• The strength of any club depends on the effectiveness of its committee. Ideally this should be large enough to reflect the various interests in the club but not so large as to be unwieldy. In turn, much of the effectiveness of a committee depends on the chairman (or woman). Duties of officials are covered in more detail in Guideline 3 but the chairman should be the person to be driving the club forward along clearly thought out lines and ideally within a three or even five year plan.
• A forward plan could include such thoughts as:
1. Should the club aim to buy specific equipment, even a club caravan? (incidentally, a club caravan can be a useful asset - mobile storeroom, easily recognisable club HQ at events, good publicity for the club at other people's events and, not least, a good sponsorship area to paint. One snag: someone has to find a home for it!)
2. Does the club want to get an event on the national or international calendar?
3. Does it hope to double its membership in five years, stay static or what? If a club doesn't have a long term plan then it can become directioniess and just jog along or, worse, slip backwards.
• Clubs should consider holding "way ahead" sessions in which a group (which ideally should include younger members) tries to look into the future and consider where a club wants to be in, say, 5 years and - not least- how it can get there.
• A "way ahead" think-tank may throw up lots of ideas. It is then up to the committee to be realistic and set achievable not impossible targets in making things happen.
• Ideally, committees should be rejuvenated at regular intervals with, say, two new members per year. This can happen if a specific number of existing members drop off for a spell after a certain number of years' service, although with many clubs it may be difficult just to persuade enough people to get involved to even form a committee - this can be dangerous because it can lead to people getting out of touch with their members, particularly younger ones. It is equally dangerous if a committee becomes seen as a clique.
• Other key officials as well as a chairman will be needed, not least an efficient secretary and of course a treasurer. Other functions which should be covered, whether by full members of the committee or ex-officio ones are Magazine Editor (because communicating with members on a regular basis is imperative) and Promotions Officer (at the last count less than half of clubs had someone charged with media liaison and general promotion - ideally all clubs should have). It may also. be wise to put one person in charge of all equipment owned by the club, including trophies.
• It may help to give officials important sounding titles they can use when dealing with the outside world - Director of Communications or whatever.
• For officials to operate efficiently it will help if simple 'job specifications' are drawn up for them. This avoids confusion and duplicated effort because everyone will know who is (or is supposed to be) doing what. It may be argued that 'job specifications' are too formal for what is likely to be an amateur organisation. Not so. Countless other social groups and organisations operate entirely on voluntary help (and compete with motor sport for members and media attention). If motor sport is to stay strong we have to be at least as professional in the way we operate.
• A committee will be more efficient if:-
1. Members are given "one pagers" in advance of committee meetings, reporting on, say, the financial situation or summarising complicated issues to be discussed.
2. Members resist the temptation of refighting issues which were settled (and voted on) at the last committee.
3. The wine hasn't flowed too freely before the meeting.
4. Sub-committees or working groups are formed to consider specific issues and then report back to the main committee.

• A club should have a leaflet or booklet about itself to attract and inform new members. The club rules should be made as friendly as possible.
• Membership forms should be clear and friendly and should include space for people to record their particular motor sport interests.
• Committee members and club officials should aim for an open style of management and, through the club magazine, should keep members informed of what they are doing and why.
• The committee should aim for balanced social and competition programmes, catering for all members' interests, not just their own.
• It may be worth running a questionnaire in the club magazine every few years to get a feel for members' interests.
• A regular meeting place should be chosen so that members get used to gathering at such and such a place on the second Tuesday of every month or whenever.
• The Treasurer should encourage the club to set realistic subscription levels; life memberships in particular need careful costing to avoid losing a club money in later years. Comparisons should be made with other organisations in the area - bee keeping societies, etc.
• Consider a category of Honorary Members for local dignitaries who may be of help, or for older members who retire from the motor sport scene.
• Annual General Meetings are often poorly attended perhaps because they are considered boring; consider having a guest speaker or some other attraction after the formal proceedings in order to attract more members.
• Clubs should join and support their Regional Association - they cannot really criticise what goes on in the government of the sport if they don't play their part in the democratic process.
• Clubs should liaise with local Sports Councils and other bodies and should generally try to be participative members of their community.
• For the benefit of future members and not least future Promotions Officers, clubs should keep proper records (see Guideline 12).

Finally, to reinforce the importance of the committee, the final section of this Guideline is the 'Summary of Committee Procedure' issued to their members by the National Federation of Community Organisations. Not all clubs may need such a degree of formality but having at least something along these lines will help to create an efficient committee which doesn't duplicate its efforts or waste its time with waffle.

Summary of Committee procedure (reproduced by kind permission of the National Federation of Community Organisations)

At all Committee Meetings

1. The appropriate Secretary will present an order of business (prepared in consultation with the Chair) in the form of an agenda which is normally circulated in advance of the meeting to committee members.
2. It will be necessary for a minimum number of people (the quorum defined in the constitution) to be present before the committee can transact any business.
3. Punctuality is therefore all the more desirable, otherwise the meeting may not be able to start until latecomers arrive.
4. A record of previous proceedings, in the form of Minutes, must be available, and be adopted as a true record before further action may be taken on matters arising from the Minutes or, indeed, before any other item on the agenda can be considered.
5. The Chair is in control of the meeting. All remarks should be addressed to the Chair, whose rulings (as to who should speak next, for example) must be adhered to.
6. The Secretary will report correspondence received and, where the committee holds funds, the Treasurer will present a statement of income and expenditure, and seek authority for necessary payments.
7. Any committee member may move a resolution relevant to the business in hand, but it may be a help in larger committees for this to be submitted in writing, in advance, to the Secretary. Resolutions, unless moved from the Chair, require a seconder, otherwise they cannot be taken by the meeting. In any case, any amendments to the resolutions have to be considered first.
8. Amendments (if more than one) are normally taken in the order in which they propose to change the motion. When an amendment to a proposition is passed. this becomes the "substantive motion" and the whole motion, as amended, is voted upon. No amendment which is a direct contradiction of the motion is acceptable - after all, you can speak and vote against it!
9. Debate on a motion may be ended by the Chair asking that a vote be now taken. Alternatively, a committee member may propose "that the question be now put" or "move next business". Like other motions, these require seconders and the agreement of the majority of voting members to be carried. Note that moving "next business" leaves matters unresolved - no-one has the opportunity of voting on the matter under discussion!
10. Should the whole meeting run out of time, the committee may decide to hold over some agenda items for the next meeting, possibly bringing the date forward. Alternatively, and particularly where there is too little time to deal with important issues, the meeting may be adjourned (even in the middle of discussing an item of business) to a future date where it can be continued from the point where it left off.
11. Formal votes in a large committee may, at the discretion of that committee, be conducted by ballot. Otherwise a show of hands is quite adequate, the Chair usually counting the votes. In the event of a tied vote, the Chair normally has a second, or casting, vote (see your constitution). It is usual procedure for the vote cast to break a tie to be given in favour of retaining the existing position - the reason behind this being that committee members may, at a later meeting, produce some other proposition to change it which is more acceptable to the committee. After all, you want the support and backing of as many committee members as possible to implement its decisions! In the event of the Chair declining to use the casting vote, the motion must be declared "not carried".
12. Finally, at most meetings some individual committee members volunteer, or get designated, to undertake particular tasks arising from the business of the meeting; if you are one of these, do them promptly (for example, if you are "seeing" someone else, you may have to allow three attempts before you catch him/her in!), and inform as soon as possible, the committee secretary or organiser of the activity that you have done so, and the result of your action.

markup by webmaster@ukmotorsport.com