Getting ready for your AGM

A common scene on a volunteer committee: someone realises the AGM is three weeks away. The notice hasn’t gone out. The financial report is “nearly done”. Nobody has checked the constitution for how many days’ notice is required. And the President is quietly hoping nobody nominates for anything difficult.

An Annual General Meeting is a once-a-year checkpoint. You report to members, elect or confirm the people who will lead, and complete a few legal requirements. When it feels like a circus, the problem is usually timing rather than the meeting itself.

Start with the constitution, not the catering

Before you book a hall or design a flyer, open your rules. How many days’ notice do members need? Who can vote? What is the quorum? Are proxy or postal votes allowed? What is the order of business? Can nominations be taken from the floor?

Write the answers on one page. Everything else follows from them. Committees sometimes develop a “usual way” of doing things that quietly contradicts their own rules, and it comes unstuck when a member asks a sharp question from the floor.

If the constitution is unclear or out of date, note that for later. Don’t try to rewrite it the week before the AGM.

Work backwards from the meeting date

Pick the AGM date, then put three earlier dates in the calendar:

Notice day. Count back the required notice period, plus a buffer for post or email delays. Draft the notice early: date, time, place (or Zoom link), agenda, and how to nominate or lodge proxies.
Reports due. Treasurer’s report, President’s report and any subcommittee updates. Give people two clear weeks and a firm date, not “when you can”.
Papers out. Send the pack to members a few days before the meeting if your rules allow, or have hard copies ready. Surprises make AGMs longer.

If your AGM falls in a busy season for associations, start the preparation earlier than feels necessary.

Keep the agenda short

A good AGM agenda looks plain: welcome and apologies, minutes of the last AGM, reports, elections, any special resolutions (with proper notice), close. Leave operational chat for the next ordinary committee meeting.

Special resolutions, such as rule changes or winding up, need extra care and usually longer notice. If you’re not sure, get advice early.

Elections

Have nomination forms ready before the night. Confirm who is willing to stand, and check terms: who is finishing, who can stand again, and any casual vacancies.

If you’re short of nominations, say so early. A short email six weeks out (“we need a Treasurer”) works better than a last-minute ask while people are packing up the chairs. Don’t leave the Secretary role to whoever happens to be left, because that person holds the organisation’s memory.

Minutes and filings

The AGM isn’t finished when people leave. Someone needs to write the minutes promptly (who was there, what was resolved, election results) and file them where the next Secretary can find them. Update ASIC, the ACNC or your state associations register if required, within the deadlines that apply to you.

If you’re incorporated in a particular state or territory, your regulator’s checklist takes priority over anything here. Use it.

Next step

Put next year’s AGM preparation date in the calendar before you pack up the chairs, and assign owners now: who drafts the notice, who chases reports, who runs elections. If your committee would like a second pair of eyes on notice wording or agendas, see our governance and compliance service or book a free 30-minute call.

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