How You Can Best Utilize Your Advisor

Meet with your advisor at least one day before your meetings to go over the agenda and topics to be discussed at the meeting. If you are unsure how to run the meeting or deal with a situation that may arise, use your advisors’ knowledge and experience to come up with solutions.

Meet with your advisor after the meeting to brief him/her on what happened if he/she could not attend. Be willing to ask for advice or comments on the way you handled the meeting. It can only help! Work with your advisor in seeing that follow–up assignments to be done by other officers and members are completed, and keep him/her posted as to the progress of the organization.

Share your advisor! Make him/her feel like he/she is a part of the group. Introduce him/her to new members or visitors. Ask for input in discussions. You may even want to include in your meeting agendas a section for Advisors Comments.”Both the advisor and the organization should understand that the advisor is there to help the group and that the advisor is, with the exception of paid staff advisors, chosen and retained at the groups discretion. Organizations should realize that an advisor has much to contribute to the success of the organization. Be sure to make your advisor feel welcome at your meetings as well as social functions.