PearShaped Elections 2015

In avoiding evil tyranny, we must necessarily limit the time for which individuals may occupy positions of power. It’s PearShaped election time!

This is our first Committee election as a society, and we’re really excited. We’ve had a great time getting this magazine and the community that has grown around it off the ground. Now, it’s somebody else’s turn to continue to make PearShaped something they can be proud of. This is me asking you to consider putting yourself up for a position on the Committee.

Nominations open on the 1st February. Here’s what you need to do to stand for election:

1. Write Your Manifesto We’re looking for about a side of A4 here, nothing that’s going to shake the political foundations of the world. It should follow this basic structure but feel free to make it your own to stand the best chance for election:

1. Biography Talk about who you are, what year of study you’re in, what you study, all that kind of stuff. If you’ve got a history of involvement with PearShaped, that’ll help you out here too.

2. Experience Talk about your past experience, whether that be in work experience or societies or volunteering. Talk about why the skills you used there will be perfect for the role you’re after.

3. Changes Talk about how you can make PearShaped better. What do you think the magazine could do differently to be the best for students, and how you would work in your role to make it happen.

4. Wrap-Up Finish up with reminding everybody of your key points and ask them to vote for you.

2. Sign Up Online Sign Up Link: https://www.exeterguild.org/societies/PearShaped/ Once you’re manifesto is sorted, it’s time to get signed up as a candidate. First off, make sure you’re a member of the magazine (if you’re not, then sign up at the society link). Once that’s done, you’ll need to be logged in on the Guild website, and then you can head to the PearShaped society page.

Under the ‘PearShaped Committee Election 2015’ box, you’ll see two links: ‘Post List’ and ‘Stand In Election’. You need to click the latter. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to add your name, your email address, and your phone number. Click through again and you’ll see the list of committee roles with an option to stand for each of them. Take your pick.

Once you’ve gone through and nominated yourself you’ll be able to check back in and edit your name, your manifesto, and your profile picture. Then you’re done.

3. Let Everybody Know PearShaped is a smaller society, so we’re really not expecting our committee candidates to go on a Sabb Elections scale campaign trail. However, you’ll want to let everybody know that you’re running for the role and what your platform is. Maybe post your manifesto to social media just so people have heard of you and what you’re all about by the time you get to the AGM.

4. The AGM & More At the AGM on 1st March, each candidate will speak in front of everybody. We’re expecting most people to pretty much just read out their manifesto or some variation of it, and that’s absolutely fine. You’re also free to do something different as long as you’re laying out your platform properly.

On the day of the AGM, online voting will have opened so it’s time to start getting your supporters to vote for you. Voting will stay open until the 25th March, and the winners will be announced the next day. If you’re successful, that’s when we’ll start handing over the carefully protected trade secrets of how to run the magazine.

So check out the positions you could run for below, and get writing your manifesto. Remember, nominations will open on the 1st February and close on the 22nd February.

President As President, you’re in charge of all of the society’s activities. It’s your job to call together meetings of the Committee to make sure that everybody is doing their job and knows what needs to be done. You are the main point of contact between A&V and the Committee. You’re also directly responsible for making sure the website runs properly.

Editor-in-Chief As Editor-in-Chief, you’re the ultimate authority on all of the magazine’s content. You’re in charge of managing the pool of writers to make sure the content keeps rolling consistently, and you’re in charge of making sure that the magazine can be proud of every piece that goes online. Time-keeping is absolutely essential for this role, so make sure you’re an organised person who is capable of managing people. If you’re not comfortable chatting to people you’ve never met and telling them what to do, you shouldn’t take on this role. You also need to have an eagle eye when it comes to proof-reading. You are specifically in charge of all but the events section of the website, i.e. features, interviews, columns and album reviews.

Assistant Editor** You’re in charge of the events section of the website. Again, an eagle eye is needed when it comes to proofing. You’ll be in constant contact with the Press Officer to make sure that the magazine covers the best gigs in the area. You’re in charge of the events calendar, so make sure you scour all possible websites to ensure that you know all the important live events that are happening in Exeter that you want the magazine to cover. You should aim to have a constant flow of event previews and reviews coming in and going up on the site.

Press Officer This role is all about your email inbox. You’re tasked with getting the magazine as many press opportunities as possible. That includes securing press passes for the Assistant Editor, interviews with artists, and press copies for album reviews. This role requires you to be extremely punctual with replying to emails in a professional way. Ideally you would be able to access your email quickly and on the go, as this task requires you to check your emails daily.

Media Officer The Media Officer runs the magazine’s social media platforms, and is wholly responsible for the online publicity of the organisation. This includes running our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Soundcloud, as well as someone who can plug PearShaped over the radio by training to be on Xpression FM. We’re looking for someone confident and sociable. You’ll also liaise with other media groups to ensure that PearShaped is in touch with all the important organisations.

Treasurer You’re in charge of balancing the books. By being constantly aware of the society’s financial situation through requesting nominal ledgers from the Guild, you can make sure that the magazine is always spending within its means. To do this role, you’ll need to have a keen eye for numbers and situational awareness of where all the money is going.

Publicity Officer You’re in charge of making sure that everybody knows about who PearShaped is and what it’s doing. You’ll be putting in the leg work to hand out flyers, put up posters, and anything else you can do to make sure that as many people hear about the magazine as possible. You also work closely with the Social Secretary when it comes to publicising PearShaped events and socials.

Assistant Publicity Officer*** You’ll be helping out the Publicity Officer around campus with flyering and postering. You’ll need to be in regular contact with the Publicity Officer to co-ordinate publicity initiatives, which is why we give you the option to run as a team.

Social Secretary You’re in charge of organising every PearShaped social and event. That includes the Launch Party at the start of the year, members’ socials, and any other events the Committee decides to have throughout the year. Booking bands, venues, sorting out tickets - it’s all down to you.

* The only role available to those who are on a year abroad or a year in industry next year is that of the Press Officer. ** Nominations will only be open for the role of Editor-in-Chief. The role of Assistant Editor will be awarded to the nominee who achieves the second highest amount of votes when running for the Editor-in-Chief role. *** The Publicity Officer and Assistant Publicity Officer can choose to run individually or as a pair. If running as a pair, each individual will have to specify whether they are running for the main role or assistant role.

Got any questions about elections? Send them over to [email protected].