Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
It's always hard to get the attention of a large group, and when that group includes excited children, it can be especially challenging! First, you have to have an appropriate time/setting to get their attention -- a time during your event when everybody gathers in the same place to concentrate on the same thing. That might be at the beginning or end of your event, or it might be a time when everybody sits down to watch a performer or eat snacks. If parents and kids are engaged in different activities or moving from station to station, you'll never get everybody's attention at once -- they're too engaged in what they're doing at the time. You need a microphone that's loud enough to be heard, and it helps to have a speaker who is loud and commanding to make the announcements. Often, that's not the president. Sometimes it's a teacher or a dad -- just give them a script to read. Or have them quiet everybody down first, then you make the announcements. Also, if you're event really doesn't lend itself to making announcements, make signs instead. Posters in prominent locations can sometimes do the job more effectively than a single announcement over a microphone.

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