Originally posted by njmom: As a new treasurer this year, I need to present the budget to our parents during back to school night. Other than outlining the budget (boring!), what else can I do or say to get parents interested in the PTO's mission? Any insights?
Be careful not to confuse the goal of your speech.
If you are presenting the budget, then do that.
I would open with a short paragraph about the budget's objectives -- to see that funds are allocated fairly and that the spending reflects your group's mission, for example. Then go ahead and define the budget.
It might seem boring to you, but to someone new, hearing that you will spend up to $1000 to improve the music department could be pretty exciting.
If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down. <img src=images/smilies/smile.gif>
Are you the only PTO speaker at this event? If so, then definitely try to sell the parents on the PTO!
I spoke at BTS night this week. We had another PTO speaker who described our one and only fundraiser, so I didn't have to sell people on giving money.
My job was to speak first and sell them on the PTO. We had already given them a substantial packet of information about our organization and we had promoted ourselves at registration and with a welcome-back social. So I chose to focus on the need for volunteers at all levels and the benefits of volunteering.
If this had been their first exposure to our PTO this year, I'd have focused instead on briefly describing our core programs and still touched on getting involved.
The key issues in preparing a talk like this, imho:
1. Decide what key point you want to make (in my case, the importance of getting involved and how to get involved)
2. Prepare thoroughly ahead of time (if you ramble, they'll get bored and tune you out)
3. Keep it SHORT (they'll be listening to several speakers and you'll snag their attention better by being passionate about your key points in a short amount of time than if you try to tell them everything and talk too long)
As a new treasurer this year, I need to present the budget to our parents during back to school night. Other than outlining the budget (boring!), what else can I do or say to get parents interested in the PTO's mission? Any insights?
