TOP 10 WAYS

YOUR PTATO

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In other words, work smarter. Make daily, weekly and monthly goals. Limit them, and make them practical and achievable.

Next, start with most important goal and leave the easier ones for later as they tend to go quicker and cause less stress. Remember, procrastination tempts you to spend your energy completing low-priority jobs while the high-priority ones loom dauntingly over your head.

Ease your own anxiety and check off those major tasks first from your list.

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How many of us attend meetings that unnecessarily go on for hours? Poor pre-sentation planning, a lack of leadership, and—-- let’s face it—-- social chatter turn PTA meetings into drawn-out time-suckers.

Designate a mediator to keep meetings flowing on schedule. Ask a secretary to write down minutes. Limit open discussions. Finally, leave some time at the end for everyone to catch up and munch on yummies.

Go ahead and chatter, you social butterfly, you. After all, the meeting is over.

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With other PTA members. With your children. With the school’s administration. With the teachers. With the principal. The University of Texas at Dallas’s psychology de-partment noted a few ways to build better relationships on their website. We can definitely apply these tactics to PTA relationships:

1) Be yourself - Be confident and truthful when sharing your opinions. 2) Communicate - We’ve all heard about “I” sentences by now, so use them, and avoid passive aggressive tendencies. 3) Resolve Conflicts - Compromise and get back to basics. Give a little, get a little. 4) Enjoy Each Other - Be humorous and adventurous!

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Binders with color-coded section tabs. Calendars. Email reminders. Highlighters. To-do lists. Label-maker.

Problem solved? Maybe. But sometimes, we have all the tools but not the right frame of mind. On her blog, professional organizer Lorie Marrero advocates for an “organized mindset.” Give yourself permission, she says, to make mistakes, to let some activities slide, and to fall a little short of perfection.

Phew. Now hand me that stapler.

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Less is more. In planning PTA events and activities and in every aspect of running your PTA, keeping things simple may be the most important thing you can do.

Let’s just recap for a moment in really big, simple text:

Less is more!

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Divvy up the work. We know you were the one who always ended up shouldering the entire workload in those high school group projects. But, no longer!

Others want to help, so let them!

Ease up on the reins and share that binder. Give members individual responsibilities and something to own. Set a good example and then have faith in your colleagues. You’ll get much more done as a group - go team!

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Have you utilized Google docs, flash drives, and—-- don’t make us say it -- computers? Hopefully, we don’t have to convince you that technology positively affects the organi-zation and flow of parent group success.

But it extends further than internet research and Excel spreadsheets. Grab a camera and share photos on Flickr or Photobucket. Capture fun videos and post them on You-Tube. Technology offers you the chance to document good times and spread those awe-some videos of the principal shaving his head all over the internet.

There’s so much amazing free technology out there, go ahead - tell your story!

7 USE TECHNOLOGY

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Facebook, according to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, seeks to “help people connect and communicate more efficiently.” And lucky for us, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare do just that. With the creation of Facebook events, you hold the ability to inform every single person on your friend list of upcoming activities in less than five minutes. The days of handwritten letters delivered by horseback-riding curriers left us years, decades—-- centuries -- ago.

So update your status, post fun pictures, and create e-vite invitations.

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For each fundraiser, activity and event, designate a historian.

Record attendance, dollars spent, profits made, and overall success rates. Jot down helpful tips, examples of obstacles you faced and resources you counted on to solve problems.

Make contact information sheets for every person involved. Then collect all your docu-ments and organize them in a binder—for upcoming members of the PTA.

1) MANAGE TIME

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Hopefully this one needs no real explanation. Just keep in mind that shared experi-ences spark relationships. Fun memories make them last.

So order pizza for those late night PTA meetings. Take a karaoke break. Involve your kiddos. Wear funny costumes. Have impromptu water gun fights.

And, please, by all means, share the evidence through photos, Facebook groups, and victory parties.

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Building Relationships: Utdallas.edu/counseling/relationshipsFor Organizational Tips: • Clutterdietblog.com• RealSimple.com• 365-days-of-organization.blogspot.com• Orgjunkie.comPersonal learning network for school fundraising: http://www.TheFundraisingPln.com

Believe Kids is an elementary school fundraising company. We produced this content because we care about helping schools succeed.Find out more about Believe Kids Fundraising at www.BelieveKids.com