How a County-Wide PTA Used SignUpGenius to Pull Off Training
Running a PTA at the school level is a lot of work. Supporting nearly 200 of them at once? That takes serious coordination.
That’s the role of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. When it came time to plan biannual training sessions for PTA leaders across the county, the council needed a simple way to spread the word, manage signups, and stay flexible.
With a tight one-month timeline and hundreds of volunteers to reach, they turned to SignUpGenius to keep everything organized.
One signup, hundreds of PTA leaders
Frances Frost, Training Committee Chair for the council, coordinated spring training for more than 200 attendees representing 193 PTAs across Montgomery County Public Schools.
Her goals were straightforward:
- Reach PTA leaders quickly
- Let them choose relevant workshops
- Track attendance without juggling spreadsheets
SignUpGenius gave her one central place to promote the event and collect registration - making it easier for busy volunteers to commit and show up.
As registrations came in, something unexpected happened.
Adjusting on the fly became easy
Interest in the workshops was higher than anticipated. Several sessions filled up fast, and one workshop drew more than 80 signups, far beyond the original capacity.
Because Frances could see registrations in real time, the issue surfaced early, not on event day.
Instead of turning people away, the council added another session to meet demand, ensuring attendees got the training they signed up for and presenters weren’t overwhelmed.
Staying flexible as plans changed
Like most volunteer-led events, the schedule wasn’t set in stone. Presenter availability shifted, and some sessions needed to be adjusted.
Using SignUpGenius, Frances:
- Relied on automatic reminders to be sent days in advance
- Kept volunteers in the loop with custom messages
- Downloaded reports to see exactly who planned to attend each workshop
Exporting attendee lists made it easier to plan seating, materials, and staffing—especially important for a county-wide event with participants coming from many different schools.
A better experience overall
By the time training day arrived, the council felt prepared, not rushed.
They had:
- Enough seats and materials for the actual turnout
- Clear attendance lists for each workshop
- A reliable way to communicate with participants before the event
For a volunteer organization serving hundreds of PTAs, a reliable system made all the difference.
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Recruiting, scheduling, and keeping track of 80 volunteers each month to work in our school cafeteria used to take hours! Sign Up Genius simplifies it all. Our parents like it too because it's easy to sign up with friends and they don't have to wait for me to get back to them to get on the schedule. Thanks you for creating this site! You make my job look easy.
Shari Hartman