Stressful PTA Meetings and what to do about it...

Stress is a serious matter. Not only can stress take a toll on us both mentally and physically but it can make things that we enjoy, a burden.

Don't let your PTA meetings become stressful.

As a volunteer, your giving time and energy for a few reasons. First off, you very likely have a youngster to help through your service. Secondly, you will likely get a great reward from the nature of working as part of a team - part of a cohesive group that accomplishes great things.

Stress only functions to get in the way when it comes to matters of the PTA and will rob you of enjoyment as the level of stress makes being a cohesive group more and more challenging.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to managing stressful PTA meetings:

• Keep a positive attitude.
• Stay focused on only the items you can control.
• Pay your attention to the items that really matter.
• Avoid behaving aggressively or defensively - keep an even disposition.
• Take a step back and relax if things get a bit heated.

In an effort to simplify things, your meetings should stick to a schedule and have an outline. Anytime a new meeting is started, a brief overview of what is about to take place is very helpful in allowing everyone to know what to expect from the meeting and how it will likely take shape.

There are a lot of resources on the web. Many articles can be found on topics such as holding meetings, time management, how to deal with various personality types and how to handle and avoid stress. Take a look and you will find helpful information is readily available.

Remember to keep things simple, stay on time, stay on task and behave in an even tone. These things will contribute to a sense of teamwork and reduce stress.

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising. Please leave comments or suggestions for me if you like the things I have to offer here. I can be found at twitter as well - twitter.com/BelieveKids

SWSX - I wanted to go but fundraising and education is not presently cool enough.

Why can't school fundraising be cool?

I'm wondering if we make it a bit cooler, then we can go to south by southwest and mingle. In all actuality, I do feel like I belong there creating connections and brainstorming future projects with the in crowd. I think everyone in education would benefit from such a conference.

The thing is, the fundraising world is just not cool enough.

We'll all have to make a pact. We need to make PTA and PTO groups, moms and the fundraising companies that support schools and students cool. We have to make teachers and principals and education and kindergarten cool. It's a tall order but may this post be the catalyst to coolness we need right now :)

Today, let's pimp out our tricycles while we gain some momentum in the direction of adding 'cool' to school! SXSW, we'll see you one day!

If you have no idea what South by Southwest is, you have more catching up to do. Here is the official link - http://sxsw.com/

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and is not usually this much of a dork. If you enjoy this or any of my posts, please leave comments, suggestions and feedback here on the blog. I can also be reached on twitter - c Thanks for looking!