agm-in-a-box

AGM In A Box Skill

Every club and association has one meeting a year that legally/constitutionally matters, and it's usually run by a volunteer who inherited a folder and a sense of dread. A good AGM is mostly preparation: notice sent the right way at the right time, an agenda where decisions are visible in advance, a chair's script so the running of it isn't improvised, and minutes that record what was decided — because in three years, when someone asks "when did we agree to that?", the minutes are all that exists. This skill produces the whole box, tuned to the organization's own constitution — which it asks for rather than guessing.

What This Skill Produces

• The notice pack: announcement text with date/venue/deadlines, proxy/ nomination forms if used, timed to the constitution's notice period
• The agenda, decision-forward: what's being decided, reports as reading not speeches, election slots, AOB rules
• The chair's script: opening, quorum check, how to take each item, how to run a vote, handling the member with a grievance, closing
• Minutes template + the follow-up list format (decision → owner → date)
• A quorum rescue plan: getting people to actually come, and what the constitution says happens if they don't

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• The organization and its constitution/rules — pasted if possible; the notice period, quorum number, and election rules live there, and this skill works from their rules, flagging "check your constitution" where not provided
• What must be decided this year: elections (which posts), rule changes, budget/subs, anything contentious
• Attendance reality: how many usually come vs the quorum
• The awkward stuff, honestly: contested posts, a grievance-holder, last year's chaos

Framework

1. Work backwards from the constitution. Notice period sets the send date; quorum sets the turnout target; election rules set the nomination process. Where the user hasn't provided the document: use common defaults labelled as defaults to verify, never as their rules.
2. Make the agenda decision-forward. Members show up when something is decided, not reported. Reports circulated in advance and "taken as read" with questions only; decisions named as motions in the agenda ("Motion: raise subs to £X") so nobody's ambushed; AOB items requested in advance with a chair's discretion line.
3. Script the chair. Verbatim openings for each segment, the vote procedure (propose, second, discuss with time-box, vote, record the count), and the two hard moments: the long-talker ("thank you — I'll take two more speakers, then vote") and the grievance ("that deserves proper time — I'm ruling it to a committee meeting on [date], recorded in minutes").
4. Minutes record decisions, not dialogue. Per item: motion text · proposed/seconded · vote result with counts · action + owner + date. Nobody's speech is summarized; three years from now the counts matter and the speeches don't.
5. Rescue quorum before the day. Personal asks beat posters (the three-line "we need YOU there Thursday" message, sent by name) · pair the AGM with something people want (social, guest speaker, awards) · proxy forms where allowed. And the honest branch: what the constitution says if quorum fails — usually a reconvene rule; find it now, not at 7:40pm.

Output Format

## Timeline (backwards from AGM date)
[Notice by · nominations by · reports circulated · reminders]

## Notice pack
[The announcement + forms, ready to send]

## Agenda (decision-forward)
[Numbered, with motions stated in full]

## Chair's script
[Segment-by-segment, with the two hard-moment lines]

## Minutes template + follow-up list
[Decision-record format · action/owner/date table]

## Quorum plan
[Named-ask message · the pairing · the failure branch per constitution]

Quality Checks

• Every rule-dependent element (notice, quorum, elections) is anchored to their constitution or explicitly flagged as a default-to-verify
• Motions appear in full in the agenda — no decision happens that wasn't announced
• The chair's script covers the long-talker and the grievance
• Minutes template records counts and owners, not speeches
• The quorum plan includes the personal-ask message, not just posters

Anti-Patterns

• Do not assert legal/charity/company requirements by jurisdiction — constitution first, verify-flags second, invented law never
• Do not build a speech-schedule agenda — reports are reading, meetings are for deciding
• Do not script the chair to shut people down — time-boxes and routing, not suppression
• Do not treat AOB as an open mic; rules for it exist in the agenda

Related

[[committee-handover-pack]] for after the elections; [[volunteer-treasurer-basics]] for the finance report's author; [[meeting-notes]] for ordinary meetings that don't need the box.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "I have to run the AGM."
• "What goes in the agenda?"
• "Our elections are a mess."