www.pesochallenge.org/docs/pes2/keeping_on_track1.pdf

Do most meetings have an open forum portion when parents and teachers can bring up issues and concerns? Our principle does not want to allow us to do this, but how else are parents supposed to let their voice be heard? I need help!!

Crewchief has some great suggestions. I'll underscore the point about committee reports. If your general meetings are dragging on, it's likely that your committee chairs are trying to do committee work at the general meeting. The president needs to nip that in the bud right away. Send the point back to committee. I wanted to scream once when our executive board meeting got bogged down debating color schemes for the staff appreciation luncheon. Argghhh!!!

If people are making redundant points just to throw their 2 cents in, then you need to remind the group to offer only new comments during discussion. One polite way is to say, "Does anyone have anything new to add to the discussion?"

I had to take similar actions for my group. They were a wonderful team and we got a lot of work done but our meetings, too, could go on for hours.

Everyone complained that our meetings were too long and they hated wasting a whole night doing what should only take an hour. So, I challenged them. I promised that if everyone could stick to the agenda I would get them out of there in an hour. Sometimes we even made it out in 45 minutes!

Now, some meetings last longer because there is more to discuss and that's ok ~ as long as it's all related to PTO business.

Those who like the social aspect would hang around for the "parking lot meeting" afterwards. Those who had kids at home, an early bedtime or better things to do would take off and get on with their evening.

Some things that may help shorten meetings:

~Call the meeting to order on time. If the agenda says 7:00pm then start at 7:00pm sharp. Getting right to business on time sends a clear signal to everyone in attendance.

~ Committees should use board meeting time to report on their activities and ask questions they can't resolve during their own meetings. They should not run mini committee meetings during the board meetings.

~ Cross talk is OK up to a point. If it's beneficial it's fine with me. If it seems the talk just goes on and on with no resolution, table the discussion, ask the chairman to work on it and report back at the next meeting.

~ Side conversations are rude and distracting to the meeting. Speakers should not have to repeat themselves because some are not paying attention and others cannot hear over the other talkers. I simply put a stop to it by saying, "Just a moment, Ms. Smith. It seems you don't have everyone's full attention." or "Excuse me, ladies. Ms. Smith has the floor right now." It does embarrass the chatty ones just a bit but it only takes once or twice to reign them in for the rest of the school year.

I have learned that being 'nice' at meetings does not work, especially regarding off-topic cross talk.

Say as often as needed "please hold questions and comments until after the report is completed." etc. even if you feel like you are saying it too much. It is not your fault. I find teachers to be the worst at not sitting quietly and being patient, but YMMV.

I let a lot of crosstalk go, as long as it is on topic and the chairperson can handle it.

I also like to say "This is my big night out, so I have nowhere to go, but if we are going to finish by 8, we better stick to the agenda."

If the timer is going to help you take charge, use it.

Like I assume many of you are, our group is quite informal. A GIANT drawback of this, it that our meetings suffer from lots of cross talk and our meetings that are planned for 1-1.5 hours usually go 2.5-3 hours.

I am planning on bringing a timer to the next meeting and sticking to my guns that when I give a committee head 5 minutes - that is their 5 minutes - anyone else that wants to speak has to wait until the chairperson is done.

Does anyone think this won't work or have better ideas?