{"id":3791,"date":"2018-04-13T15:21:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T19:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/?p=3791"},"modified":"2018-04-13T15:21:06","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T19:21:06","slug":"hold-parent-meeting-educational-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/hold-parent-meeting-educational-tour","title":{"rendered":"How to hold a parent meeting for an educational tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this guest post, International Program Consultant Catie Martin gives time-honored advice for planning and implementing a successful parent meeting.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We can\u2019t say enough how important a parent meeting is for the success of your trip. After all, it’s not enough to get your students on board \u2014 their parents need to be on board as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, planning and executing a parent meeting is easy and effective with Explorica. Your recruitment kit has all of the materials you need, including instructions for leading a meeting. And it doesn\u2019t hurt that you\u2019re presenting parents with an incredible travel experience they won\u2019t want their kids to pass up.<\/span><\/p>\n

On top of that, we have a few extra tips to make sure your meeting goes off without a hitch, including tips from other Explorica employees! Here are some easy tips for how to hold a successful parent meeting:<\/span><\/p>\n

Before your parent meeting<\/b><\/h2>\n

Set the right date and time<\/b><\/p>\n

I always tell teachers that the best time to have a meeting is either Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. Those days are in the middle of the week, so the meeting won\u2019t overlap with long weekends. <\/span><\/p>\n

Do not have your meeting too early in the afternoon, like 3:30 or 4PM. Try to have your meeting between 6PM-7PM, so parents will be able to stop by on their way home from work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have a theme<\/b><\/p>\n

International Program Specialist Meaghan Richards says:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMake the country you\u2019re going to be the theme of your meeting. For example, if you are going to Spain<\/a>, have some tapas<\/a> and put up pictures of Madrid or Barcelona<\/a>. If you\u2019re going to England<\/a>, have some English tea<\/a> and some Cadbury chocolate. This is a great way to get parents and students excited about the tour!\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Promote the meeting<\/b><\/p>\n

Spread the word on this awesome trip you\u2019re presenting. Put up the Explorica posters from your recruitment kit around the school \u2014 good places are near the bathrooms, in the cafeteria, in your classroom, and on bulletin boards. <\/span><\/p>\n

Announce the meeting in your morning announcements, and in each of your classes. Put the tour website and meeting information on the whiteboard in your room. You can also promote it online if your school or your department is on social media. <\/span><\/p>\n

At your parent meeting<\/b><\/h2>\n

Collect names\"educational<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

During the meeting, pass around the sign-in sheet to collect names and contact info.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Take them step by step<\/b><\/p>\n

Senior International Program Specialist Elias Tapley says:<\/span> \u201cPull up the Tour Center<\/a> during the meeting and take parents through the first few steps of signing up. Then, they\u2019ll see how easy it is.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Share your experience<\/b><\/p>\n

Have you traveled abroad before and loved it? Tell the students and parents where you\u2019ve been and about your own trips, and share pictures if you have them. Get them excited to see the world \u2014 enthusiasm is contagious!<\/span><\/p>\n

Before they leave<\/b><\/p>\n

Tell the students and parents that if they\u2019re very interested, they should sign up<\/a> that night! You can even tell parents that the sooner the students sign up, the less their monthly payments<\/a> will be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After your parent meeting<\/b><\/h2>\n

Follow up with parents<\/b><\/p>\n

Use the information you gathered on the sign-in sheet to thank each of the parents for attending the meeting. Use this opportunity to remind them of deadlines, reiterate sign-up instructions, and keep them excited about the tour!<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow up with us<\/b><\/p>\n

Tell us how your meeting went! If you have any questions about what to do after your meeting, please reach out to your program consultant. We want to make sure you feel confident and that you get parents excited about your trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have questions about hosting a parent meeting? Contact your program consultant!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this guest post, International Program Consultant Catie Martin gives time-honored advice for planning and implementing a successful parent meeting. We can\u2019t say enough how important a parent meeting is for the success of your trip. After all, it’s not enough to get your students on board \u2014 their parents need to be on board Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":3792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3793,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3791\/revisions\/3793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}