Many student associations have events for their members and in some cases other students. All events require planning, and it is a good idea to designate someone in your association who is responsible for planning your events and who is also responsible during the event itself.

At all types of events, including parties, there are several things that an association must be aware of, especially when using rooms at the university. Here we have compiled a list of the things that are good to consider and budget for prior to holding an event.

What should you be aware of?

• Booking one of AAU's rooms: if you wish to hold your event in one of AAU's rooms, you must always book a room via the AAU Bookings form at least 4 weeks in advance. It is free for AAU students to use AAU rooms. See further down in the menu how to book a room.
• Clean-up and cleaning: consider whether you can handle the cleaning yourself or whether you should order cleaning through CAS. Cleaning is paid for when it is not done by the association.
• Need for guards: this is the case, for example, for large parties.
• Bar operation: if you are having a party where you want to sell alcohol from a bar, please be aware that only approved Friday bars are allowed to sell alcohol on AAU's premises. If your association does not have an approved bar, you can consider using one of the other bars for your party. Read about the rules for operating a bar further down in the menu.

Both students and registered student associations have the option of booking AAU rooms for an event. You do this by filling out a booking form, located here, and sending the form in an email to AAU Booking at aaubooking@adm.aau.dk.

The form must be sent no later than 4 weeks before your event.

We have compiled a list of the rooms that are suitable for different types of events below.

Presentations, lectures or the like

Aalborg city centre:

• The auditorium at Create (Rendsburggade 14, 9000 Aalborg, Room 3.107)

Aalborg East:

• The auditorium at Fibigerstræde 15 (Room 1.213)
• The auditorium at Fredrik Bajers Vej 7A (Room 3.104)

Larger meetings, smaller events or the like

Aalborg city centre:

• The auditorium at Create (Rendsburggade 14, 9000 Aalborg, Room 5.125 or Room 5.127)
• Studenterhuset (Gammeltorv 10): Room 314

Larger events or parties

• The canteens on the Aalborg East campus

Of course, there are many other good rooms across campus that can be used.

Student associations typically have frequent changes in their members as members start and finish their studies. There is often also a large turnover on the boards and thus in who is responsible for the general management of the association.
It is therefore important to have a smooth handover to those who take over. This can be done by having the outgoing member meet with the person who is taking over the responsibilities and explain how the various tasks of the association have been done in the past.

However, associations can also regularly end up in the situation where the member who was supposed to pass on the responsibility has stopped at the university. In these situations, it can be good to maintain an ongoing overview via documents that contain both useful information and contact information for former members and/or important partners. If an association holds many events, one idea is to create an "event catalogue" describing how the association usually holds these events.

If you are a member of a student association that would like to run a Friday bar, this must be registered and approved.

Students and student associations are not allowed to operate bars on AAU premises unless this is done in an approved bar that follows the current rules and guidelines.

On campus in Aalborg, a Friday bar is registered and approved by the university – read more on this further down. In Esbjerg and Copenhagen, there is one Friday bar for students on campus.

Friday bars in Aalborg

On the Aalborg campus, a student association can request approval to operate a bar when the association registers via the registration form.

If the association gets their Friday bar approved, the president of the association then signs that the association will comply with the university's rules for operating bars. There are two sets of rules for bar operations at AAU – one for Campus City and one for Campus East. The Friday bar is not finally approved until Campus Service has also signed the document.

Hire a Friday bar

You can consider whether it is necessary to register as a Friday bar. If your needs are limited to, for example, having a summer party, Christmas party or similar stand-alone event, you can consider reaching out to one of the established bars and agreeing to hire them to handle the bar sales at your event.

Read more about Friday bars at AAU here.

As a student association, there are several ways you can manage finances and afford to, for example, have an academic event for your members or buy new sports equipment. Below is a list various options.

How do you manage finances?

• Membership payment: Set up a membership fee to be a member of the association.
• Apply for funding: There are several places where associations can apply for funding, e.g. in public funds or with the Student Society, study boards, departments or faculty etc. For funding applications, the association must typically describe what the money is to be used for and prepare a budget.
• AAU Elections: For AAU Elections, it is possible for student associations to run students on their list. If they are elected, they receive election funds that the association can use as it sees fit.
• The Student Society: As a student association, you can become part of the Student Society's groups. In these cases, you can typically get financial support from the Student Society and get help with the practicalities through the Student Society's secretariat. However, there are of course guidelines and statutes that must be followed.

AAU Elections are held every year at the end of November. Students have the opportunity to run for positions on councils and boards at the university. If you are a member of an association that deals with the study environment and student politics, either in your own degree programme or across faculties, it may be relevant for your association that you or other members run for something. You can run for positions on study boards, department councils, academic councils and the university board. This enables you to influence the degree programme and the study environment, as well as participate in the more strategic decisions across the faculty and the university.

A student association may run students on its list. This way, the association receives financial support from the university if the association's list or a member from the association's list is elected. The entire process of running in AAU Elections starts in October when you can declare your candidacy. Voting for the candidates takes place for a week at the end of November.

Learn more about AAU Elections here.