As I read this...you are having a Back to School night so you may not have time to actually have a meeting. I would suggest doing what LUV says as for having greeters and taking names. We set up a table with membership forms and information. You can join at this time or take the stuff home and we contact later. We have signup sheets for various committees too. Since your group is new you could also have a survey go out the week before on what your parents would like to see the PTO do and have them return it at the BTS night. You could even have a drawing for a simple prize for those who return the survey...good way of improving your response! I would then have a general meeting at a different time to help plan out the year! Good luck! :cool:

Have board members at the door greeting people. Have everyone put on a name tag(board members should have their name and title). Have sign up lists for any committees that need help. Make an agenda of what you want to cover at the meeting and stick to it as closely as possible. Keep the meeting short(1 hour or less)so people don't feel overwhelmed. Have a brainstorming session where people throw out ideas and what they want in the school. Allow 10 mins-just basic ideas no details. Have someone write the ideas down with the name of the person throwing it out and then at a later time committee chairs could go through the list, pick out ideas that fit under their area and then contact the parent for details.

HELP... I AM A NEW PRESIDENT OF A CHARTER SCHOOL HOSTING MY FIRST GENERAL MEETING AT BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT ON OCT 16TH. WHERE DO I START? CAN ANYONE HELP FAST. THANKS SO MUCH. I LOVE THIS SITE IT'S THE BEST!!! IT HAS HELPED ME OUT MORE THAN I CAN SAY. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!