Q&A for How to Be a Good Club President

You feel it inside - the energy is not there at the meetings, participation may be lower, and there are few initiatives.

Respect is earned, it cannot be bought and force drives individuals away. The best way to earn respect is to lead by example. Another crucial key to respect is fostering relationships; it is hard to respect someone you do not know. There is no one true way to draw respect but the best advice is to be someone you would respect.

Don't give up just because it doesn't come naturally to you! Leadership is a skill, which means it can be improved like anything else. If you're interested in maintaining your leadership position, then fake it till you make it. Ask others for their advice on how you can lead better, including your parents. If you decide leadership just isn't right for you, then consider holding elections with your club members to determine who will take your place.

Realize that they may have conflicting views from yours, preventing anything from getting done, so this may not be prudent. Nominate one yourself, and take a vote from the others as to whether or not that person is a suitable VP. If not, ask why and nominate another person who is more in line with their beliefs. Continue this process until a vote passes and you have a good Vice President.

Try to get eye contact with at least one member, then use them to help you work your way to the rest of the room. Sometimes its even better just to keep quiet for a bit and let them talk, then begin. You can also rustle papers, tap a glass or simply get started using a commanding tone of voice.

You can always base your club off of a hobby or pastime, such as drawing, pottery, or video games. You can also base your club off of something helpful, such as recycling or saving the ocean.

Names are generally placed on the front left-hand side of T-shirts.

Go to the meeting prepared with an agenda everyone can see, and consider allowing the VP to help make this. Keep everyone on topic, and try to be as effective as possible. Stay organized.

Try to promote the club through the school and talk about it to your friends. Have food days, or have fun activities planned. However, if you cannot get anyone to join, it would be best to disband and then restart the club at a better date.

You should have club members nominate and vote for the vice president. Be sure to explain the vice president's role so people can choose the best-qualified person.

Speak with them personally first to see what's going on with them and let them know how you are feeling and what the rules are and give them another chance. Then follow the guidelines for that behavior that's established in the rules.

Have a role call at every meeting. This will encourage members to put some effort into attending.

I am currently dealing with this in my committee. I barely have 3 members and few are ever available. It doesn't matter whether your club is small or big, if someone is getting no work done, then they are useless. It may be hard, but give them a warning, and if they still don't care, remove them from the club (officially).

You could do it that way, or you can have the members vote for a president.

It is up to you and your members. You can discuss it in your club and choose whether they'll be paying per week, month or even per year.

As with anyone, the president can attend any meetings desired, presuming they are open-invitation meetings in which anyone's allowed. If the meetings in question are closed/restricted or not about club business, however, then the president doesn't have any more right to be there than anyone who wasn't invited.

Be very organized and plan what you want to do/accomplish at the meetings in advance. One way to manage a large group is to break them into smaller interest groups who can then share their projects with the whole club. Much depends on the type of club you have. Appoint a lead for each group and meet with those people to make sure everyone in the smaller group is doing okay. Be sure to meet regularly so the members think it's a great club that is active.

You can give them warnings about things they like in the club. For example: disruptive member likes giving suggestions for the club, you give them a warning. Warning should be something along the lines of “I am going to limit your suggestions to 1 a day, unless you be more respectful”.

No. If someone wants to share a confidential conversation with you, that is a compliment. Keep those words confidential. The only exception would be if the silence would cause physical harm to someone or loss of a job, etc. If you don't think you can keep a confidence, tell the person you would prefer they tell someone else.

It depends on why they resigned, the state of the club, who is now in control and what the club members want. If they resigned in a huff and stormed off, it's unlikely anyone would want them back. If they left on a matter of principle though, in a calm and reasoned way, and things turned out the way they said they would if their advice was ignored, then the club members might be pleased to have the rightful leader return.

Authorization letters are letters meant to give someone permission to do something or officially take control of a situation. An authorization letter is usually considered as a written confirmation to allow someone to take a specific action, enter into a legal contract, delegate his/her duties, spend a specified sum of money, etc.