Our entire PTO board went: President, Vice-President, Administrative Vice-President and Executive Vice-President to the Chicago show last year. We had entered the PTO of the Year contest and had decided to go to the conference.
Imagine our surprise when we found out we were the WINNERS of the PTO of the Year last year! Our PTO gladly paid for all four of us to attend and accept our award and new playground equipment! We have decided to send at least two reps this year. Our fundraising chair (Admistrative Vice-President) and our President will definitely go. PTO supplied food allowance and car rental...we had a long drive. We feel it is essential for our fundraising chair to go to see all the displays. Since your PTO will benefit from the information gathered...they should pay...if possible. Hope you enjoy the conference as much as we did!

I paid my own way to go, but I firmly believe that the PTO should be proactive and decide that the opportunity is important and should be funded through PTO funds. Next year I will start much earlier to get the PTO to agree to attend and send some participants.

I also believe that it is a bad practice to only send board members. The desire and ability to lead is complex and it is not necessarily the board members who are leading a group towards solid practices. Any new member, untaped potential member, long or short term member, has the potential to be a leader, regardless whether or not they ever aspire to a title on the board

If you must limit the number you can afford to send then a lottery and/or an equal number of board members and general members should be sent.

The case for or against using PTO funds needs to be created on the merits and a solid understanding about why: #1 leadership development is crucial and #2 what immediate gains and long-term gains a PTO will receive by consistently sending members to this show. What the group thinks will be gained should then in turn be worked into the goals and objectives for the coming year(s)- 2-3 years at least. Action steps when the group comes home is also an important piece often skipped. Sharing of the info with members who did not go, is also crucial. Student enrichment ideas, new fundraising plans, process models (the way things work) can then be integrated into the work of the organization and within a year your case for sending members (as many as possible) becomes stronger and stronger and the outcomes and results will prove whether or not attendance at the show is useful for your group.

Julieanne (& everyone else),
I too have struggled with who should pay for the show. I firmly believe that if the funds are available, the PTO should budget some money for leadership training. This is an investment in future years. Since this is my last year at this school (son is moving to middle school), I couldn't justify PTO paying for me. However, this summer when the exec. board prepared the budget, I suggested we budget $400-500. to send current or future leaders only. Since we would want to ensure this would go to active & future leaders only, I do not feel it is necessary or appropriate to invite everyone, unless they were interested in paying their own way. The board chose not to include this in meeting agendas.
Jo

Our members who attended the excellent show in Boxboro all paid our own way. I had a personal issue with the group paying, as last year an overzealous organizer offered the group a 4-pack price ($180), of which we all voted to pay half. ($90) but we ended up with 10 people wanting to go, costing our PTO over $200, then several people failed to show. We filled a few slots at the last minute, but lost a bit of $$ in the process. Because this years show was more expensive, I strongly suggested that we simply pay our own way. Hearing no objection, I proudly announced at a general mtg that the conference was not using PTO funds. I have since learned that the members who attended thought they should be reimbursed for at least half the cost of the conference, but I feel that would be a mistake at this point. It's not fair to those who may have wanted to attend, but found the cost prohibitive. In the future, we may consider sending 2 officers - maybe drawn by lottery. I can't see offering free 2-day tickets to anyone who wants to go, but don't want to appear to be using PTO funds for a "girl's weekend" either. Any suggestions? :confused:

I paid for myself. My PTO group (which I am VP of) did not think it was worth it. Boy were they wrong. Now I can justify the cost with all the ideas I got from the show!!

Hello Mes. Pres. This is the second year our board will be going to the PTO show. Our PTO paid for the show. Fortunately, we live close enough so that is the only expense we incure. We too reaped the benefits. Last year 4 of us went, this year 10 of us are going (two of the people going are not on the board, but thinking about running for a position).