Have you heard of VolunteerSpot? I didn't know about it until a teacher friend introduced me to it this past year. What a huge time saver! VolunteerSpot is a free online system for organizing and scheduling events with volunteers. I used it for two types of activities -- parent conferences and class parties.
To schedule conferences, I was able to easily set up a calendar of available time slots and asked parents to sign up online. Most parents responded quickly and were able to choose times that worked well for them. If there was anyone who didn't have access to a computer or who didn't want to use the system, I just asked them to let me know and I entered them in manually. It was super easy.
When it came time for class parties, I was able to make a list of food and party items (plates, napkins, supplies for a special game or activity) for parents to send in. I asked for a few volunteers to come in and help out. The VolunteerSpot system displayed all of my requests and made it simple for parents to see what was needed and to sign up.
If you haven't tried it already, it is worth looking into. It's free, easy, and can save you time.
Labels: class parties, conferences, online tool, organization, time saver, volunteers
