The key to efficient Parents Evenings is preparation, but the question is: How much to prepare?
It's the Goldilocks answer, I'm afraid: not too little, not too much, but just right. You need:
a) a clear understanding - this means a printed copy - of your school's policies, rules and guidelines for parents' evening. The golden rule applies here, as everywhere: don't get caught breaking the school rules, however surreal and unhelpful those school rules are.
b) A clear understanding of the location and arrangements for the evening. This is so that you are able to consider your own comfort and convenience - as well as the learning outcomes of your students. These are both important. If you are going to sit for two hours in a freezing portacabin or swealtering gymnasium, then it really, really helps to know about it in advance, and to dress and prepare approrpriately.
c) An appointment timetable (for which parent you are seeing when) even though you may not be able to follow it in practice. A timetable simply gives some structure to the evening. Be mentally prepared for the fact that the schedule may be entirely chaotic.
d) Planning which includes both the day before the parents' evening and the day after. This implies that you don't have a late night on Wednesday, attend parents' evening on Thursday, and commit to an early start on Friday. This implies that you think carefully about whether you travel home after the end of the school day, then back to school again for parents' evening. This implies that you have food and drink at sensible times. This implies that you have adequate sleep.
Frequently, there is a considerable - and annoying - gap between the end of the school day (for example 3:45pm) and the start of parents' evening (for example 6:30pm). Think carefully about how you want to spend this time. Nipping home, cutting the grass, cooking the tea, painting the nursery and going back to school is probably not a good option. If you decide to stay at school and work, choose what you do carefully: nothing too intellectually demanding, in a comfortable, relaxed location, with plenty of comfort food and soothing music.
Frequently, a parents' evening produces a long ticklist of 'things to do'. Make sure you schedule (in your Weekly Plan) a 30 minute session within 24 hours to go through the ticklist and schedule responses/actions. As part of your planning, you should review your Weekly Plan and decide how quickly you will be able to respond to parental requests for information - 48 hours is a reasonable target. It is a big mistake, though, to blithely tell a series of parents 'I'll get back to you within 48 hours', then realise the next day that you have no free periods and are fully committed after school.
e) Enough information to identify students accurately and report their progress sensibly. This, of course, will vary enormously from subject to subject. I mention this because you need to be careful about advice from 'experts' in other subjects. If you teach a 'once-a-week' subject, your needs are likely to be very different to a core subject like English. This is something you can start to consider at the start of the school year: how many students do you teach in each year? If the answer is '60' you will need to take a more measured approach to parents' evening than if it is '10'.
f) Knowing the number of students that you teach will also help you to answer a more contentious question: how much 'data' do you need to prepare? Opinions differ on this, and the accepted wisdom seems to be 'there is no right answer'. Well that's not how we roll at TM4T, so here is our answer: take along the data that you already have - nothing more. Of course data is useful in understanding progress towards a student's aspirations, but parents evening should not be the trigger for producing or reviewing mountains of data. If you're concerned about a student's attendance, say so. You do not need to dig out statistics unless a parent asks for them.
g) Preparation for the standard nightmare. There is a standard nightmare for parents evening, and you may need to mentally accept that sooner or later it will come true: in this scenario, your appointments get out-of-synch, then some mysterious parent walks up with a student who you vaguely recognise, but cannot name. You simply cannot remember anything about his-or-her progress or achievement, or even what subject you teach them. Accept now that this will happen, and mentally rehearse how you will deal with it. This does not involve learning a script off by heart, but it does involve getting it clear in your head the kind of thing you will say: 'You must excuse me, but it's been a long day. Young man, can you help me find your notes, by reminding me your name, your form, and which subjects you take with me?'.
Mentally accepting that this may happen is different to accepting that this is OK, and you need to try to avoid it. If you have some classlists, with some marks next to names, and some idea of what those marks mean, you can practise in the lessons leading up to parents evening.
h) A script for what you will say as a routine. This can not, should not and will not cover every scenario, but it reduces overall stress. This is a once-in-a-career creation, but it can be and should be reviewed and refined each year. An example is given here. This will vary according to your subject and situation, but I think you get the idea.
i) A rough understanding of timing. When you have your script, which will certainly differ from this one because it needs to match your own school rules, you need to have a rough idea of how long it will take to run through. Make sure that it is at least theoretically possible to do it in the time available.
j) A set of materials that includes: your A4 planner; your two favourite pens, and a name plate. If you don't know how to make a name plate, click here.
k) Appropriate personal hygiene resources (for example, deodorant, air freshener, clean shirt, desk fan). 'Appropriate' implies whatever is necessary for YOU to feel comfortable and pleasant. Of course, in winter times, the list may be different (clean woolly socks, pullover, thermal underwear). I exaggerate, I know, but the principle is important: the evening is not intended to be unpleasant, and you should invest some time into making yourself feel comfortable.
l) Jotted-down notes for every appointment. Tactfully highlight any challenging parents, or students who need a special message.