We are not so much trying to get attendance as were are trying to make it known that our PTO is active and trying to help our school. I would much rather have a smaller meeting and more parents to call on when we need help.
Folks who've attended any of our conferences will have heard this from me, but I have a rather blunt answer to this question: stop worrying about meeting attendance.
If you're going to put a program together to build attendance/connection with parents, reward things that are more beneficial. "Attending a meeting" is kind of value neutral. I'd much rather see parents attending a spaghetti supper or dads attending a Dads and Doughnuts event with their child than see a parent at a meeting. Of course, having parents attend all of the above is a great goal, but -- where it sounds like involvement is low at you school -- your first challenge is to get parents attending anything. Your meeting attendance will only rise after soem higher number of general parents get connected with your school. Some of those "general" parents will hopefully step up to the leader level down the road.
I've always found that meeting attendance incentive programs are great ways to get free gift certificates to a very predictable group of people.
And if you gave me the choice between:
A. Group that can barely get anyone to a meeting but has 75 at a spaghetti supper; and
B. Group that gets 17-25 at monthly meetings but gets only those same 17-25 to spaghetti supper.
I'll take A. It's all how you look at it. If you're measuring your success as a parent group by measuring your meeting attendance, then you're measuring the wrong things.
Too simplistic? Yes. I do know that it's more complicated than that. But too many good groups beat themselves up because meeting attendance is bad. Higher meeting attendance comes after involvement/connection grows.
what a great idea. Right now, our goal is unity and some think that any kind of competion won't help unity.
Here is what I am doing. I have asked all of the teachers to put a note in their weekly newsletter to remind about the PTO meeting. I made stickers that say "PTO Meeting, Thursday, 6:30 PM in the media center". I have asked the teachers to "stick" the kids on Monday or Tuesday. We have also tried to be very visible at Open House with a table for sign ups and information. I think that we are going to have some signs made to put around the pick up area that say the same as the sticker and put them out on the Monday the week of the meeting, just to remind.
The attendance in the past has been VERY minimal. We are hoping to change that.
at our school we were having problems with pto meetings being only attended by a few people. then we had a great suggestion from a teacher to have "pto dough". at each meeting, any parent who attends receives a "pto dough" for each child that attends our school. then the friday following our meeting the child can redeem it for a treat i.e. ice cream, pencils, stickers ect. this way the children help to encourage the parents to attend. so far so good! just thought someone else might enjoy this idea!
