My opinion is the first meeting can really "make or break" how many people sign up to help and return to future meetings. So you want to find an even balance and not overwhelm new people who will run fast and never return!

Our first meeting is an Ice Cream Social and we will let people know what functions we have going on this year and where we need help. We will not be doing any heavy recruiting at this time because we want people to come back!

Sign up sheets are a good idea, but don't forget to also send a list home of events to volunteer for to parents that are unable to attend a meeting. We sent them home at the end of last school year and will be sending a list out again next week.

It sounds like this is just a kick off to welcome people (esp. newcomers) so I would maybe avoid going over old business unless it is something that needs to be dealt with at this meeting.

Just be very friendly and welcoming and people will want to help out at events and will return to future meetings.

Hello everyone, I'm looking for help again! Our first meeting of the year is coming up, we call it our welcoming tea. I've never even been to a pto meeting before and now I'm president. I don't know what I'm suppose to do at this welcoming tea. Sounds like the principal and my other board members just want people to chair events and sign up to do stuff. How do I get them to do that. Someone suggested passing envelopes with each event. Another suggested a sign up table. Should my first meeting just consist of pto events and activity stuff, or should I talk about our old business??? Looking for any creative, helpful input you can give. Thanks a million!