How to Transition Student Organization Officers Virtually

If your organization transitions officers towards the end of the spring semester or at the beginning of the fall semester, think about how your organization can facilitate a successful transition virtually.  

What is Officer Transition?

An officer transition program is defined as "the process by which past and future student leaders in an organization work together to review and learn from previous events and programs and prepare for the upcoming year. This process can occur in one or several days and may be accomplished in a formal or informal setting. The transition process an organization chooses to use during this time period truly depends on the needs and resources available to the group"-Campus Activities Programming, May 2009

Officer transition is designed to help student organizations develop a comprehensive and effective plan to ease he transition between newly elected officers and outgoing officers. The transition of your leadership team is the single more important event in a student organizations year. It can determine the effectiveness of a group for years to come. A smooth officer transition will not only improve the abilities of the newly elected officers, it will decrease the amount of time each officer spends "learning" their position.

What are the Benefits of an Officer Transition?

  1. Transfer of important organization material, information and knowledge
  2. Helps eliminate confusion between incoming and outgoing executive boards
  3. Helps provide continuity
  4. Allows incoming executive board members to capitalize on the knowledge, expertise and valuable contributions of outgoing executive board members
  5. Minimizes loss of momentum and accomplishments of the group
 

Contact Us

Student Involvement Mentors
College Union 110B
Email: studentorgs@geneseo.edu

Department of Student Life
College Union 321
Facebook: MacVittie College Union
Twitter: @GeneseoMCU
Email: life@geneseo.edu

What do you need to do?

  1. Meet with the incoming and outgoing executive boards
    1. Using Zoom or Google Hangout Meets, schedule a meeting with all incoming and outgoing executive board members. 
  2. Create an agenda of items to discuss
    1. Utilize the worksheets in the officer transition manual to determine the topics of discussion
    2. Make sure the following incoming officers have a copy of the following:
      1. Constitution
      2. Member & officer contact list
      3. Advisor information
      4. Contact information for important people on campus
      5. List of basic annual procedures and calendar of annual events
      6. Social media account information
      7. Mission, philosophy, goals and purpose statement of organization
      8. Financial records
      9. Any important meeting minutes and agendas
  3. Review programs and activities
    1. What activities and programs did you sponsor?
    2. How effective was each program?
    3. Were the programs and activities consistent with group goals?
    4. Which activities should be continued and which should be dropped?
  4. Review officers and organizational structures
    1. Do officers understand their responsibilities and roles within the organization structure?
    2. Did the officers operate as a team or could cooperation between officers be improved?
  5. Review the group's goals?
    1. What do we hope to accomplish?
    2. Which goals should be continued?
    3. Which goals should be altered?
  6. Review membership
    1. Do we currently have just enough, too few, or too many members?
    2. How effective were our membership recruitment efforts, if any?
    3. Are the members actively involved in the operation of the club (including decision making, planning, implementing and evaluating?)
    4. Are members enthusiastic about the activities and motivated to work towards the group goals?
    5. Were there adequate opportunities for members to get involved?

Need more assistance? Reach out to a Student Involvement Mentor (SIM) by emailing studentorgs@geneseo.edu!