The University Computer Club's Annual General Meeting 08-03-2024

Attendance

  • [BLU] Grace Fowler, President
  • [I2N] Lorenzo Iannuzzi, Vice-President
  • [GPO] Gary O'Donovan, Treasurer
  • [KKZ] Ariel Carter, Secretary
  • [BRD] Cormac Sharkey, Ordinary Committee Member
  • [BRZ] Bryce O'Connor, Ordinary Committee Member
  • Jorja Cowan
  • Connor Brennan
  • [SVN] Lyla Peng
  • Alfred Burgess
  • Lauren Pudney
  • Thomas Newman
  • [YUN] Joe Thorpe
  • Diarmuid O'Connor
  • Jack Langoulant
  • [MPT] James Arcus
  • [JMA] Jake Alexander
  • [CJN] Conor Bennett
  • [ROY] Hongkang 'Roy' Xu
  • [NTU] Nick Bannon
  • Angus Prosser
  • Ezran Bailey
  • [LCY] Lo Chien Yi

Apologies

  • [MCW] Lara Frcej, Ordinary Committee Member
  • [LTX] Celine Wang, Fresger Representative
  • [SEB] Bones Gazey
  • Ekaterina Grabovskaya

Start Time

  • 14:19

Aknowledgment of Country

  • We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which we work and pay our respects to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.

Committee Reports

President's Report

  • First off I'd like to thank everyone on committee for joining committee this past year. I've loved working with you guys and sharing ideas for events and plans. I wish you the best of luck in whereever your path in life takes you after this meeting.

  • I did the regular president duties, chairing meetings, representing the club and making sure committee kept on track.

  • I was on the 2023 Charity Vigil subcom, 2024 Uncharity Vigil subcom and I'm currently the proxy representative for the 2024 Charity Vigil subcom. I'm also apart of the 50th Anniversary subcom.

  • Throughout the year I organised the Scitech excursion as well as the UCC x Unigames TTS night and a couple Games Nights and running the Fresher Welcome. We continued to do varied tech and gaming events every week.

  • I was apart of cleaning up the clubroom, especially the shelves so we can now have a bag rack as well as doing cable managment a couple times with Cormac. I have also updated the President handover to make it a bit more up to date. I also put up the "You're on Camera" signs next to our cameras that are now password protected.

  • In addittion along with the 50th subcom, we started organising specific events throughout the year as we officially turn 50 years old this year. So look out for our trip to the Nostalgia Box next Saturday as well as our sit down dinner Saturday the 21st of September, put that in your calendar. We're also doing merch for this year so I've started designing a couple stickers that you may have seen on discord. I'm also planning on putting together a slideshow for the dinner with goofy and serious UCC related photos, so if you have some please send them to me.

  • I've still continued my personal project of updating the events wiki page but unfortunetly it's fallen a bit to the wayside. I'll still endevour to update the page even if I'm not on committee this year.

  • This past month, I helped put together a sucessful tenancy appeal, thank you committee, Jarcus, Winslade and Jackie. Esports now have their own clubroom in Cam Hall next to Unigames.

  • And lastly I want to say a huge thank you to all of our members, regular or not. Thank you for supporting the club I love and coming to our events and engaging with the discord. Thank you for continuing to suport and engage with UCC and I hope to see some of you on the 2024 committee or around Cam Hall. I hope this year you can continue to help committee make this club as amazing and wonderful as I know it can be. It would be awesome if together we got the Best Club award of 2024 this year.

Vice President's Report

  • I've had a great time being on Committee this year, and I am quite thankful for everyone's support.
  • In the past year, I've done the regular VP duties, which include charing meetings when Grace coudln't be there, made sure to help out Grace and the other Executives when needed, and was a part of many subcoms.
  • One of the highlights of my year events wise was Joint Camp. Being the camp leader was a very rewarding experience, and I do hope everyone who attended had an awesome time.
  • In addition to being on the Joint Camp subcommittee for UCC, I am also the current chair of the 50th anniversary subcommittee, where we are planning many events to have done through out the year, including our big dinner on September 21st, where I hope to see many of you there.
  • It is honestly crazy to think that this club has existed for longer than either me or my parents, and I think thats a testament to the UCC community.
  • During our many busy bees, I've helped with throwing out some of our old/redundant kit why did we have so many VGA cables we dont need 21
  • I've led the charge with a few wheel projects, namely upgrading molmol's storage, so now we've practicably doubled our /away with enough room to expand it even further.
    • Thank you [NTU] and [GPO]
  • I've also helped out with trying to fix investigating our spam handling system, which it is now better than it was at the start of the year, but its not perfect.
    • Thank you [GPO]
  • I also attended a few SOCPAC meetings as the delegate for UCC.

Secretary's Report

  • I had an absolutely amazing time this year and I'm so grateful for everyone here.

  • At the AGM last year I was super nervous about becoming Secretary, but I'm incredibly grateful for everyone for believing in me. :heart:

  • Over the year I did the classic secretary stuff--mainly minuting, but also sending out announcements and other things.

  • I've also been on the UniLAN subcom (stay tuned).

  • I went out of my way to try and attend as many events as I could this year and I don't regret it at all.

    • Charity Vigil was super fun!

    • O-Day carnival was a great experience, despite the heat I had a great time handing out all (yes all) our pamphlets and fresher guides, and generally enthuasiastically 'encouraging' people to come check us out.

    • The fresher welcome was super successful with an amazing turnout and I got to meet some cool people who hopefully I'll see around this year!

    • I attended many a VR/games night (which is actually how I first heard about the club so they've got a special place in my heart).

    • I attended my first joint camp! Again I was super nervous about this but I had an incredible time hanging out and (re?)discovering a love of boardgames, and enjoying the amazing food. Oh and the quiz night of course (my favourite).

  • Anyway thank you so so much to everyone this year and I love you all, I'll see you around!! (trying not to cry a little right now) :heart: :heart: :heart:

Treasurer's Report

  • Financial statement!
    • Total revenue for 2023 was $11,003.83
      • On paper. This is missing camp distributions from Unigames and UniSFA as they were deposited after the end of the year.
      • Total revenue including this is $11,003.83 + $270.09 (UniSFA) + ~$2000 (Unigames) for a total of $13,273.92.
    • Total expenses for 2023 were $13,951.74
      • Depreciation was $4,038.56, so more like $9,553.18
      • Made a decent profit this year.
        • Time to spend on the 50th and new desktop PCs.
    • We bought ~$3000 of new hardware this year, majority going toward molmol upgrades.
  • In terms of events I was involved in:
    • one of the Vigils lol
    • UniLAN
    • Joint Camp
    • Tech Talks
    • LANs
  • I kept myself busy with stuff, probably too much. Despite that I do find the things I do at UCC - especially helping people - extremely rewarding. I think that making people aware of the tools we have to empower people to teach themselves with backup from more experienced members is a fantastic aspect of the club that I hope the future committee continues to encourage going forward.

Fresher Rep's Report

  • Hey all!
  • Being part of a committee in your first year is such an enriching experience and I strongly encourage everyone to apply! I’ve gotten to know so many interesting people and have learnt so much.
  • I attended some project nights and had great fun designing posters for events
  • While I won’t be reapplying due to other commitments, I’ll be going to project nights more often to work on personal projects :)
  • I’m really grateful for the chance to have been involved in UCC this year and can’t wait to see how UCC grows!

OCM Reports

[BRD]

  • Things I did while on committee: Helped with various events, ran Learn 2 Linux twice, and general errands for committee.
  • As an OCM, I got to help with things which I find interesting, which I'm grateful for.
  • I'm now one of those old people with a full time job, and as a result I'm Finally off Committee for good.
  • Committee has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had, between my time as Fresher Rep, President, and OCM.
  • I'll still be around, of course, just maybe not at meetings.
  • For people who are thinking of joining Committee:
  • It's an exciting time for UCC right now -- We're mostly free of COVID, we're seeing a steady upwards trend in members, and we're 50 years old this year.
  • If you're on the fence about joining, I definitely recommend you go for it.
  • My advice to any future/new committee: UCC will feel like it has a lot of surface area. We have a lot of machines, we have a lot of events which have been running semi regularly, and as I mentioned before -- almost 50 years of history.
  • The reason I mention this, is to not feel discouraged if you ever feel like you're stuck, that there's too much lingo, or that you're ever lost. It's somewhat inevitable.
  • The flipside of this, is that there is still, and always will be, lots of room for improvement.
  • If you have an idea for UCC, if you feel like you can improve anything while on committee, I urge you to stick your hand up and go for it.
  • The only way that things improve is through direct, targeted effort, and in my experience, this effort will be rewarding.
  • The final thing, is that you do NOT have to be a compsci student, or a computer nerd to be on Committee. While it helps, especially if you're interested in the very technical aspects of the club, the truth is, that if you believe in what we do, and want to be a part of it, you'll fit right in.

[BRZ]

  • Hi everyone! Unlike most of our current committee, this was my first year on UCC committee, and it's been a great experience. I've learned a lot and made many friends over the year. Sadly, as I'm no longer a student I can't reapply for committee, but I'll still be around and ready to help out with the club.

  • In the last year, I've done a variety of stuff:

    • I was part of the Charity Vigil 2023 subcom, and helped with organising and running UCC events at Charity Vigil.
    • I attended most of the events we ran, and helped out with a significant portion of them.
    • Helped out with some of the tech issues we had, when I could.
    • Helped out with setup and teardown at Joint Camp, as well as helping out in general there.
    • Helped run our stall at the 2023 Sem 2 Club Carnival and on ODay 2024.
    • I attended a few Tech meetings.
    • Submitted a few EMPs.
    • Had some minor dealings with the Nostalgia Box for the upcoming excursion there.
    • And more recently I've been working on a 50th Anniversary t-shirt voting website with [BRD].

  • To people thinking of running for OCM: you should! The rest of the committee were very friendly and helpful when I was stuck or didn't know things, and even though things can be overwhelming at first, over time you'll become more competent and confident in what you're doing. It's a very rewarding experience.

[MCW]

  • HI all i had a joyous time on committee this year!!! I won't be sticking around but I'm excited to see what next mittee will get up to.
  • Throughout the year I did a bunch of stuff:
    • Minuting and setting up a lot of 50th meetings so we could plan the event and goodies that we'd like to bring to the club this year. Also contacting nostalgia box so please come to that.
    • Did minuting in times where [KKZ] was away.
    • Tried my best to get UniLAN meetings to happen so we actually get the event running again (it worked...)
    • Helped run Cam Hall Quiz Night as a judge.
    • Contacted a bunch of people for tech talks, those were fire last year and we will be brining them back this year.
    • Very minorly updated the front webpage for ucc but it looks so much better than it used to.
  • Advice for OCMs:
    • You can literally do whatever you want just bring it up in committee meetings and ask for help if u get stuck!

Elections

Appointment of Returning Officers

  • [JMA] and [TBB] nominate themselves as Returning Officers.

    • They default.

  • [I2N] moves to remove seconding.

    • [GPO] seconds.
    • Unanimous.

  • [BLU] motions to dissolve committee.

    • Unanimous.

  • We are going to go through a list of positions that you can nominate for.

  • There may be questions for the participants who have been nominated.

  • Then we will send nominants out of the room to vote.

  • When you are asked to vote, it is an n-1 voting system.

    • You can vote for as many participants as you want.

President

Role

  1. Conduct the relations of the Club with other organisations and to the general public subject to the authority of the Committee;
  2. Co-ordinate and supervise the work of the Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and other officers of the Club subject to the authority of the Committee;
  3. Generally carry out the policy of the Club; and
  4. Generally carry out the instructions and decisions of the Committee.

Standing Nominations

  • [BLU] Grace Fowler

Nominations

  • Connor Brennan nominates [GPO]
    • [GPO] declines.

Speech

  • - Hello I was your 2023 president.
    • My projects for this year would be the 50th anniversary and doing the sit down dinner.
    • I am doing sticker designs for merch and a t-shirt design.
    • I plan on doing a slide show and contacting old guard to come into the event and do speeches.
    • I have been on committee for the past 4 years, and exec for the past 3.
    • I have experience on committee and being President.
      • Chair meetings, keeping people in line, and letting people talk.

Questions

Outcome

  • [BLU] defaults as President

Vice President

Role

  1. Assist in the Presidents duties;
  2. Carry out Presidential duties during the absence of the President, during which time the VicePresident shall be deemed to be the President; and
  3. Generally carry out the instructions of the Committee.

Standing Nominations

  • [BLU] Grace Fowler
  • [SEB] Seb Gazey

Nominations

  • [BLU] withdraws nomination.
  • [I2N] nominates themselves.
    • Withdraws nomination.
  • [GPO] nominates themselves.

Speech

  • - [SEB] has not been on UCC committee but has been on UniSFA committee before.

  • - I have been treasurer for the past two years.

    • It has been fine.
    • I am happy to be treasurer again this year.

  • [GPO] withdraws their nomination.

Questions

Outcome

  • [SEB] defaults as Vice President.

Secretary

Role

  1. Maintain an up to date register of the members of the Club and the information required by the Act and, upon the request of a member of the Club, make the register available for the inspection of the member;
  2. A member may make a copy of or take an extract from the register but shall have no right to remove the register for that purpose.
  3. Carry out the administrative work of the Club for which the Committee does not appoint or elect an officer;
  4. Record the proceedings of all General Meetings and meetings of the Committee and make these minutes available in an easily accessible portion of the Club online presence;
  5. Conduct and keep copies of all correspondence to the Club;
  6. Generally carry out the instructions and decisions of the Committee relating to the administration of the Club;
  7. Ensure that an accurate copy of the Club constitution is maintained in an easily accessible portion of the Club online presence; and
  8. Unless the members resolve otherwise at a general meeting, have custody of all books, documents, records and registers of the Club, other than those required to be kept and maintained by, or in the custody of, the Treasurer.

Standing Nominations

  • Ekaterina Grabovskaya
  • [GPO] Gary O'Donovan

Nominations

  • Connor Brennan nominates Angus Prosser.
    • Angus Prosser accepts.
  • [GPO] withdraws.
  • [KKZ] nominates themselves.

Speech

  • Kat is not here and doesn't have a speech.

  • Angus:

    • Hello nerds it is me.
    • I was not expecting to be nominated coming in here.
    • While I may not be the most active member in terms of gaming or anything else happening in UCC I feel I do have the experience to become secretary.

  • - Was secretary last year.

    • Um yeah.
    • I really liked it, it was good.
    • I am worried about my health effecting my ability to show up but will try my best.
    • Is planning on running for OCM.
    • "This is a really horrible speech" - [KKZ]
    • Not going on exchange anymore.
    • Wants to do more art stuff for UCC.
    • Generally wants to create an inviting enviroment and get as many people involved as possible.

Questions

  • Why do you want to be Secretary?

    • Angus:

      • I think I'll do a good job, I think I have the skill set needed, and want to help UCC as a club

    • - Was debating running for secretary again, I do really like it, does sometimes feel like they could do a better job. I am pretty decent in writing minutes, and it feels nice to be a part of something.

  • Any other commitments?

    • Angus:

      • Emploied Casually - flexible.
      • 4 units - high contact hours.
      • Is able to manage this though.

    • - Employed Casually.

      • Doing 2 units (but one of them is introduction to python so really more like 1.5).
      • Is a third year.
      • Not many committments.
      • Has health problems, which I count as a commitment to sometimes needing to lie down in bed all day.

  • Are you applying for any other positions on committee?

    • Angus

      • No.

    • [KKZ]

      • OCM.

    • Kat is also nominated for Treasurer

  • How often do you plan in being in Cameron Hall and in the UCC clubroom?

    • Angus:

      • A UCC regular
      • Does spend more times in unigames but can shift due to duties

    • - At least 2 hours a week, random estimate

      • Likes to be in UCC to hang out and do stuff
      • Will probably be in more due to Ried being closed
      • Goes to project nights, but just for the dinner part
      • Comes to UCC during Lunch times.

Outcome

  • [KKZ] is elected Secretary.

Treasurer

Role

  1. Be responsible for the receipt of all moneys paid to or received by, or by him or her on behalf of, the Club and issue receipts for those moneys in the name of the Club;
  2. Keep accounting records as correctly record and explain the financial transactions and financial position of the Club, in such a manner that permits convenient and proper auditing;
  3. Render an account at each meeting of the Committee of all receipts and payments since the previous meeting;
  4. Render an account of the petty cash at each meeting of the Committee;
  5. Furnish the Committee with such other accounts and information relating to the finances of the Club as the Committee may require;
  6. Present a current financial statement showing all receipts and payments at each Ordinary General Meeting and by motion of Committee, an auditor’s report at the Annual General Meeting;
  7. Unless the members resolve otherwise at a general meeting, have custody of all securities, books and documents of a financial nature and accounting records of the Club; and
  8. Generally carry out the instructions of the Committee relating to the property and finances of the Club.

Standing Nominations

  • Ekaterina Grabovskaya
  • [GPO] Gary O'Donovan

Nominations

Speech

  • Kat has no speech.
  • - I have been treasurer for the past 2 years.
    • I have already subjected myself to- ok treasurer is genuinely not that bad. you need to know how to ocunt.
    • Whatever who cares.
    • Vote for me for the 3rd year in a row so I can love the position.

Questions

  • - Not you planning on running for any other posiitons or commitments.
    • 30 contact hours a week at QEII.
    • Work max 10 hours a week.
    • I am in 4 days a week and generally come to UCC after I am done for several hours.
    • I have a car.

Outcome

  • [GPO] is elected treasurer.

Fresher Representative

Role

  1. Represent the interests of members of the Club who are in first year University or who have not previously been members of the Club;
  2. Assist the other Committee Members in the executions of their duties, especially in the case were they relate to new members; and
  3. Bear any responsibilities that the Committee shall from time to time decide.

Standing Nominations

  • Lyla Peng

Nominations

  • [BLU] nominates Pranav
    • Pranav accepts.

Speech

  • Lyla:

    • Hi this is my second semester but first as a member of UCC.
    • I'm very passionate about getting more involved at UCC.
    • I would love to collect common questions for freshers and raise them at committee meetings.
    • I'd love to do anything assigned to me or anything to help freshers around the club.

  • Pranav:

    • Hello this is my first semester.
    • I am quite enthusiatsic about technology
    • I see myself spending a lot of time in the clubroom.
    • I don't haave many commitments outside of my 4 units.
    • I'd love to help any time I can.

Questions

  • Are you planning on running for any other positions?

    • Pranav: Not planning on running for any other committees.
    • Lyla: Not plannign on any other committee.

  • What other commitments do you have?

    • Pranav: No other comitments.
    • Lyla: Nothing other than uni.

  • How often will you hang around the clubroom?

    • Lyla: About 4 days a week.
    • Pranav: I'm flexible.

  • If you dont get this will you go for OCM.

    • Lyla: No.
    • Pranav: No.

  • Do you have any prohects you'd like to do.

    • Lyla: Not currently but i'd like to find something.
    • Pranav: Not currently I don't know much about the club.

  • How confident are you in welcoming new freshers into the club.

    • Lyla: Since I'm a fresher I can relate to first time members
    • Pranav: Yes I will be able to.

Outcome

  • Lyla Peng is elected Fresher Representative.

Ordinary Committee Members (3 positions)

Role

  1. Assist the other Committee Members in the executions of their duties; and
  2. Bear any responsibilities that the Committee shall from time to time decide.

Standing Nominations

  • [KKZ] Ariel Carter - Ineligible (elected to another position)
  • [SEB] Seb Gazey - Ineligible (elected to another position)
  • Ekaterina Grabovskaya
  • Lauren Pudney

Nominations

  • Jack Langoulant nominates [ROY].

    • Roy accepts.

  • Jorja nominates Diarmuid.

    • Diarmund accepts.

  • Joe nominates Angus.

    • Angus accepts.

  • Roy nominates Joe.

    • Joe accepts.

  • Diarmuid nominates [BRD].

    • [BRD] declines.

  • Angus nominates [QWS].

    • [QWS] declines.

  • Diarmuid nominates [BRZ].

    • [BRZ] accepts.

Speech

  • Kat doesn't have a speech.

  • Lauren:

    • I am a pretty recent adiditon to being aorund UCC only 6 months or so.
    • I have really enoyed it.
    • I came in with not a lot of experience around tech and not a lot of confidence in my abilities.
    • There are a lot of people who are really knowledgable and willing to share their knowledge.
    • Very greatful to the club and the community.
    • Ran for OCM to help out with the great Community.
    • Wants to be around more.
    • Have a solid amoutn of teching experience. Once I leanr more and get more involved I can help with more technical queries.
    • Works only 7-8 hours a week.
    • Is at uni 4-5 days, will be round in the clubroom.

  • - I am a first year compsci student.

    • I joined the club last semester.
    • Started to be active at the beginning of this semester.
    • I have attended every project night and tech meeting, and two committee meetings as audience.
    • I am a full time student.
    • Trying my best to help out with wheel/tech group.
    • I love the culture, people, and ideology. That is to say the transparency and openness around discussions to do with the club.
    • One member once told me I dont need to sit on the committee seat to contribute to the club, so if I'm not elected to committee I will still be hanging around and you'll probably see me around meetings.
    • If I'm granted the position I will ensure to collaborate with everyone and uphold the constitution.
    • I'm always willing to learn the skills and techniques needed for running this club.

  • Diarmuid

    • I have been around for a year now and it's my second year.
    • I'm doing compsci and data science.
    • I have 13 contact hours a week.
    • I don't have a job or anything.
    • I may be looking to get a casual job in the future.
    • I come to UCC a little bit, not too much. I spend a but of time in UniGames and UniSFA.
    • I split my time between the three.

  • Angus

    • Has already said everything in their Secretary speech.

  • Joe withdraws.

  • [BRZ] withdraws.

  • Jorja and Thomas leave 15:37

  • Ezran enters 15:40

Questions

  • None.

Outcome

  • Roy, Lauren, and Diarmiud elected ordinary Committee Members.

Life Membership

  • [JMA] moves to pass the chair to [BLU]
    • Unanimous.

James Arcus [MPT]

Reasons

  • Why [BLU] thinks Jarcus should get life membership:

    • During my time on committee he's always been happy to advise me and even help out during events. Massive thank you to Jarcus for going to O-Day every year even when you're not on committee or a student. As well as recently being one of the main writers for our sucessful tenancy appeal.
    • Jarcus has been on committee for 4 years, attempting to and suceeding on driving the club forward out of dark times.
    • He has run a previous very sucessful tech talk workshop, Building Your Own Internet.
    • Has done various wheel things.

  • - The number of 'wheel things' Jarcus has done over the years are inumerable to count, and some of them required him acquiring knowledge specifically for UCC.

    • He's always happy to help out with anything, and introducing people to the club.

  • [BLU] moves to appoint [MPT] as a life member.

    • Unanimous.

Outcome

  • [MPT] is appointed life member.

John Hodge [TPG]

Reasons

  • Why [BLU] thinks [TPG] should get life membership.

    • Rewrote dispense.
    • Continues to actively go to Project Night and is always happy to give adive or help on projects be they club or personal.
    • Does wheel activities.
    • One of the more active old guard members around.

  • - Has shown their love and dedication to the club over many years.

    • Has been on committee previously.

  • - He was always around to help people 11 years ago.

  • - He has always been a very welcoming memeber of the club.

    • If you have a question about rust or his very special rust compiler.

  • [BLU] motions to appoint [TPG] as a life member.

    • Passes, with 2 abstensions.

Outcome

  • [TPG] is appointed life member.

General Business

  • Connor Brennan:

    • Are there any plans to go along with the Guild thing that OCMs can only be students?
      • [I2N] It's actually if they are given special permission from the SOC. Since our consitution carves out specifically for non-students we have managed to get exemptions.

  • [NTU]

    • Suggests to collect sponsors for the 50th anniversary year.
    • A really useful thing would be to update our history.
    • For the 25th we employed a UniSFAn as a historian.
    • We sent out an email with lots of questions abotu when they joined/how long, events, memories, etc.
    • They made up a draft.
    • The 2024 comittee should appoint a historian.

  • Ezran leaves 15:53

  • [BRD]: There is currently a 50th anniversary tshirt design.

    • If you have a single creative bone in your body please create a design.

End Time

  • 15:35