Not a freudian slip! I swear! I did fix it though.
Perhaps another thought is to give everyone the job of bringing with them not only the plans for what they have always done but say "for the next meeting, I want everyone of you to bring one new idea for X,Y,Z, regardless of how silly!"
"At the next meeting, we will have a round table and discuss everyone's ideas and give a thought from each person regarding it" Make it a game!

"I love her death (she really is a wonderful person with the purest of intentions)" uh-oh Michelle, might want to fix that typo! :eek:

Sounds like most of us that have been doing this for awhile agree. You have to do new things and keep some of the old things too. Since I've been with our PTA we have added several new annual programs and enhanced some that have been around before my time.

Every year we talk about how we can get rid of our Spring fundraiser but our budget will be short by a few thousand dollars so we've got to keep it until we can figure another way to raise that money. The biggest problem is communicating to the parents that don't attend the PTA meetings, which is the majority. You can't say in the minutes the discussion that goes around when a new idea is introduced so it would be easy to assume that something was shot down without discussion when maybe it was tabled until a more thought out plan was presented.

For instance, we've been trying for over a year to get a walking path built around the back of our school. The contractor is willing and the money is there but the weather has not cooperated and the contractor said that unless it's drier, it will cost twice as much. But, in the meeting minutes it might just say, "The walking track will hopefully be built this summer."

Most of our families move around so much we are always getting ideas placed on the table because they worked at one of their many past schools...but what works in Houston, or Indonesia, or London doesn't always work in Venz. As president, it is my job to continue soliciting these ideas whether or not they've been tried and failed. Sometimes the failure was due to the people involved, sometimes it's the families at the school, and sometimes the idea just isn't right for us. BUT sometimes the idea can be updated and put into the hands of the right person and it flies! Maybe you could set a goal for your group to try two new ideas this year. This seems like a managable goal and doesn't make you appear to want to change everything. Recruit the "old hands" and hook them up with any new people to make these ideas work. Good luck! :cool:

Cringe doesn't even BEGIN to cover how I feel about this phrase!! Imagine it's the answer when you ask why the PRESIDENT steps down to be FIRST VP, so that's why no nominations for First VP are being accepted!! And the worst is even though a lot of people have a problem with it, they're too afraid of being labeled a PIA, and being shunned to stand up and fight! Luckily this year more people that are willing to wear the mantle of PIA are fighting. Not only were we told BTHWADI, they insinuated it was in the bylaws, which it isn't. Needless to say, there's some unrest in our group!

We have a past State President who thinks that way. I love her to death (she really is a wonderful person with the purest of intentions) but I can get frustrated at times.
I read an article once that I like to use when I encounter this and I tell it often. It has worked.
This company was having problems with ice on the power lines and was trying to find a solution to the problem. One person, apparently speaking the first thing that popped into their mind said, "Why don't we get the bears to climb the poles and knock the ice off!" Silly suggestion yet no one shot it down. Instead, they asked, "how do you suppose we get them to climb the poles in the first place?" Another person said, "Bears like honey" and another, "Put honey pots at the top of the poles" Everyone listened, nobody stopped the flow of what seemed like meaningless and time wasting ideas.
"How do we get the pots on the poles?" another asked. Different suggestions floated around the room when someone said, "Why not put them there with a helicopter?" "If we used a helicopter, the pots wouldn't stay, they'd shake the poles"
Ah hah! They found a solution by flying a helicopter close to the pole, they would shake loose the ice and their problem was solved and to think it all started with a couple of bears.
Perhaps you can start your first meeting this way. You'd be surprised how nobody wants to "shoot down the bears" after that.

[ 04-13-2004, 03:39 AM: Message edited by: Michelle B ]

If you want another term as pres, take little, itty bitty baby steps, but take steps none-the-less.

If you do not want to serve another term, here is what I did (and because of what I did I only served one term...lol... but it was worth it...lol): Set up the committees. Use as many new parents as you can on those committees. Go forward with new ideas. Keep a few of the tried and true (if your fall catalog fundraiser brings in huge money, keep it. If it has been tapering off for years, get a new catalog or product), but start incorporating new ideas. Show your group that it needs to show courage by facing the new frontier (OMG! Do I sound like a Star Trek commercial or what...lol...). You may be unpopular for it at first, but if the ideas work, they will come around. If you choose to go this route, you have to be soooo very upbeat when presenting the new ideas. Paint vivid pictures in everyones minds. Use visuals. Have reps from other schools who have tried different things come in and talk to your group. Always be positive and upbeat, even if something goes wrong. Thing is, even if everything goes right and everything is a huge success, chances are you will not get to serve another term right away. Every thing turned out great the year I was pres. Everything made money. The school got lots of extras. The children got lots of new and exciting programs and extras as well. Still, I was not re-elected because I shook things up. I shook things up so much that it is only now, two years later, that people are coming up to me and saying "We could sure use someone like you to be pres again. We didn't know what we had...". Be diplomatic, be positive, be upbeat. Be courageous. Be a leader. Be a one term pres...lol...

I don't regret the programs and events that came to be during my year as pres. I think I would have regretted not having the courage to change things when I had the chance though.