How to Bag that Society Position

Unless you have been living under a rock, or perhaps in Westwood, you would have most certainly been inundated with the campaign posters and videos that came with the 2012 Officer Elections, as well as that unforgivable decimation of Gorillaz’s Feel Good Inc. While that has long been over and done with, we are Warwick students, thus many of us are still dipping our fingers in the political pie.

This particular pie is of the societal variety, with multitudes of us putting ourselves under scrutiny in various exec elections, from EQHO to Warwick Finance Societies. Whilst some exec elections have come and gone, with new teams being voted in, many of you are still on the campaign trail, on the quest for that CV bolstering position. Having gone through this experience myself, and ended up with egg on my face, here are my tips on boosting your chances on getting that role:

1. Camera, Lights, Action: Get creative with your campaign. Whether or not you are running for President or the Publicity officer, you will need to show that you are imaginative and dynamic. Get out those iPhones and camcorders and show the society members your fun, creative side. Think humorous, think eye catching but don’t get silly y’all. Dance around and comically fall off your bed all you want (*ahem*), it may say “look at me, I can poke fun at myself” but going overboard can come across as insincere and will not guarantee endearment. But by all means shell out those posters, perfect that Obama smile and strike a pose.

2. Make yourself known: If you haven’t always been present at the society events then there is still hope. Abandon all pride, go through that Facebook group and add, add, add! The people voting will need to know who you are, so adding them into groups in support of your campaign is a good idea. Creating a buzz is also key. You know those idiots who insist on mistaking Facebook for Twitter and use hash tags in their statuses? Sell your soul and join them. Simple things such as #teamMackDaddy can make your campaign look slicker than it really is. Get your friends on board with this, if voters think you have a strong support base then their interest in you will increase.

3. That all important speech: When all is said and done, the thing that really wins it for you is the election speech. Rhetoric can be powerful, I mean it only helped to rally millions of Germans behind a murderous Führer, but make all the proclamations and 300-esque battle cries you want, it won’t guarantee you votes. Avoid verbosity and get to the nitty gritty of what you want to do for the society. Make it succinct and give a clear plan, you may think you’re being transparent but there are always those pernickety few who want a precise itinerary.

4. Be prepared for the questions! Some people are out there to make your experience difficult. Be prepared for those pointless, incomprehensible questions but stay calm. When the voting is done, then you can throw your shoe at that irksome questioner’s head.

5. Finally, passion: Ignore those who tell you that passion won’t help you to do the job. What people easily forget is that passion is what drives you. It’s what fuels your desire to work your ass off for these societies, when they’re not the be all and end all. Passion isn’t everything but if it shows in your campaign and your speech, it can win people over. If Warwick LARPs is that important to you then prove it. Don those ridiculous outfits and LARP like you’ve never LARPed before.

Now admittedly, for the majority of societies, the whole experience will be pretty chilled and actually rather enjoyable. However for those of you running a campaign for the bigger societies, the whole experience can be surprisingly intense and can leave you feeling despondent and disillusioned should you lose.

The bottom line is, don’t despair. The fact that you put yourself out there in the first place says a lot about your strength of character, and sometimes these things boil down to popularity and back-scratching politics. It doesn’t necessarily reflect on you so if you get the role, great! But there are bigger and better opportunities out there so if you lose, stop desk- bashing about what could have been, dust yourself off and think onwards and upwards.