• Section 1 - Use of Technology for Governance Committee Meetings
• Section 2 - General Protocols for the use of Technology for Governance Committee Meetings
• Section 3 - Meeting etiquette

Section 1 - Use of Technology for Governance Committee Meetings

(1) Clause 17 of the ACU Constitution and Statute 1.3 - General Provisions: Conduct of Meetings using Communications Media outline principles and requirements for the use of technology at meetings of ACU’s Members, Senate, committees and sub-committees. Meetings may be duly convened and held using electronic (visual or audio) communication, provided that:

1. due notice of the use of technology is given to committee members and attendees;
2. the Chair and Secretary are informed that members are present (and if/when they need to leave the meeting);
3. the meeting is quorate; and
4. committee members and attendees can hear the proceedings and be heard when speaking.

Section 2 - General Protocols for the use of Technology for Governance Committee Meetings

(2) The Governance Unit prepares and circulates meeting materials to members using the Board Portal (Diligent) in accordance with prescribed timeframes.

(3) Late submissions are to be avoided where possible, but if they do occur, they will be uploaded to Diligent and communicated to members.

(4) ACU’s preferred videoconferencing/teleconferencing technology is Microsoft Teams. Instructions to connect to the meeting are provided in the calendar invitation, emailed via Outlook.

(5) Presentations must be submitted to the Governance Unit to be uploaded on Diligent in advance of the meeting. This will allow members to follow the presentation in their meeting materials.

(6) Where possible, members are provided with the opportunity to participate from a designated campus location in their home State with University supported web conferencing facilities and IT support.

(7) Resolutions will ordinarily be passed by way of consensus. If an item is put to a vote, the following options are available:

1. by show of hands if all participants are visible;
2. by spokesperson where multiple members are participating from several designated campus locations;
3. by the Chair or Secretary calling the name of each participant who will answer whether they vote for or against the proposed resolution; or 
4. by circular resolution distributed to members via Diligent.

(8) Where possible, consideration should be made regarding the Acknowledgement of Country Protocol for teleconference and video conferences across campuses.

Section 3 - Meeting etiquette

(9) The Governance Officer shall open the meeting 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time to allow members to join and enable the meeting to commence on time.

(10) Open access to join the meeting (bypassing the lobby in Teams) is permitted only with the approval of the Secretary and members’ names will be recorded as they join the meeting.

(11) The Governance Officer will ensure that only members and attendees approved by the Secretary participate in the meeting whether using video, voice or access to the chat facility.

(12) If the meeting moves into a closed session, the Governance Officer will assist the Secretary to ensure only the relevant members and attendees participate in the session.

(13) Members may use the chat facility during a meeting to communicate matters of an administrative nature but must not use it to communicate issues of substance in regard to the agenda or any other matter.

(14) Members must mute microphones when not speaking to avoid ‘feedback’ interrupting the meeting.

(15) Members who wish to speak must either indicate this to the Chair/Secretary by first announcing their name or by using the “raise hand” feature on Microsoft Teams to directly notify the Chair/Secretary. The first option is preferred in meetings where multiple members join from a meeting room.

(16) Members should take reasonable steps to minimise the risk of deliberations being overheard when joining the meeting remotely e.g wearing headphones or moving into a separate room.