question about PTA event and cost

[MumNWLondon]

My DCs school have got Tanya Byron coming to talk to the parents and hopefully parents in other schools.

We were discussing how much to charge at the PTA meeting last night. They all think £20, but I thought thats a lot to ask - they all think ok because no one would have to pay for a babysitter (as no dads expected to come).

What do you all think - I think £15 more reasonable. The problem is that the costs are high so if we charge that we have to get more people to come to cover the costs. Some of the PTA mafia mums think its amazing that we have her coming and everyone they know will be signing up right away....

BTW state school in leafy NW suburb.

[Iamcountingto3]

Flipping heck, I love Tanya, but don't think I'd pay £20 to hear her talk - assume it's a general talk with a little bit of Q&A? (leafy surrey, here... & PTA co chair)
Why don't you expect dad's to come?

[InterruptingCow]

That's an awful lot to charge. What are your costs? How much is she charging? We keep all events under £10 and that usually includes drinks and/or food!

[MumNWLondon]

Yes, general talk with Q&A. How much do you think you could charge?

We don't expect dads as we don't expect people to come with partners and pay for babysitters and from experience in this school Dads never come to anything midweek.

[MumNWLondon]

I think she charges £1,500. BTW it was not my idea. I think its an insane event for a one form entry primary school. PTA chair wants to "think big and raise lots of money" - we have terrible track record of selling tickets for events to outside school families. We also have to hire hall as the hall of our school not big enough. They just say I'm being negative.

[PaisleyLeaf]

Well some people might still need a babysitter.

I paid about that to see Eddie Izzard. I wouldn't for a Tanya Byron.

It depends how much it's costing you to put it on, what's her fee etc? How many can you accommodate? Surely it's all worked out according to that, then maybe put a bit on for school funds. Not just a random 'what's reasonable' number.

[Iamcountingto3]

Lord, look at that apostophe - dads, not dad's...

I would have thought £10-15 was more like it (& I'd include a glass of wine!) I work on the policy of keeping things cheaper and getting more people through the door, though...

[Iamcountingto3]

Although of course Paisley is right ito working things out from costs.

We also position some of our events as big fundraisers, and others as more about promoting the community of the school - this would fall firmly into the second for me and would be the sort of thing which I would very much want to be accessible to all parents, rather than priced to create maximum profits.

[PaisleyLeaf]

I agree about it being more of a promotion thing. It'll be good to get local press in etc.
Maybe do a raffle on the night for fundraising. Or refreshments.
The more people that go the better keep it as cheap as you can. Can you do 150 people?

[NotRocketSurgery]

let's face it most of the time parents don't actually enjoy pta events, but are going to support the school - I'd rather not go and make a donation to the school equivalent to the ticket price rather than have half of it falling into TB's pockets - but maybe I'm just bloody minded.

[MumNWLondon]

Ok - the finances are that TB gets £1,500 regardless of how many people - so making a donation rather than going still means TB gets her money. The hall (local secondary school) seats 500 so no restriction on space and costs £200 (our school hall too small). Refreshments will cost (will try and get sponsors) as will publicity (although will try and keep costs of this to a minimum).

The pricing at £20 was based on 125 tickets - equal number of school families and out of school ones. But of course could sell more tickets.....

There are only 85 families in the school so clearly we need to sell lots of tickets to people out of school.

The only "variable" costs are the refreshments.

Arghhh. I think its such a dreadful idea because I agree with notrocketsurgery.

[LovelyJudy]

i'd say it deffo needs to be cheaper, i wouldn't pay more than a tenner and i'd expect wine, but if you advertise it on here, for example, you'd get loads turning up i bet!

[HuwEdwards]

I definitely wouldn't go - she's a nice enough person but what's the topic of conversation? To be honest even if it was free and I was supporting the PTA by buying refreshments I wouldn't be interested.

I am in the PTA, but I expect this to be little and often donations - I mean for £20?? I'd want in depth knowledge of her sex life for that

[SandStorm]

Can you not come to some arrangement with the secondary school - say open it to years 7,8 and 9 for a reduced hall rate?

Also, don't write off the babysitting issue. Just because dads are on the scene doesn't mean they're going to be home in time to take over. And they may be just as interested in attending as the mums.

I think this needs a lot more researching before anything is committed to financially.

[PaisleyLeaf]

The other school are onto a good one. They could make more money out of it than your school who are doing all the organising.

[mnistooaddictive]

Can you offer other PTAs a percentage of any tickets they sell I.e. 20%. It might encourage more people to come so you can drop prices.

[PlumBumMum]

I think thats crazy, the aim of the PTA is to raise money,
you are going to be out that money no matter what! What if you only sell 50 tickets?
Any events we organise are done with minimal cost to raise the most money,
How much money have the PTA raised so far? If you say your track record for selling tickets is bad, I don't think this is a wise move.
Our last night was a french night we had wine tasting, guess the cheeses, quiz based on the pupils work, raffle & tombola
loads of prizes donated, whole event cost PTA £100 max and raised £750 profit.

Oh and I would definitely not pay £20 to see Tanya

[ragged]

Do you want to know what makes money for us, with much lower outlay and effort?: Clairvoyant nights. I know some people have moral/ethical objections, but gosh, they are sellers. And the clairvoyants charge less if it's for a charity cause. Heck of a lot less than 1500, anyway.

[TryingtoQuit]

I'm the Chair of our PTA and there is no way I would hire someone like this for that sort of money with PTA funds. I would, at least, look for some funding from outside or from the school. Not being familiar with your local authority or area I can only say that where I am there are a number of grant schemes that something like this could fall into eg. Early Years Development, Parental Involvement, Community Cohesion etc, for which the PTA may get financial assistance. But to just go ahead and book her without testing the water seems very ambitious.

What benefit will this be to the school/children?

Is there no one within your local authority who provides this service?

If this is a dome thing then I think some damage (financial) limitation needs to be done. See if the local press will publicize the event (for free) and come along on the night, get an email invite, plus posters and leaflets, to ALL Early Years practitioners in the borough, as well as all students studying Early Years and Foundation stage child development courses.

I'm sure your PTA are members of NCPTA so contact your local rep and ask for their help in advertising the event, that's what the membership payments for.

Good luck, whatever happens it will be a great learning curve for the PTA and I'm sure an informative evening.

[TryingtoQuit]

P.S It might be worth rethinking the 'Dad' thing. Maybe you could give a 50% discount on 'Dad' tickets. The issue of fathers being involved in their childrens lives is a hot topic in education atm and it might be another way of getting some funding.

Let us know how it goes x

[MumNWLondon]

I agree with you all - yes I suggested the 20% idea to other PTAs but they all said why give this money away.

When I raised the point about such a lot of money from PTA funds they said that she's such a great speaker, we can make lots of money for the school and I'm a spoilsport.

Not only that, another local school have a Tanya Byron evening the week afterwards and are charging £12. Because of this (I found out about it today they have agreed to compromise on £15.

Not really sure if there is anything I can do now though - I guess damage limitation exercise in trying to get them all to put their money where their mouths are to sell tickets to their out of school friends.

[crazygracieuk]

Weird choice of speaker. I'd be trying to get a speaker with more widespread appeal so that in families where they have no babysitters, mum or dad could go. I could be wrong but I'd say that TB had narrow appeal. I would personally look into people on cbeebies or cbbc and try to make an event when kids and adults want to come.

I wonder how much steve backshall would cost??

[MumNWLondon]

I know I agree, I told them that I was totally uninterested in hearing TB speaking.

Sadly everyone else there (15 others) thought that "everyone" would be desperate to hear her in person and weren't they so lucky to secure her at the bargain price of £1,500 for an evening .

Its past that now, I will just have to hammer it into them that they all need to sell sell sell since they were all so sure it was a great idea.

[bibbitybobbityhat]

OMG I really think that is a terrible idea for an event all round .

[propatria]

This is a crazy idea,Ive been involved in getting celebs for charity talks and the one thing Ive learnt is that unless its an A lister,dont bother,people will not pay.
This is a terrible gamble and is not an appropriate use of PTA funds.

[Iamcountingto3]

If another local school already have her speaking - at a cheaper price - surely they'll hoover up more of the local schools?
And there are only 85 families at your school but they're looking at a venue that seats 500?!?

I think you're absolutely right to be concerned, & that this is all going to end in tears. £200 for a venue + £1500 + refreshment costs ... yikes!