O&O Board of Directors Coordinator

Hi Kimberly!

So so excited for you to be a part of ASUW this year. You’ll learn a ton about ASUW as a whole, as well as all of its entities. This upcoming Board is full of a bunch of awesome people so make sure you get to know from them and learn from them!!

I know that I was pretty overwhelmed with this position in the beginning, but you’ll definitely figure it out as time goes by. Make sure to take care of yourself and set your boundaries, and don’t be afraid to ask questions! Your SAO Advisor (Jennifer Pope) and other coordinators are great resources. You can also ask me questions as well if you have them!

Have a great year and enjoy your time at ASUW!!

Xiyan Li, Board of Directors Coordinator 2021-2022

Note: You should change the login passwords at the start of the year to keep them fresh, crisp, and to your liking!

UW NetID

online things!

Username: asuwaa5

Password: 17Allonboard

You will use this to log into anything that asks for a UW NetID sign in (email, Google Drive, Records Page, Office Hours Page, etc.).

Slack

Password: 17Allonboard!

In-Person things!! 

Printer Codes

SAO Printer Code: 1167

RSO Printer Code: asuw-bod

Room Codes

HUB 121: 2093

HUB 303: 08846

Miscellaneous

Laptop Password: HuskiesAA2019 (This is for the old Windows laptop, I’m not sure if there will be new ones next year, but right now we three coordinators take turns to use two old Windows laptops and a new MAC. You can figure this out with the other 2 coordinators!)

Board Room Code: 12422

(I actually don’t know what this is for… I’ve never used it, but my predecessor had it in their transition documents, so I thought I’d keep it in case you ever solve the mystery!)

Housekeeping at the start of the year!

online:

• Change your UW email responder to “Vacation Off” 
• Change the login passwords
• Change the names/profile pictures in your UW email/Slack to YOU!

in-person:

• Set the voicemail on the front desk phones (Also feel free to record a new voicemail message using your very own voice if you do please!)
• Go around and introduce yourself to everyone!

This is the weekly routine that worked for me throughout the year. (Of course, you can adjust this according to what works best for you and the Board!) Work will stack up if you don’t stick to a schedule, so be sure to use the first few weeks to test the waters and figure out how your weekly routine should look!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This schedule does not include JCC or Judicial meetings and tasks. You will need to layer these over this schedule according to whenever they are scheduled, as the meeting times may change from quarter to quarter. (See “Joint Commissions Committee (JCC)” and “Judicial Committee” for more information.)

Sunday

• Submit your office hours for the week (on the ASUW Office Hours Page: hours.asuw.org)
  • This includes meetings, time you plan to spend at the front desk, remote hours, etc.
  • Note: You can count up to 1 hour of random ASUW events toward your office hours!

Monday

• Create weekly Board Meeting folder
  • You will create an Agenda, Board Report and Bill Forwarding spreadsheet from templates contained within your Google Drive. (named ASUW Board of Directors). I have included an example Board folder in the google drive with everything you nee for the week! If you go to “ASUW Board of Directors” –> “example meeting Board folder” you will see it. 
• Send out weekly Board Meeting email
  • This must include links to the Agenda, Board Report, Bill Forwarding spreadsheet, and the shared folder for that week’s meeting (with editing access granted to everyone).
  • Feel free to include fun messages/reminders!
  • Note: I’ve left a template of how I usually format this email under “Drafts” in your UW email. It includes explanations for the purpose of each link, which you can review. It might be appreciated if you also include explanations in the first email you send out at the start of the year (as everyone, including the Board, is learning their positions as they come in)! You can also reference my past emails (under “Sent”).

Tuesday

Wednesday

• Upload the Agenda draft to the ASUW Records Page (by 5:30 pm)
  • Note: This year, the Board passed a new policy requiring the Agenda draft to be uploaded to the Records Page at least 24 hours prior to the start of the meeting. It is important to remember to do this to be in compliance! I usually upload this to the records page (records.asuw.org) at around 4 pm.

Thursday

online to do:

• Make sure minutes are completed and in the corresponding week’s Board meeting folder by around 5:15 pm!
• Send slack or email with link to minutes so Board members have time to look over them (I usually send a link in the slack)
• Be ready to start typing minutes! (by 5:30 pm)
  • To prepare, use the agenda template from this week for your Board minutes! Change all of the items that Board members added to be italicized and underlined, and type normally under those!

in-person to do:

• Print completed minutes from previous week
  • Double-sided from the HUB 121 printer and stapled. One copy is enough.
  • This is to be passed around to each Board member for them to sign during the meeting. This will also be the signed copy that you will file away in the “AA to the Board” filing drawer. (See “Friday” below.)
• Print the meeting packets (around 5:00 pm – but start earlier for your first few meetings to account for any learning curve!)
  • Meeting packets include the Agenda and all the bills included in that meeting (found in the shared folder for that meeting), as well as any additional materials Board members may ask you to include.
  • 1) Start by printing all documents single-sided on the HUB 121 printer; arrange the documents into the appropriate order
  • 2) Take the documents up to SAO; type the printer code (SAO Printer Code: 1167) into the printer
  • Note: I usually print one copy of agenda for each Board member, and prepare several extra for others who come to the meeting. It would be a good idea to have a conversation with the President about how they would like to handle meeting packets!
• Set up the meeting room
  • The Board meets in HUB 303!
  • 1) Leave the packets on the table near the door (for people to grab as they walk in)
  • 2) Turn on the projector; connect your laptop to the projector (either wirelessly or using the HDMI/VGA cables; for a wireless connection, you’ll need to download the Mersive Solstice App (instructions will be displayed on the screen when turned on))
  • 3) Pull up the Agenda and Board Report (to display on the projector screen)
• Be ready to start typing minutes! (by 5:30 pm)
  • To prepare, use the agenda template from this week for your Board minutes! Change all of the items that Board members added to be italicized and underlined, and type normally under those! You should be able to record the meeting, either on zoom or your phone, but it would be best to confirm with the Board.

Friday

online to do:

• Make any written edits to the approved minutes
  • Board/Committee members will make written edits to the previous week’s meeting during the “Approval of Minutes” portion of meetings. Be sure to make these changes to the minutes before uploading them to the Records Page.
• Upload meeting files to the Records Page
  • Files include the approved Agenda, all approved Board Bills/Resolutions, the approved minutes from the previous week, and the Board Report.
• Forward bills/resolutions through email
  • Refer to the Bill Forwarding spreadsheet for emails of the recipients. (This spreadsheet should be filled out by the sponsors of each bill/resolution beforehand.)
  • Be sure to attach all bills/resolutions in PDF form!
  • Note: I’ve left a template of how I usually format this email under “Drafts” in your UW email. You can also reference my past emails (under “Sent”).

in person to do:

• Store a copy of the meeting packet and edited/signed minutes in the “AA to the Board” filing drawer
  • Note: OPMA guidelines require a physical copy of each meeting packet and the signed copy of each week’s approved minutes to be maintained and filed away for access.

all in person things! 

• Fill out a office supply request (along with the other coordinators)
  • I usually send a Google Form to all Board members to get their input on what needs to be ordered.
  • Be sure to check that the First Aid kit is fully stocked.
  • Note: You should connect with the Finance and Budget Director before doing this to check up on the office budget.
• Decorate the office for a new theme (if you’d like)!
  • The other coordinators and I coordinate to put up seasonal decorations with each new quarter! (But this is completely optional!)
• At the end of each quarter:
  • Organize the “AA to the Board” filing drawer; ensure that all packets + meeting minutes are properly filed away
  • Double-check the Records Page; ensure that all necessary files are uploaded
  • Note: It is not required that you do this, but I always found it helpful for a clean start for the following quarter!

These are your main points of contact if you ever need general advice or help. (You are also free to reach out to me any time! (See [Insert Title Here] for more information.))

Jennifer Pope, SAO Advisor (jkiest@uw.edu)

Your SAO Advisor is your professional staff support! Jennifer can help you with any advice you need, and it is a good idea to have regular check-ins with her throughout the year.

Lillian Williamson, Vice President (asuwvp@uw.edu)

The Vice President is the “Office Staff” liaison and is the inward-facing manager of ASUW. They are a good starting point of contact if you’re ever unsure of who to go to with a question, as well as with questions about the inner-workings of the office.

All other ASUW contact information can be found in the ASUW Employee Directory, under “Contacts” in your UW email, and under Slack profiles.

In addition, all Board members are great points of contact! As you get to know each Board member and their positions, you will begin to get a better idea of who to go to with certain questions and can begin to refer yourself to the right place.

Introduction: The Board of Directors acts as the executive branch of ASUW and is made up of eight elected officials and four hired ex-officio members. The Board of Directors discusses a variety of issues pertaining to all of ASUW, from internal operations to external actions. (Example Agendas: records.asuw.org -> “Board of Directors” -> “2021-2022 Board of Directors” -> “Agendas”)

Chair: Timothy Billing, President

Timing: 30 minutes – 5 hours (weekly)

Note: There is no timestamp on Board meetings, so they can run as long as they need to for business to get done. (The longest meeting I’ve heard of from previous years ran 5 hours long…) So don’t schedule anything for Thursday nights!

Responsibilities:

• Create weekly meeting folder
• Send out weekly meeting email containing links
• Print minutes from previous week
• Print meeting packets
• Set up the meeting room
• Type and edit minutes
• Upload files to the Records Page (under “Board of Directors”)
• Forward bills and resolutions to recipients listed in forwarding clause
• File physical copies of meeting packets + approved minutes in the “AA to the Board” filing drawer

Note: The Board of Directors will sometimes move into “Executive Session,” which is used to discuss personnel matters. During this time, all recordings must be paused and no minutes are to be taken.

Introduction: The Joint Commissions Committee (JCC) consists of representatives from all the ASUW Diversity Commissions, as well as from other entities such as SARVA and SAB. During meetings, JCC discusses a wide variety of topics, primarily focused on issues of diversity and ways to establish intersectional programming.

Chair:

Daniel Tadrous, Director of Diversity Efforts

Timing: 60-90 minutes (weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the Chair’s decision)

Responsibilities:

For JCC, your responsibilities may not be the same as for the Board. It is a matter of what the Chair would like from you. It is important to connect with the Director of Diversity Efforts at the beginning of the year to have a conversation about expectations. Set responsibilities are listed below in plain text, and potential responsibilities are listed in italics. (See “Weekly To-Do List” for further instructions on each.)

online todo:

• Create weekly meeting folder
• Send out weekly meeting email containing links
• Type and edit minutes
• Upload files to the Records Page (under “Joint Commissions Committee”)

in-person todo:

• Print minutes from previous week
• Print meeting packets
• Set up the meeting room
• File physical copies of meeting packets + approved minutes in the “AA to the Board” filing drawer

Note: JCC can get fairly heated and passionate, given the topics considered. Be sure to take accurate notes reflective of the conversation!

Introduction: The Judicial Committee reviews and provides recommendations on proposed amendments to the governing documents of ASUW, as well as holds hearings when policy is violated by members of the association.

Chair: Brent Seto, Director of Internal Policy

Timing: 60 minutes (weekly)

IMPORTANT NOTE: From the end of Winter Quarter until mid-May, the Judicial Committee becomes the Elections Hearing Committee, which holds private meetings. This means you will not need to take minutes for this committee during that period!

Responsibilities:

For Judicial, your responsibilities may not be the same as for the Board. It is a matter of what the Chair would like from you. It is important to connect with the Director of Internal Policy at the beginning of the year to have a conversation about expectations. Set responsibilities are listed below in plain text, and potential responsibilities are listed in italics. (See “Weekly To-Do List” for further instructions on each.)

• online todo:
  • Create weekly meeting folder
  • Send out weekly meeting email containing links
  • Type and edit minutes
  • Upload files to the Records Page (under “Joint Commissions Committee”)
• in-person todo:
  • Print minutes from previous week
  • Print meeting packets
  • Set up the meeting room
  • File physical copies of meeting packets + approved minutes in the “AA to the Board” filing drawer

Note: These meetings can be a bit difficult to follow at times, as committee members are always referencing specific sections of specific documents, such as the ASUW Bylaws or Constitution. It is helpful to quickly jot down the sections that committee members reference (e.g. “I, A, 3” for “Section I, Part A, Subsection 3”), as you can always go back and edit later!

this is all in-person!!

Outside of meetings, you must spend 70% of your remaining weekly hours manning the front desk (along with the Personnel Coordinator and Operations Manager). At the front desk, you are the first person people see when they walk into the office – so be sure to be friendly, welcoming, and ready to help them however they need! Between visitors and any additional tasks, you are free to spend this time working on minutes and other projects!

Note: The goal is to have at least one person at the front desk to cover as much of the working day as possible. At the start of each quarter, it would be a good idea to coordinate with the other coordinators to see where your schedules can complement each other.

Responsibilities:

• Directing visitors as needed
  • If someone comes in for an appointment with an employee, have them wait either in the chairs by the front desk or on the couch and notify the employee!
  • Note: Lots of people walk in thinking you are the front desk for campus tours, the HUB, all of UW, etc.! Be patient and try to direct them to the right place to the best of your ability. Also, students often walk in looking for employees and offices in HUB 131 without realizing there is another office suite! Be sure to familiarize yourself with HUB 131 so you can direct them to the right place.
• Answer phone calls; transfer and take messages as needed (See “Transferring Phone Calls” below)
• Monitor office supplies
  • Help employees to supplies when they ask for them, but also be sure to hold them accountable for returning them!
• Keep the front desk area + office suite tidy
  • Note: This year, the coordinators kept a laminated checklist of daily + weekly tasks so that we could coordinate on what has already been done and what needed to be done. This would be a good practice to continue!
• Update the calendar (the whiteboard above the Keurig)
  • Include ASUW events, pay dates, holidays, etc.

Note: At the start of the year, go around and ask each employee for a stack of their business cards to keep at the front desk so you can easily hand them out to visitors when needed!

Transferring Phone Calls

Note: In your first week in the office, try practicing this with the other coordinators. It can be a bit tricky to get the hang of…

1. Find the extension number (last 5 digits of the phone number)
   • Phone numbers for all ASUW employees/offices can be found in the employee directory. (Keep a copy or two of the employee directory handy at the front desk!)
   • You can pre-save the extension numbers for all employees/offices in the phone so you don’t have to type them in every time!
   • Note: Board of Directors members do not have offices and typically share a phone number with an extension number that differs from the main office line.
2. Press the “Transfer” option on the phone screen
3. Type in the extension number OR select the extension number from the pre-saved list
4. Wait on the line until someone answers
5. Press the “Complete” button
   • If you don’t press “Complete,” the transfer did not go through and you hang up on the caller!
6. Hang up

Note: It’s a good idea to check the office hours of the person you’re trying to reach and/or send them a Slack message to let them know a call is coming. (Let people know that if one of the first two lights on their phones are going off, it means someone is trying to call them directly!)

Many people are referred to your email as the point of contact for getting in touch with the Board of Directors. You may get a variety of requests, and it is your job to try to help them anyway you can! If you are ever unsure about how to respond to an email, the Vice President would be a good person to go to for advice.

IMPORTANT NOTE: All ASUW communication with the media must go through the President and the Director of Communications. If anyone from the media asks you questions or tries to schedule an interview, do not give out any information on your own and always refer them to the President and the Director of Communication.

Here are some potential emails you may receive and suggestions on how you might handle them:

• Trying to get in contact with a Board member/other ASUW employee
  • Forward the email to the proper employee; include a message (to both the sender and the recipient) letting them know you have forwarded the email to “So-and-so” and they can help!
• Asking to schedule a public forum
  • Coordinate to find the best meeting date and get them on the agenda! (Be sure to notify/coordinate with the President as well.)
• These weird emails from “asuw-bounces” entitled “X asuwbod moderator request(s) waiting”
  • These are are mailing lists awaiting approval. You just have to click on the link provided in the email, log in, and approve and submit whatever requests are waiting.

Note: I just used the agenda template from the corresponding meeting! You just need to make sure that you add the role call, and italicize and underline everything that the Board members have added to the agenda. Feel free to look at the minutes that are on the records page for examples!

Word Templates are used for taking minutes and have pre-made formatting for names, headers, votes, etc. in the “Style” section of the “Home” tab. Be sure to use these styles appropriately.

Note: It is handy to save the names of Board/Committee members or commonly used phrases (e.g. “moves to approve,” “No Objections”) as “Autotext” in the template. That way, you don’t have to type them out every time!

Taking minutes! As the Board of Directors Coordinator, you take minutes for three separate meetings on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. This can be quite a lot, depending on the length and density of these meetings, so it is important to set aside plenty of time to work on them (especially with the learning curve at the start of the year). It is a skill to be developed, so it will take time before you really feel you have mastered them. My first meeting was pretty overwhelming, and it seemed impossible to get everything down! Do not worry if you feel this way starting out – it took me a full quarter before I first completed minutes without the recording!

Everyone has their own process for how they take minutes. Generally, during the meeting, the goal is to get every discussion, motion, etc., written down in a way that is accurate and easy for you to understand (for when you go back to edit later). During the week, the goal is to transform your raw notes into accurate and complete paraphrases that are easy for anyone to understand. This is your time to refer to the recording, ask any clarifying questions, check any spellings, etc.

Recording Meetings

The meetings online were always recorded by Zoom, but being in person you can definitely take audio recordings of all of the meetings as a backup in case you miss any discussion or need to double-check for accuracy. You can also use the recording if as a back up if you get tired of typing, as the meetings can get long sometimes!

IMPORTANT NOTE: You cannot distribute or share recordings of meetings to anyone outside of the Board of Directors. Board members may ask for meeting recordings from time to time, and that is okay. But the only record of meetings that can be shared with anyone else are approved minutes (and other files) that are uploaded to the ASUW Records Page. Delete meeting recordings once the minutes from that meeting are approved.

Parliamentary Procedure

The Board of Directors use Parliamentary Procedure to carry out their meetings. It can take some time to get used to all the parliamentary procedure lingo used during meetings, but you don’t need to be an expert by any means to do this job! My advice would be to look back at previous minutes (see “Example Minutes”) to get an idea of how different motions, votes, etc. are recorded and to read up a bit on Parliamentary Procedure. If you are ever unsure of how to record a certain motion, you can always seek help!

Notes on Accuracy

Minutes are not word-for-word transcriptions of what people said. They are paraphrased, but it is extremely important to be as accurate as possible. Part of ensuring accuracy is the approval of the previous meeting’s minutes at the start of each meeting, in which each Board/Committee member reads through the minutes and marks any necessary edits. It is also important to consider your audience: minutes are meant to be read so that someone who was not at the meeting can clearly understand what the discussion was and what actions were taken.

Some tips for ensuring accuracy:

• Beware ambiguities!
  • Speakers may refer to many people or groups throughout conversation, which can give rise to ambiguities in the minutes when trying to interpret who “they,” “he,” or “she” refers to. Avoid using pronouns as much as possible and instead refer to subjects by name to prevent ambiguities.
• Double-check organization names
  • Speakers will throw a lot of acronyms, and you may not always know what they are referring to. For organization names, a quick Google search (with context) can usually tell you what they are. When that fails, try checking in with Board/Committee members who may know.
• Double-check people’s names
  • To double-check names and spellings, you can check in with a speaker during recesses/after the meeting is adjourned, check in with Board/Committee members who may know, etc.
  • Note: If you do not know a speaker’s name, simply put “A Student” as the speaker. If you do not know a speaker’s/subject’s pronouns, avoid using pronouns (or use “they” where no ambiguities arise).

The best preparation you can do is look through previous meeting minutes! You can find all approved minutes on the ASUW Records Page. (Feel free to look at minutes from other past years to see how the style may differ between people who have filled this position before!)

Board of Directors: records.asuw.org -> “Board of Directors” -> “2021-22 Board of Directors” -> “Minutes”

Joint Commissions Committee: records.asuw.org -> “Joint Commission Committee” -> “2021-22 Joint Commission Committee” -> “Minutes”

Judicial Committee: records.asuw.org -> “Judicial Committee” -> “2021-22 Judicial Committee” -> “Minutes”

This job position is changed to salary this year, which was paid hourly for 2021-22, so I’m not entirely sure how salary works on Workday, but the Personnel Director will fill you in on the details for this!

These were projects that my predecessor wasn’t able to finish because of time constraint. It would be great if you and the other two coordinators can work on these!

• Organizing Archives

Info is here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xv6-xJysZj1MStuoELZEFDLPND2uyMvu?usp=sharing

You are free to reach out to me if you have any questions or need any support throughout the year! You can reach me at my personal UW email listed below!

xiyan666@uw.edu