Semester 2 Ordinary Meeting

LOCATION – Online (Discord)

Friday July 25th

8pm

Welcome – CAITLYN

• Hello! Thank you to everyone who joined and I hope you guys have had an amazing holiday so far!
• Welcome to our Semester 2 OM. Today we will discuss:
• Recap & Feedback from Sem 1
• Upcoming events
• Plans for Sem 2
• O Week – pitching
• Shadowing opportunities
• AGM
• Questions during question time, or chuck it into the chat

Feedback from Semester 1 – CHLOE, JOSHUA, ANGELINA

*will be good to @ specific PR’s for their engagement and interactions, PHing etc.

Events & Bondings

CHLOE– Semester 1 Events (Internal)

– Semester 1 Events (Internal)

• In semester 1 we held a total of 11 events over the course of the 13 weeks
• We held our annual banh mi event in week 1, followed by ca phe sua da in week 2, and meet and greet che thai in week 3. Then we welcomed in our lovely prs who hosted their first event: goi cuon, shoutout Chloe and Caitlyn.
• Then in week 6 we held bonza board games, followed by bead it up
• Week 9 we hosted pandan waffles, followed by the blood drive
• In week 11 we held our highly successful trivia night where we raised over $300
• We ended the semester off with our flagship annual pho night, phed by the amazing Aaron, Angelina, Angela, and Alyssa. THE A TEAM YAYYYYYY

Thank you guys for all your hard work this sem, both execs and prs. Im so proud of how far our team has come this year, and im excited to see what we come up with next semester.

ANGELINA – IUC Events (External)

• Hopefully throughout Semester 1 you’ve all had the chance get to know IUC or at least given them a go
• So far the main IUC events we’ve had are CYN and Charity Dinner
• At CYN, we all went on our first roadtrip and not only got to celebrate our Asian-Australian heritage and commemorate those who fought in the Vietnam war, but also hopefully get to know each other on a deeper level. Overall ending with our wholesome candle light vigil where I hope everyone got the chance to be vulnerable for a bit and take something away from our night in Canberra. And then we ended with some light drinking !
• We also had Charity Dinner which was suuuper fun this year. We had many little performances and events, and also got to dress up and take some nice photos. BIGGG shoutout to everyone who put themselves out there and got involved!
• We had our models Chloe, Nick Thach, Nic Tseung and Angelina,
• Our dancers Caitlyn, Joshua, Alyssa and Chapman
• And of course our BIG FRIENDLY GIANTS, Aaron, Nichol and Alyssa
• Finally we also had a few IUC bondings include Chebbo’s burgers + acai with UNSW, and also bouldering with MQU. Dont worry we’ll get the chance to get one done with every other team by the end of this year!

JOSHUA – Recap of Semester 1 Bondings

• As for bondings, I hope you all had as much fun as I did in the Semester 1 bondings! Some bondings we’ve had so far are:
• Prep nights, Sing ‘n’ Sip, Easter Bonding, Royal Easter Show, acai runs, study sessions, fried chicken runs, dinner, badminton and volleyball sessions and discord calls.

Feedback

JOSHUA – Things to Continue/ acknowledgements

Things to Improve for Sem 2

• *a good time to mention attendance and engagement?

I want to recognise and show appreciation for all of you guys as PRs.

• Participating in late night Discord calls, study sessions and showing up to bondings
• Enthusiasm with project heading events
• Coming up with bondings and planning hangouts

What to expect for Semester 2 – CHLOE, ANGELINA

CHLOE – Upcoming Semester 2 Plans

• Wk 1 food event
• Wk 2 social event
• Wk 3 food event
• Wk 4 bunnings bbq
• Wk 5 chopsticks + wasabi + vsa collab
• Wk 6 oztag day
• Wk 7 food event
• Wk 8 soc collab
• Final bonding :(((((
• Wk 9 AGM

ANGELINA – Upcoming IUC events

• We have a few IUC events coming up, first of all starting with different team’s O-weeks. MQU actually had theirs last Friday, Today and also will be on tomorrow if anybody wants to go check it out! The other unis will post about theirs
• We have our other IUC bondings, with State this thursday!! Where we’ll be going boardgames cafe so make sure you go if you’re free. UTS, WSU and UNSW are in the works so get keen for those, we redoing UNSW

Questions??

O Week – (DIFF EXEC) (JADEN NICK CHAP)

(JADEN) – Sem 2 O-Week and Pitching

• O'Week is coming up on the 4th and 5th August, so hopefully everyone saw my post. If everyone could make it a priority to just fill in your availabilities that would be great, but also keep in mind that classes will be on during these two days so be wary of that
• Welcome Fest is another really fun event where we just need to make sure we get sign ups!! Not only do we need their $5 membership fee to run our events, but also USU can give us money depending on how big our society is and how many members we have.
• We’ll be sending out a more detailed information pack closer to the day (and when everyones done the google form) but basically you’ll just need to pitch to people and get them to sign up via USU and/or our google form, where we give them membership stickers so they can get our benefits
• Just a few things, it's imperative that somebody is always at the stall at all times (otherwise USU fines us) and even more importantly that somebody is always looking after the cash box at all times.

(NICK) – How to Pitch (Pitching 2025 – CHAP)

• Pitching is quite scary at first but it’s pretty fun once you get a bit of practice but the main thing is you wanna really sell VSA and tell them why we are worth their $5.
• Its good to start off with some sort of connection, whether it be banter, flirting whatever, and after that you can intro VSA and most importantly sell VSA.
• Things to include are:
• Weekly free food/ social events
• Discounts on many places
• Automatic entry to our raffle – will announce prize later but we have a $100 Hyperkarting voucher secured
• And also other on the spot prizes
• Goodie bag if they sign up on the spot!!
• Potential prep night
• Do not talk about Alcohol/Drugs/raves or any political affiliations

Questions??

Shadowing Opportunities – STEPH

Shadowing opportunities give you the glimpse into the role you might be interested in fulfilling should you choose to return as an exec next year. It will involve you guys getting to know the work behind each role whether through a workshop or undertaking parts of the role itself. For example:

• If you shadow graphics, you may be asked to help create a post for a food event
• Sponsors to write emails to potential companies

It is also an opportunity to speak to any execs about any concerns you may have for the role and we can help offer clarification and advice to help you.

It will officially begin in Week 1 Sem 2, so you guys can start messaging your respective execs from now! Even if you’re slightly interested, shoot them a message! It will not hurt, I remember most of us shadowed multiple roles last year.

*note that it's not mandatory – if you choose not to shadow, you can still nominate yourself and run for a position at AGM

• You can ask to shadow any time during the semester. BUT note that AGM occurs around sept – oct.

Questions??

Brief Description of Each Role – ALL

Each exec will now go through their roles again so that you guys can get a summary of each position.

President

Okay starting off with the President role. Yall always ask me what do I actually do so this is what i actually do.

• Overlooking all activities of the society
• Ensuring everyone in the team is on top of their roles and responsibilities
• Which explains while im always harassing you guys (out of the goodness of my heart)
• Facilitating a cooperative and collaborative environment
• Ensure clear communication between exec team and prs
• So any issues or problems that come up I try my best to resolve
• Running general meetings
• Creating the event schedule for each semester
• Having the final say in decision making ooooo
• Overseeing every project
• Being the main point of contact if any issues arise

IVP

Hi guys! As the IVP, I focus on the internal affairs of the team – specifically recruitment, bondings and retreat.

• The first project is recruitment – to be more specific, the internal recruitment of senior PRs and the external recruitment of PRs.
• As IVP, you will have to create EOI forms, interview questions, interview schedules, review applications and conduct interviews.
• You will also set the expectation of the type of people you want to recruit and set the tone for the team. For example, you may want to:
• Create a diverse team
• Recruit people with potential to help bring them out of their shell, with the goal of creating a memorable experience for them in social and developmental aspects
• Create a supportive and nurturing team dynamic and environment where individuals feel safe enough to be themselves
• Foster a fun environment for the team

EVP

• All things external affairs
• Socials
• IUC
• Sponsorship

Treasurer

Hi guys, As the Treasurer, you're responsible for handling the financial side of our society. This includes:

1. Budgeting for Events + Reimbursements

Before each event, you'll put together a budget to estimate how much the team can spend. To do this, you'll look at past events, expected turnouts, and what supplies we already have. After the event, you'll handle reimbursements — making sure any out-of-pocket expenses are repaid (just make sure receipts/invoices are collected!).

1. Tracking Our Finances

You’ll be in charge of keeping track of all our transactions, whether it’s money coming in or going out. I personally am a bit behind on this but I strongly recommend you do this atleast once a month, but it’s all up to you as long as you are consistent it's fine.

1. Applying for Grants + Submitting Acquittals

This happens once per semester and is how we get funding from USU, basically free money. There will be a guide on how to apply sent to the VSA email when the time comes so don't stress too much.

Overall, if you’re worried about the maths component of being a treasurer do not stress. It is very chill if you’re consistent and well organised.

Secretary

HEY GUYS!!!! I’m sure you’re curious about what my role as secretary actually entails.

• The work is generally behind-the-scenes and not too demanding. You just have to make sure you’re very organised and follow all the set deadlines.
• So there are 3 main components:

Organisation of the team

• This includes organising internal executive meetings which function to update each other on what’s been occurring and what is to occur, for example discussing upcoming events such as the Sem 2 Welcome Week
• I also maintain and organise the email system, and all our documents and records

Event planning and organisation

Marketing Director

Hiii now it’s time to get into the role of a Marketing Director!

As the name suggests, it’ll be anything related to marketing and bringing the most awareness to VSA USYD! This means that I look over our social media platforms including: Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok!

Graphics Director

• Responsible for overlooking VSA USYD’s presence online and for general members
• Includes covering:
• Instagram posts
• Pamphlets for OWEEK
• This year: new logo
• CANVA IS UR BEST FRIEND
• Work closely with marketing director and EVP (especially for OWEEK and with sponsorship graphics)
• Best method to stay on top of things is staying ahead; early prep on graphics ahead of schedule since most graphics follow the same general details ie. event date, time, location
• Graphics include:
• Exec profiles
• Food and social events
• Sponsorships

Sponsorships Director

Hey guys, onto graphics!!

So as an overview of this role, you are:

• Responsible for the design and creation of visual design projects undertaken by VSA so this includes, but is not limited to, graphics for event marketing purposes, recruitment promotion and sponsorship posts.

AGM – CAITLYN

AGM will be the date in which our term as executives officially ends and you guys will be elected into the new executive positions for the 2025-2026 term!

AGM will be held in person, during mid sem this semester (late September) and the day will be determined according to the availability of the candidates.

• Last year, due to State camp and final bonding being so late, Huyen had to choose a day and ask us to free up our time; esp. candidates.

Brief Overview of How It Works – You’ll be seeing plenty of Facebook posts from me about a month before the AGM going into depth with these processes, but here is a brief overview for now.

1. Nominations
1. Either self-nominate yourself for role
2. Nominate someone else on the team which you believe is suitable for the role – there is no limit on how many people you can nominate
2. Speeches
1. It is expected that you prepare speeches for the AGM
1. President: 4 minutes
2. Other execs: 3 minutes
3. AGM
1. Speeches
2. Questions – You will be asked 2 questions related to your position
3. Voting

Notes:

• Nominations and speeches will be presented in hierarchical order, starting with:

1. President
2. Internal Vice President
3. External Vice President
4. Treasurer
5. Secretary
6. Marketing Director
7. Graphics Director
8. Sponsorships

• You will not have a chance to nominate yourself/others for a previous position if the opportunity has passed during the AGM. (provide example). This is something to think about when considering shadowing and nominations!
• Senior PR’s return on the basis of an EOI and return offer, decided on by the newly appointed team.
• Prepare slides – not mandatory but generally encouraged.

(ANNA + ANGELA) Advice from 2025 to 2026 candidates.

• Don’t be intimidated by the process
• Even if you have a slight interest or thought, seek more information about it and we will always be here to guide and provide advice to you
• Don’t sell yourself short and not run for a position that you’re interested in just because you heard that someone else may be running for it as well or you don’t think you will be suited for it
• Everyone is capable of every position and no one person is better than another at a certain position so try not to compare yourself to who else may be running for a position that you’re interested in
• Just remember that we as Execs all learnt and grew into the positions that we have now, we didn’t know everything when we started but we were able to grow along the way and so can you!
• YOLO
• Success is not owned, it’s a lease but rent is owed every day???