PT Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences are still possible with distance learning! There are several options below. You can also create your own plan to meet your specific needs. Don't let distance learning technology hinder you, let it help you! These techniques can be used for your regular classroom student's with parents that might be traveling or live further away.

Option 1: Use Zoom Registration Feature

• Schedule a meeting for a specific time frame and require Registration. Also, enable the Waiting Room.

• Save the meeting, then scroll down to the bottom and click Edit next to Registration Options.

  • Customize the settings to your needs. You can get notifications when a parent signs up and several other options.

  • Now customize the questions. There are fields already there that you can select for your questions, or you can use Custom Questions to create your own. Such as, "Name of the child(ren) that you are attending for" and "Grade Level of each child".

• You can also customize the registration email that they receive after registering. See this in the Email Settings next to Registration.

• Under the Registration information, you can also view everyone that has registered. Click View to the right and it will show you the registration for each.

• Also when you use the Registration feature, the link it gives you for registration can be publicly posted for parents to sign up. Then it will send them the real link to connect once they have registered.

Option 2: Use Calendar Date Selection

• There are lots of apps and tools online to let you schedule dates and time options and have parents select one that works for them.

  • Google Calendar has an appointment feature that is free.

  • Signup Genius has a free version to let you enter several to choose from.

  • Doodle also has free options.

• Block out a few hours for parents to choose from. That can include during the school day if you have allotted hours for that and evening hours. This could be during your regular PT Conference times or another day and keep them separate.

• Schedule a Zoom Meeting and be sure to enable the Waiting Room feature.

No matter how you decide to schedule them, keep these things in mind:

• Have the student's information ready and available for each. If they are in a secure setting, then you can use the screen share option as needed. But keep in mind, some parents may be using smartphones and content sharing is harder to read that way.

• Once parents have registered, give them specific times to connect. Since you have the Waiting Room enabled, you can let parents in during only their times and have them wait until it is their turn in the waiting room.

• Send an email reminder a day or two before that includes the connection link again and lets them know that they will be in a waiting room until it is their turn. You can customize your waiting room message in your meeting settings to remind parents to wait until they are let into the meeting.

• If a parent doesn't have internet or a device to do a Zoom call, contact the local school to see if they can arrange a time for them to come in and use technology there in a secure location.

• Contact the local school if you need any help with dealing with scheduling for parents or if you have questions about parents.