The Secretary

Large organisations like companies, government departments and Parliament appoint permanent secretaries to assist the chairperson during meetings.  Smaller organisations like sports clubs and community societies elect a secretary in the same way as they elect a chairperson.

Qualities Of A Good Secretary

A good secretary should:

• Be prepared to work hard
• Have a flair for language and an ability to describe proceedings appropriately and correctly
• Be organised and methodical

Functions Of the Secretary

The secretary may be said to be the official pen of the body, since the secretary’s function is to issue notices of meetings, to prepare the agenda-paper of all meetings, to write up the minutes, to attend to the correspondence of the organisation and to preserve in suitable files copies of all outgoing letters and all-important documents and papers of the organisation. He/she will also initiate such correspondence, as may be necessary arising from any decision taken at a meeting of the organisation.

The secretary has many important duties during and after the meeting:

• Arranges and prepares the venue for the meeting
• Drafts the notice and agenda and distributes it to members
• Arranges the agenda and other documentation in logical order for the chairperson to use
• Circulates the attendance register for all members to sign
• Notes the starting and closing time of the meeting
• Notes important points of the meeting
• Compiles, types and files the minutes of a meeting, i.e. takes care of administrative work
• Handles the financial matters in the absence of a treasurer
• Counts the votes in the absence of a voting officer
• Sees that the venue is left neat

Preparing and Issuing Notices of the Meetings

The secretary is responsible for drawing up the notice of a meeting and for arranging for copies thereof to be sent out to the members entitled to receive it. In the case of a private meeting it may be advertised by press announcements, posters, handbills and circular letters.

When drawing up the notice, the secretary will work in close collaboration with the chairman or president. She will ensure that the correct information is duly included.

Since the convening of meetings must be initiated by the executive committee, all notices should bear the following subscription:

“By order of the executive committee” and thereafter should bear the secretary’s signature and the date.

It should be emphasised that the secretary has no authority to issue a notice of a meeting on his own initiative, he must always act on the instructions of those persons who are endowed with this authority in terms of the constitution or of the rules and regulations of the organisation, or alternatively of the executive committee.

Preparing the Agenda-Paper

Every private meeting should have a definite agenda-paper and it will be the duty of the secretary, after consultation with the chairperson, to prepare a proper agenda-paper and to arrange for the production of a sufficient number of copies for distribution among the members.

Where the chairperson is inexperienced, and the proceedings are largely formal, as in the case of an annual general meeting or a meeting convened to consider one item of special business only, it is a good practice for the Secretary to prepare a special chairman’s copy, on which each motion that is to be moved at the meeting is set out with the appropriate wording, which the chairperson will use when putting the motion to the meeting.

Preparing the Minutes After The Meeting

When preparing the minutes of the meeting, the secretary should bear in mind that minutes are the official record of what was decided at the meeting, they are not a record of what was said – that would be a report. An awareness of this distinction will greatly reduce the work of the secretary besides saving time at the meeting at which they are adopted.