Handbook > How to...

How To...

...Book a Room in College for Meetings and/or Receptions
...Get Guests
...Manage your Society Committee
...Fill out your Grant Application Form

How to Book a Room in College for Meetings and/or Receptions

Go to Enquiries Office (up Exam Hall steps and in glass door on your right) and give them details of times, dates, numbers expected, etc. They will allocate you a room and give you a confirmation document which you should have on you when you go to the meeting. They will request a deposit cheque which will only be cashed if any damages occur. It should be noted, that it is not always easy to find space in College for meetings, so do get in early to be sure of getting what you want.

To hold a reception, you have to get the permission of the Junior Dean. Permission is applied for on line, go to: http://www.tcd.ie/Junior_Dean/Parties/index.php. Thereafter the Dean will assess your request and may lay down conditions for the permission WHICH MUST BE ADHERED TO. The CSC advises that notice for a reception be given at least 8 working days in advance of the meeting. There may be security charges involved for some rooms, e.g. GMB, and the CSC will cover a maximum of 2 security charges per term - these will be paid directly by CSC. If you go over your maximum of 2 per term, you will be asked to reimburse the CSC.

Accessibility:Please bear in mind that we must cater for those students and staff members who may have mobility impairment of some kind, so when deciding about a venue's suitability, try to ensure that the rooms you book are accessible to all.

Rooms Available:
House 6 / The Atrium	The CSC has exclusive access to the Eliz Rooms in House 6 and to Room 50 in the Atrium. Both these rooms may be booked through Enquiries in the normal way. Room 50 holds about 50 people. Chairs may be stacked at the side of the room, so it may be suitable for various types of meetings. If there is no alternative venue available, it may be possible to hold receptions in Room 50, but these have to be agreed with the Junior Dean on a case by case basis. The Eliz Rooms may be used for meetings requiring conference style seating. It is used during the day as an overspill from the CSC office and if you wish to hold committee meetings in there, just check the timing with Lucy or Emma. The Eliz Rooms may be used for receptions and the adjoining kitchen may be useful in this case. Please note that empty bottles must not be left in the kitchen – there are bottle banks in Botany Bay.
Arts Building	Enquiries will allocate you a room depending on the numbers you anticipate attending. The larger Theatres on the ground and lower ground floor may need to be booked far in advance, but you can usually get a smaller room without much trouble.
Áras an Phiarsaigh	As the Arts Building.
GMB	The Debating Chamber is block booked in the evening by the Hist and the Phil on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and by the Theo on Mondays, but it is possible to get it on Tuesday and Friday nights. The Phil and Hist Conversation Rooms may be used for receptions with the permission of the relevant society. A member of the Hist or Phil must give permission for the use of their respective conversation rooms. You will be given a form by the Enquiries Office which you need to get signed by a GMB Committee Member. You will be levied with a security charge for using the GMB – in the region of €105 for an evening meeting, up to €200 for a weekend meeting. If you intend to use the GMB remember to include these figures in your grant application and the CSC will cover the costs.
Goldsmith Hall	As the Arts Building.

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How To Get Guests

The best approach tends to be by writing –either letter or email–and follow up within two weeks with a phone call. That said the fact that more and more people are e-mail based it is often more efficient to use this means. Remember if you think that the person you are writing to is too important to simply e-mail, they are probably important enough to have someone deal with their mail anyway so they never get to see it before they issue their reply.

You can tell an overseas speaker that you will be able to cover their travel expenses up to €200, give them entertainment expenses of up to €60 (to cover guest + one committee member) and offer them accommodation for 2 nights up to a maximum of €90 per night. Irish Speakers may also be given travel expenses and only 1 night's accommodation. Dublin speakers should only be promised entertainment.

CSC has a credit card which may be used to book flights, accommodation, etc. from the office.

In some cases, you may be able to pool resources, and run a meeting with another society where a particular guest might appeal. The CSC can put societies in touch with one another, provided you give us the information.

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How To Manage your Society Committee

It is a good idea to hold weekly committee meetings at the same time and place every week. If you don't have access to a society room, you may use the Eliz Rooms during the day for these meetings. Try and ensure that each committee member pulls his/her weight. The secret to running and society and getting a degree, is successful delegation! Your constitution should be quite clear on the responsibilities of the three main officers: Chairperson (or Auditor), Treasurer and Secretary. You may have to allocate different duties to other committee members, but try to make sure that everyone knows their own responsibility.

It is helpful to make a provisional plan of activities for the year. This need not be set in stone, but it will give you a starting point.

In the age of emails and mobile phones, communication between each other should be easy to maintain. Try and keep everybody in the loop.

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How to Fill Out your Grant Application Form

One of the CSC's main responsibilities is to distribute the grant received from the Capitation Committee, to the societies under its control. In order to be able to budget with some degree of accuracy, we ask societies to submit a grant application form, outlining its projected expenditure for the coming year. The CSC Executive will consider each application and allocate under each heading. The society will be allocated a grant of a certain amount, but in order not to drastically overspend, the CSC will set a "budgetary limit". The society may then spend within its grant allocation, up to that limit. If it still has projects to do, it may come back to the CSC and request that the budgetary limit be raised to allow further activity within the society.

After the Michaelmas Term General Meeting, the Grant Application Forms will be made available on line, with links to the CSC Policy Document. CSC will fund activities under the following headings:

Administration	Providing tea, coffee etc for meetings, paper, envelopes, minute books, membership cards etc.
Speakers' Expenses	CSC will cover entertainment, travel and accommodation expenses at rates which will be specified in the current Policy Document. Entertainment will be granted to allow committee member expenses to be covered as well.
Main Meeting	This grant may be used for one large reception or several small ones. It is based strictly on the numbers of members in the society.
Instruction	CSC will give a contribution towards instruction costs incurred, provided the instructor is fully qualified and is not a student in College. If you charge in to classes, CSC will ask for a profit & loss account to be presented before claiming.
Hire of Halls/Security	Grants will be given to cover security costs charged by College and in special cases, outside of College.
Materials	Covers the purchase or hire of equipment, sheet music or the purchase of consumable materials.
Capital Items	Grants may be given towards the purchase of specialist equipment to further the aims of the society. Any items valued at more than €130 should be notified to CSC to ensure that they are included on our insurance cover.
Competition Entry	CSC will contribute to costs of entry to intervarsities or other competitions.
Affiliation Fees	If your society affiliates to a national body which is of benefit to your members, a grant may be considered.
Travel	Society officers should especially note the stipulations regarding travel in the Grants Policy Document. Societies are reminded that any travel must be for bona fide purposes to further the aims of the society and that only those trips agreed beforehand will be funded. The trip should be open to all and only paid-up members of the society. Only capitated students who are fully paid-up members of the society will be subsidised. A list of those who are to travel* must be given to the CSC prior to the trip. This list is to be submitted on line and will contain the following details: name of member travelling; College ID; society membership number; name of next of kin and contact details for next of kin. If this list is not with the CSC prior to the trip no grant will be issued. An itinerary of the proposed trip must be submitted with the grant application. (Societies are advised to allow at least one term-time week for the processing of such applications.) In order to conserve resources the Executive may limit the number of persons that will receive a subsidy. Any cancellation fees incurred by the society will not be subsidised by the CSC. The Executive has determined that when necessary, checks will be made to ensure that the itinerary as presented, has been fully undertaken. Students travelling on society trips will not have personal accident cover or travel insurance. Third party bodily injury or property damage insurance may be provided on a case by case basis on consultation with the CSC. *online submission of travellers - go to http://www.csc.tcd.ie/grant_app and login with society username and password. Click on Submit Travel Details. As this can amount to such a large expenditure, there is a budget for travel allocated each year, only detailed applications will be considered and those on a first come first served basis.
Hosting Conferences	If you are running a conference, you may apply for a grant to CSC. You will be asked to meet with the CSC Treasurer in advance, and outline the projected income and expenditure on the event.
Library Expenses	You may apply for a grant towards expenses involved with running your library and of course for books, periodicals, tapes, videos or cds, so long as your library is deemed by the CSC Secretary, to be properly catalogued and operated, and kept in a safe location.
Miscellaneous	You may want to get financial help with something that isn't covered by the above headings. If so, apply under the miscellaneous section.
Special	Every year, societies organise events which exceed our "normal" grants as set out in the policy document. The CSC sets aside a certain amount of money which may be used for these events. These would generally be for a once-off event - by definition, they must not be something which the society organises on an annual basis. Special grants are not subject to the "budgetary limit" as explained above.

Grant Applications must be submitted before the end of Michaelmas Term. However, you may approach the CSC at any time during the year to request further funding, changes in grants, or a raise in the budgetary limit.

Sponsorship;
If you find that the grant does not cover all of your expenses for the year, additional funding can be sought from sponsorship or donations. There are two big big NO-NOs regarding sponsorship. Sponsorship received from a drinks company should only be accepted in monetary rather than material form, in other words they cannot give you alcohol! Also you cannot do a deal whereby the sponsoring company is given a stall/place to sell its products on campus. Your sponsor must receive due recognition for its contribution but College does limit what any outside body can do on campus.
Sponsorship can be very beneficial to both parties. A sponsor will always look for a situation whereby they will get a good return on their investment so contacting a relevant company with the right proposal for them is vital. Most companies will have a very specific market they want to target through sponsorship, for example Graduates or Law students, so approaching an Accountancy firm to sponsor a basket weaving marathon will probably not get the response you were hoping for.

It's not easy, however a clear proposal sent to the right person and followed by a phone call may seal the deal. The proposal should outline how sponsoring an event, society, publication etc will benefit the society and the company. If you need advice with Marketing/PR or Sponsorship call into Emma or email on emma@csc.tcd.ie.

If you have any queries come in ask. Remember the CSC's aim is support society activity, not to stifle it.

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Next: College Regulations >>

Contents:
Introduction	Congratulations on your election!
Purpose of a College Student Society	This may seem rather an odd point with which to start a guide such as this but it is an important point which, in the excitement of running for election, people often forget.
Duties of Society Officers	Start here if you're wondering what it is you're supposed to do as Chairperson, Secretary or Treasurer of your society
Running a Society	How to get organised for Fresher's Week and the year ahead.
How To...	Book a room, get guests, get money etc.
College Regulations	How college regulations can affect you in areas such as postering, health and safety and use of rooms.
CSC Office Services	Photocopying, phone calls, helpful advice and more.
Who's Who in College	A rogue's gallery of the college authority figures who can help and hinder your society's activities.