A week in the life of the Secretary and Marketing Officer

Hello everyone, I’m Martijn van Heusden, and today I will write about a week in the life as secretary and marketing officer of study association Kraket. This article is part two in a series of “A week in the life of…” articles by all current board members of Kraket. I will describe the last week of February, which was not necessarily average, but very interesting. Keep on reading to find out more about my week and about my position in the board.

Monday
This Monday, something quite rare happened as I didn’t have any appointments on the VU that day. This was a nice coincidence, as I had a lot of work to get done. Some tasks are easier to do at home, especially some marketing jobs! As the Diversity and Development Day was getting closer and closer, it was time to design the booklet which would be handed out that day. This is a nice way to explain something about my position as marketing officer, as I get to be creative in almost everything I do! Like you could read in yesterday’s article, Sven is responsible for our online marketing, while I keep myself busy with physical promotion like posters, booklets, banners and other printed matters. However, this does not mean that we don’t help each other with our tasks! Designing a booklet in InDesign is a precise task. Luckily, I’m patient and eager to work until it’s perfect, which are important characteristics for a marketing officer. This was a true marketing day, since I also created the new monthly plannings and a poster to announce the election process of the next board. Like every monday, I also posted a SECTOR article, this time one by Thijs Talsma.

Tuesday
My Tuesday started by sending out the vacancy mailing of February. As a secretary I am, among other things, responsible for all correspondence with the members, for the administration of our members and for improving our website. So I also send out the newsletters, mailings from companies and sometimes mailings from committees. This week, I also started with my active member meetings. All board members get to do a few of these, while the internal affairs officer does most of them. Most of these are fairly short, so I could continue my day into a small extra board meeting we had regarding the Career Guide. We usually hold our regular board meeting on Tuesday afternoons, however, due to the Almanac Handout Drink, we postponed this to Thursday. As a board member, it was really cool to finally see the Almanac! Especially since it concerns the last two and a half years, which means half of our board year is in it.

Wednesday
Wednesday, it was time for me to join Fleur, our external affairs officer, on a meeting with all other externals from all study associations of Econometrics in the Netherlands, a LOES meeting. As a secretary, an important task is to take minutes during meetings. Think about general assemblies, board meetings, but also sometimes these LOES meetings. Taking minutes during these minutes is a task that rotates between the secretaries of all associations, such that the work is evenly distributed. During my board year, I also joined Thijs once during a LOES chairmen meeting. These meetings always end in a small drink, after which Fleur and I returned to the Kraket Room to get some work done. That evening, we had planned a beer tasting together with Board 47 at Delirium Cafe, which was a lot of fun!

Thursday
As Sven and I are both marketing officers, it’s important to meet every so often to exchange knowledge and to make sure we are both on the same page. This Thursday morning, we had a meeting to discuss the committee booklet, which is a new project Sven has mainly been working on. The meeting resulted in a way nicer design for the cover of the booklet. After this, it was time for a few more active member meetings, some work on minutes and of course, and the weekly board meeting! At 17:00h, we were invited to a drink by our brother association Anguilla. It is always a lot of fun to see all boards again, have some drinks and play some games.

Friday
This period, I have morning room duty on Fridays. It is not the most loved room duty, since it is usually very quiet during this time. However, it is easier to get some work done while the room is less busy. Since our board meeting took place Thursday afternoon, it was most important to work out the minutes such that they could be sent to the supervisory board on time! It may not sound that interesting, but working out minutes can be quite relaxing. And since it is a task which usually takes a few hours, I think I spent most of my morning on them. In the afternoon, it was already time to start preparing the Apres Ski FrAfDri!

So that was just a small taste of what my board year is like. There isn’t really an average week or average day as a board member, so in case you have any more questions about my function, you can always approach me or the other board members!