Analysis of the General Assembly Minutes

07 april 2025

Everyone knows the General Assembly. Whether you love it or hate it, every Board has to do (at least) three General Assemblies a year. From my own observation, I have noticed that the General Assemblies have become a different kind of meeting and that there is a different “vibe” around them. I feel like over the past years the GA’s have gotten shorter, fewer questions are being asked, and we often struggle to get to 25 people per meeting.

Although this also varies a lot per year, and depends very much on the situations at hand. For example, I know that Board 51 and 52 both had quite a few GA’s. However, this had different reasons for both Boards. For Board 51 this was because an awful lot of questions were asked and therefore too much had to be discussed during the meetings. This forced them to plan a new GA, since it is not very nice to have everyone sitting in Upper East until 3 o'clock in the morning. Board 52 was a different story, as they have been busy adjusting the statutes. For this, 2/3 of all members must actually be present before the changes can be implemented. Fortunately, this rule does not affect subsequent meetings, and the articles of association could be approved. However, if I remember correctly, this did mean that Board 52 had to do two GA’s extra.

All these things are only reasoned from my own experience. To actually draw conclusions about the General Assemblies, I will analyze some things from the minutes. I have collected the following data from each of the minutes of the GA’s of Board 49 to Board 53:

Number of pages of the minutes
How many people did attend the GA
How many people arrived late
Duration of the GA
How many times has there been a vote that is not done by acclamation

During my analysis I discovered that Board 50 had 2x GA1, Board 51 had 2x GA 1 and 2x GA 2, and Board 52 had 3x GA 3. I have either added together or averaged the data for the points above for these meetings. The analysis resulted in the following results.

As can be seen in the graphs of the length of the GA and the number of pages the minutes have, there is a kind of pattern. We see that the first GA is always the longest, then the second GA and then the third GA. This is also logical, since the change of board takes place in the first GA. Here the old Board closes the year and the new Board discusses the plans for the coming year. We see that this also takes by far the longest, which is why it had to be split into two parts by Boards 50 and 51. During the second GA, any new plans are discussed and the budget can be adjusted for the second half of the year. This can often lead to some questions, which is why this GA always takes a little longer. However, at Board 53 it was considerably shorter, only 1 hour and 49 minutes. A normal General Assembly has never lasted so short! I think the shortest GA ever was done by Board 52. They took no less than 10 minutes for GA 3.3! However, not much was discussed here and this meeting was only used to let the 11 people present vote on the statutes. The last GA is often the shortest. Here, not really new things are discussed, since the boardyear is almost over. However, the new Board is always introduced here, which is always very fun.

If we look at the graphs for the number of people that attend de GA and how many people arrived late, we see that at the first GA of each board the number of people present is a lot higher than at the others. This is of course because this is often the most fun GA, given that the change of board takes place. In addition, people often find it important to be present at this GA, since the new Board presents its plans for the coming year. There is sometimes some criticism from the members about this and this can and is then expressed at the first GA. We also see that the number of attendees for the second and third GA are either about the same, or that the third GA has a lot less attendees than the second. GA 3 of Board 52 is a bit of an exception, as this is the average of 3 GA’s. At the last one, 3.3, only 11 people were present, which pulls the average number down considerably.

The number of people who arrive late at a GA is of course related to the number of people who are there in the first place. At the first GA, many more people arrive late than at the other two. There is not much else to read from this graph. We only see that there are always people who come in later.

During the GAs, there are always several things to vote on. This can be done in different ways: per head, per acclamation or anonymously. Voting by acclamation is the easiest. It is not necessary to count exactly how many people vote for and against, but it is possible to look globally at what the majority of people vote for. This is much faster and easier. However, it does sometimes happen that someone is against voting by acclamation. In that case, it must be counted exactly how many people are for, against, blank or abstained from voting. Some who are against this, find it important that the count is really done properly. This sometimes happens when it is a close count, where it will not be very clear whether the majority is for or against. However, it can also be that people are against voting by acclamation for fun. They find it funny if it takes more time and effort. In the past years an anonymous vote has even been requested twice. This takes even more time, but is nice and recommended for sensitive votes. We see in the graph that, certainly in the past 2.5 years, there has always been a non-acclamation vote. Some meetings more than others. We just don't really see a pattern or anything like that here. We do see that at the last GA, GA 3 of Board 53, there was always an acclamation vote. That is super nice, since this saves a lot of time and hassle.

To conclude the analysis. As we have seen, there are some patterns in the GA’s. Certainly with the length and with the number of attendees. Furthermore, we also see that the General Assemblies are getting shorter, since fewer questions are asked. My assumption that we have difficulty reaching 25 people is not entirely correct. Sometimes for the second GA, but certainly not for GA 1 and 3.

All in all I enjoyed making this analysis, as I delved into the archives and looked at the minutes of the past 5 years. Seeing these minutes brought back many memories and situations I had forgotten. In the coming years I will probably be at the General Assemblies less and less, but I will always keep the memories.