Something else you wouldn't want discussed in front of a large group would be bounced check issues. You wouldn't want to cause undue embarrasment to the person who wrote it, but if you need to discuss what action needs to be taken, I would think that would be an Executive Meeting issue.
Also, our PTO holds a Back to School Night a couple of days before school starts and the planning for this is done in an Executive meetings, since we are the ones planning and working it. On back to school night we do pre-orders for directories, calendars, spirit day and T-shirts.
Hope this helps,
Jessica
That is how I have sort of approached it Melissa. I have also contacted parents that showed up, but didn't volunteer in any fashion, to get their feed back on how the meeting went, what they felt needed more/less explanation, etc. This way it ensures that they are not only a part of that meeting but also a part of the process.
forgot to add... I think the new members appreciated seeing some of the details being worked out at the meeting so they felt like they were included in the decision-making process rather thaneverything being decided behind the scenes.
We have general meetings every month. In reality they are more like Board meetings because mostly board members and chairs show up, but they are open to anyone, advertised on the school sign, PTA bulletin board and in PTA newletter. I also send a reminder email to all board members and chairpeople. This month, I finally got my email list of all PTA members and decided to send the reminder to that list. As a result, I got 2 new members to show up at the meeting, both thanked me for the invite and both volunteered to do something! So, in my mind, it is totally worth it. If we have something to discuss witih only Board members, we either call a special meeting or work it out through email.
The majority of parents don't want to sit through all the many, many details so the the general meetings are used to present the highlights to keep people informed and allow for the major votes.
Many groups don't even have that many general meetings anymore, having moved to monthly executive/board/business meetings (whatever term you like) and then quarterly or semi yearly general meetings.
When I first joined our elementary PTO I was surprised they held general meetings only twice a year - in the Fall to approve the budget and in the Spring to elect officers. Meanwhile, the group had a large board (25+) comprised of the elected officers, principal, vice principal, 2 teacher reps, all the committee chairs and a parent rep from each grate. THAT group met monthly to do the "real" work. Anyone could come to the meeting (rarely had visitors) but we didn't go through the fire drill each month of setting up a large room, arranging for a program, only to have the same core group show up. That system worked really well for us.
The board has a lot of stuff to go over, and (a) we don't want to spend all our time going through all the details with everyone, and (b) most people don't want us to spend hours at a general meeting to cover all the details; they want a summary of what we see as the best course of action, and then we can discuss and vote.
