[BlondeFairy]

Hi guys and gals!

I hope this is the right place to put this.

I started volunteering at my daughters school last year and once i was comfortable enough I joined the PTO. Toward the end of the year the president asked if I would take notes and be the Secretary. I was over the moon and said yes without thinking. I only had to take the notes for May and June. I found a sample Meeting Minutes document and used that as my example. It wasnt perfect but I did what I could. Now this year we have a new principal and she wants things PERFECT! I have no clue how to do the real meeting minutes and my anxiety is making it 10000000X worse! I dont want to quit but the new principal sent us, the pto, a few other PTO wesbites so we could get ideas for ours. Umm.....these Meeting Minutes are IN DEPTH. Like I am seriously freaking out about doing them. I also am seeing that there is A LOT more than I thought that goes into being the Secretary! I dont know how to do most of the tasks. I have some Executive Functioning Issues/ADD and I havent ever taken a course on note taking or anything. We have our first meeting on Tuesday and I am seriously freaking out already! Any advice is appreciated!

Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I wasnt sure if it should go here, anxiety boards or ADD boards.

Thanks for listening! Hope it makes sense!

[Skeezyks]

Hello BlondeFairy: Well... there are perhaps a couple of different ways to look at this. One is to simply see it as a challenge & "walk toward what scares you..." (There's a story behind that phrase. But I won't bore you with it.)

The other possibility is to simply be honest, with whomever is in charge (the PTO President?), about where you're at with regard to the skills you'll need to be an effective secretary. Let her / him know that you're anxious to continue on as secretary but that realistically it may take some time for you to get up to snuff, as we used to say. This will let the President of the PTO know where you're at with regard to this & hopefully it will take a bit of the pressure off of you.

One alternative might be to "job share" with another member so not all of the responsibility falls onto you right off the bat. But also, you may find that in reality you're expecting more of yourself, than others in the group are going to expect of you. Really, this is a volunteer organization & no one should, at least, be expecting you to perform like an experienced administrative assistant. At least these are my thoughts with regard to your post.

[BlondeFairy]

Originally Posted by Skeezyks

Hello BlondeFairy: Well... there are perhaps a couple of different ways to look at this. One is to simply see it as a challenge & "walk toward what scares you..." (There's a story behind that phrase. But I won't bore you with it.)

The other possibility is to simply be honest, with whomever is in charge (the PTO President?), about where you're at with regard to the skills you'll need to be an effective secretary. Let her / him know that you're anxious to continue on as secretary but that realistically it may take some time for you to get up to snuff, as we used to say. This will let the President of the PTO know where you're at with regard to this & hopefully it will take a bit of the pressure off of you.

One alternative might be to "job share" with another member so not all of the responsibility falls onto you right off the bat. But also, you may find that in reality you're expecting more of yourself, than others in the group are going to expect of you. Really, this is a volunteer organization & no one should, at least, be expecting you to perform like an experienced administrative assistant. At least these are my thoughts with regard to your post.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! Great advice! I appreciate it!!

Hi,

Can you secretly record the meetings as you take notes? That would ensure you miss nothing for those in depth minutes later.

[BlondeFairy]

Originally Posted by QuietMind

Hi,

Can you secretly record the meetings as you take notes? That would ensure you miss nothing for those in depth minutes later.

Thats a really great idea! I am going to see what I can do! Thanks so much for the advice!

[hvert]

This kind of thing seems to happen frequently in volunteer organizations, in both my own experience and the experience of other friends who volunteer. Person A volunteers to do a job, does it well, and Person B comes along with a boatload of overwhelming criticism and completely different vision about how the task should be done (usually requiring 2-10x as much time/effort as the volunteer signed up for).

So no real advice, just an observation - don't take it too personally or feel bad about the great work you have been doing for the PTO. This is about the principal, not you. How did your first meeting go and what was the PTO chair's response to this situation?

[BlondeFairy]

Originally Posted by hvert

This kind of thing seems to happen frequently in volunteer organizations, in both my own experience and the experience of other friends who volunteer. Person A volunteers to do a job, does it well, and Person B comes along with a boatload of overwhelming criticism and completely different vision about how the task should be done (usually requiring 2-10x as much time/effort as the volunteer signed up for).

So no real advice, just an observation - don't take it too personally or feel bad about the great work you have been doing for the PTO. This is about the principal, not you. How did your first meeting go and what was the PTO chair's response to this situation?

Hi there! Thank you so much for your response! The meeting actually went pretty well for the most part! I brought up how it was done last year and this new Principal seems pretty laid back. She said that she doesnt expect it to be perfect and told me to do it the same way I have been! So I am relieved! I appreciate your input!

[KarenSue]

Might I suggest you create an outline of what you expect to be discussed? If you receive an Agenda prior to the meeting, you can pull from that. Leave space after each item on outline so you can write your notes. Of course you would have the "Date" and other repetitive items on top, creating your own template to update prior to each meeting.

I also like what The Skeezyks says "One alternative might be to "job share" with another member so not all of the responsibility falls onto you right off the bat."

I was responsible for the minutes of a non-profit trade association. I always had another person take minutes also, and compare/combine with mine. It was a great help.

Glad things have worked out, and you will improve as you go until minutes become an easy task.

FYI: the word "Save" at the end was not typed by me. Something odd that I don't understand????? I can't delete it..weird.

[hvert]

That's awesome!!! I am so glad the principal turned out to be laid back!!

[TishaBuv]

Hi BF,

I've been on several Boards and committees from religious organizations to national professional organizations.

The secretary includes in the minutes what was discussed at the meeting, only the important information that reflects what was said and done.

The minutes have the date of the meeting, who was in attendance, the time it was called to order and what was discussed. Different people give reports about what they are doing. Like you would say "Sue Brown Chair of the Party Committee reported that the upcoming Carnival needs to be rescheduled for May because of a conflict. Caren Green moved that the new date be June 4. After much discussion, (that means there was a fight, lol) the motion passed with 12 yes and 1 no from Joe Smith."
Then you note what time the meeting was adjourned.

You don't need to plan anything like the Agenda. All you do is take notes about important information.

The reason you take the names of who did what is so they can get the credit and blame for it later, lol! But seriously, it's to keep a legal record.

Then you type up the minutes and get them to the Board just before the next meeting. The Board approves the minutes at the start of the meeting for show they are accurate.

Don't worry about perfection. When you do a volunteer job, they will be very gentle and forgiving. They better be appreciative!