Are you looking to add a little “something something” to your next PTO (parent teacher organization) or PTA (parent teacher association) meeting, and you’re interested in perhaps inviting a speaker, but you’re fresh out of ideas?
That’s exactly what we’re going to be talking about today!
Because reserving a small portion of your monthly general membership PTO meeting for a speaker brings with a it a host of benefits.
Meeting Speakers vs. Programs
The whole idea about inviting speakers for PTO meetings is that you don’t want to necessarily make a separate program, but supplement your PTO meetings by having a speaker for about 15-20 minutes.
It’s best to choose a meeting that you don’t have a ton of business because of course, that’ll just increase the meeting time, unless business is super light for the month.
For example, don’t schedule a speaker for the first meeting of the year since that meeting is longer due to the number of fresh faces in attendance, requiring more explanation and a more time for questions to be answered.
Aim to keep the meeting to about an hour, extending the time frame to 75 minutes for the months when you have a speaker.
Why Include Speakers in the Meeting Agenda
Adding in a speaker to general membership PTO meetings adds so much value to the purpose of the meetings themselves.
It’s not just conducting business, or going through the motions, but enlightening parents and students about various topics.
And by publicizing the speakers well in advance can attract new faces and new volunteers who come to the meeting as a result.
Maybe the parents have the topic on their radar, but have been too busy to investigate it more on their own.
But by your PTO literally putting it on the agenda, you’re offering up the opportunity to learn about it, and that may be hard to pass up.
This could be the initial hook to get them more involved in the PTO more generally!
Because once parents are aware of needs, many will want to pitch in, so you’re smart to dangle this incentive.
Speakers from Within Your School
The very first opportunity you have to get speakers for PTO meetings is to look within the walls of your school because you have a lot of options!
Department Chairs
Which teachers or department chairs could come and talk to the group about curriculum, different programs, programs they’re trying to launch, etc.?
In the past, my PTO has invited teachers come and talk about the curriculum path for their department.
In this one case, the Science Department Chair spoke about the different course options for students that were interested in STEM and those that needed science credits to graduate, but weren’t interested in pursuing a STEM field.
It was super helpful to know about the different options, and also to have the teacher there in person to answer questions.
School Social Worker
Another person to consider inviting as a guest meeting speaker is your school’s social worker.
They’ll be able to speak about some of the current needs of the school community.
Of course, they won’t be speaking about anyone in particular, but giving a sense of general needs and trends could be helpful for raising awareness and educate the group.
Your group is working to benefit the school community and help students, teachers, and staff, so you’ll want to know about and understand these needs.
If you don’t, you can’t help, so it’s good to invite someone who has the inside track on where support is needed most to keep the group updated.
PTO Teacher Liaison
If you have a PTO teacher liaison, you can just ask them to talk about something that they are interested in talking about that they think parents would like to learn about.
This really opens up the world of possibilities!
One time, our high school PTO Teacher Liaison spoke about college application essay tips she’d gleaned from a program at her child’s school, in a neighboring community.
Having her bring in the ideas for a program our school didn’t offer was a nice supplement and parents at the meeting appreciated the information.
Speaker Ideas Outside of the School Community
The options for speakers from outside of your school community are considerable.
Think about the different resources you have in your community:
- Law enforcement
- Health and wellness organizations
- Civic organizations serving children and families
- Local government (parks and recreation, for example)
Parent Education Speakers
The next idea for speakers at your PTO meeting or your PTA meeting is anything that is related to parent education.
What do parents need to know either personally or to help their own children?
One year a speaker from the local hospital system gave a 15 minute presentation about vaping.
She had vaping pens on hand to demonstrate what the devices looked like and passed out literature in case parents had follow up questions.
It was bite sized information that was very condensed, concise, and effective at getting the message through in a short amount of time.
Not all topics need a full 30 or 60 minute presentation.
Many can be pared down to easily fit into the monthly PTO meeting.
What other topics do the parents need to learn about?
Topic examples
For high school juniors and seniors, maybe bring in a speaker from an area college to talk about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid program and application preparation.
In the last couple years, my PTO has brought in several speakers for full programs in line of the regularly scheduled PTO meeting.
One from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), who addressed identifying and managing anxiety.
Another couple came to teach students and parents about cyber bullying and sextortion.
Their son had been victimized and actually took his own life, and it was extremely moving to hear their family’s story.
This presentation wouldn’t be able to adequately be covered in 15 minutes, but perhaps a shorter preview presentation could be made the meeting with the full program scheduled shortly thereafter?
There are dozens of other topics similar to both of these examples that that would be very interesting to parents that would be good candidates to pare down to a short presentation.
If you’re not sure what topics that they want to hear about, I would just start by asking at your next PTO meeting and see what ideas pop up.
I bet you’ll be surprised by the ideas and it’ll save you from scheduling a topic that no one is interested in hearing about.
Student Education Speakers
The last category of speakers that you could bring in student education.
What do the students need help with beyond what’s taught during the normal school day?
Maybe conflict resolution skills, study habits, how to register to vote, basic financial literacy, identifying depression, etc.
There are many resources available, but you just need to ask around and find them.
Start by calling your city and county and you’ll likely have more possibilities than you expected!
Watch This!
I made a video on this topic, so give it a watch!
Over to You!
Scheduling a speaker for a few PTO meetings throughout the year is a really smart idea.
Bringing in speakers for your parent group meetings can do a lot to draw parents into attending the meetings, who may not be interested otherwise.
The options for which speakers to bring in to talk to your group are nearly endless.
There are so many opportunities for speakers both within and outside of your school community:
- Department chairs
- School social worker
- PTO Teacher Liaison
- Area college and health care representatives to talk about both students and parent education topics
No matter which topics or speakers you land on, all will enrich your meetings and make them more valuable for all in attendance.
Once word spreads about the fantastic programming you’re providing, you’re sure to see an uptick in meeting attendance and PTO participation.
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