Lorraine Mullings is the Governance Manager at the RTPI
As we move toward the end of summer, things are hotting up here at RTPI. We are now at the start of the 2024 General Assembly elections. As well as the election for Vice President, this year’s elections will be for the Nations Trustee and Chartered Member roles on the General Assembly.
Voting is now open and will close on 16 September. Members eligible to vote will be contacted by our election co-coordinators, Mi-Voice with their voting codes. Details of all candidates for the elections have been published on the website, along with additional information on how to cast your vote.
This is a busy period in Governance. We are making plans for the upcoming General Assembly and Annual General Meeting, and the Board of Trustees meetings, all taking place in October.
We have also started scheduling Governance meetings for 2025. As well as proposing dates for the 2025 Board of Trustees and General Assembly meetings, we have put together a list of proposed dates for the committees that report to the Board. Committee chairs and colleagues who work with the committees have been contacted with proposed meeting dates and these will all be added to the new timetable.
Earlier in the summer I attended a conference hosted by the Chartered Governance Institute. There were some interesting presentations about topics related to governance and wider, including the use of AI. There was a presentation that explored the benefits of using AI for many governance-related tasks, including preparing meeting minutes. We heard about other governance professionals’ experiences of using AI, which was both negative and positive. For example, users needed to enter contextual information into the programme before using it to effectively draft reports. One of the main benefits discussed was that using AI to draft minutes could take hours off the total time needed to prepare them. It was concluded that while AI could prove to be an effective tool, human input was, and will still be needed as part of the Governance process.
I also attended presentations about updates to the Corporate Governance Code and guidance on how to make the most of Governance away days. This was particularly helpful as it gave me tips that I can use when planning the 2025 Governance away day. Although the updates to the Corporate Governance Code do not directly affect RTPI, it is good to know about them. It was a very good event and it was nice to network with fellow Governance professionals.
The past few months have been really packed, but it has been a great experience so far. I enjoyed the BBQ at the start of August. It was lovely seeing people in a non-work setting and it was just as nice putting faces to the names of people I have regular online contact with. Lots of positives to end the summer!
