Regular society session will look different depending on your societies niche. So of our advice may not be relevant to your society, with the exception a risk assessments, however this advice may be helpful advice to consider when planning regular sessions

Risk Assessments

If your society is engages in regular physical activities or carries heavy equipment, please contact the societies team on societyhelp@lancastersu.co.uk and let us know and we will schedule a meeting either in person on or on teams to discuss whether a risk assessment is needed and help walk you through how to fill in a risk assessment.

Equipment

    If your society needs certain equipment such as a speaker, you may want to consider having your sessions in a room that already has speaker provided by the SU for other groups such as the lower ground floor library. You need to also consider if the room is appropriate for the actives you are holding, such as a room with high ceiling if your society is doing activities such as juggling, making sure the corridors to the room are easily accessed if you are transporting equipment with a trolley, or plugs are easily accessible if you need access to plugs for any equipment. 

Room Booking

    Make sure to book the rooms you would like to use on the society booking system, or in the case of flat floor rooms through the societies team. Make sure to book the room for all the weeks you need the space, and follow our room booking advice on the Exec Guide to make sure you avoid society strikes!

Choosing a Room

    If your society needs tables and chairs or would benefit from have a room with elevated chairs, make sure you book rooms which have these available, this would save you time from having to book tables from the SU and from having to return these.  We would also recommend finding a room that is close to where you have storage if you have storage with the SU, this will make setting up and setting down much easier. As a new society we would also recommend considering how accessible your session, new members should find it easy to find your room, sending them a link to the room on maze map may help with this.

Guest Speaker

    If your society would like Guest Speakers at you need to ensure this speaker is approved by the Student union, this is to ensure that the guest speaker is not a danger to the student body. To do this please fill out the Guest Speaker Request Form and look through our Exec guide which advice on the guest speaker process.

Food and Drink

    If your sessions are long, it is understandable you and your members may want to bring food and drink, however please be sure to leave any rooms free from wrappers or crumbs when you leave - if you do not do this your society will get a strike from the Room Booking Team. 

    Giving food to your society members during regular session can help encourage new members and can help any society member who may need support affording food, however please bare in mind the cost if you are going to regularly provide food during your sessions, and account for this on your estimated annual budget, as the price could add up. If your Execs are going to hand out food outside of the food wrapper or going to make food for the society members, please be sure at least 1 Exec present to handing out and/or preparing the food has completed the online food safety training. To get this, please contact the society team at societyhelp@lancastersu.co.uk and we will set up an account for the Exec. 

Working with other societies

    For some of your regular sessions you may want to consider working with other societies who have similar interest, such as having cross-group sessions to share interests or a bi-monthly society collaborative meal etc. Having good relationships with other societies especially societies with similar niche can be very beneficial for your society, with you being able to share equipment and hold events together, along with regular sessions. You can contact other societies via their social media or via their society email some societies include these linked in their group page which can be found here