1. Help Your School. Let You Voice Be Heard.
How to Hold an
Effective SAC Meeting
Help Your School. Let You Voice Be Heard.
The School District of Philadelphia
Office of Family and Community Engagement
| | (215)

2. Training Objectives Write an organized and effective Meeting Agenda,
By the end of this training, participants will understand how to…
Write an organized and effective Meeting Agenda,
Set and follow meeting Ground Rules,
Build Consensus among a group,
Facilitate and participate in Brainstorming activities,
And set priorities as a group.

3. The Agenda A framework/structure for the meeting
The Meeting Agenda is a roadmap
Make sure there is enough time allotted to the activities
The agenda acts as the primary manager/organizer/
facilitator of the meeting
Decide on the following:
What will be discussed
How attendees will gain common understanding
What information or materials attendees will need
What the group must reach a consensus on and how
Set your agenda in advance to prepare your attendees for the discussion

4. Agenda Activities Get into pairs Compare the two sample agendas
What are the differences?
Which one do you think is more useful?
Share with the group

5. Agenda Components Opening Purpose of the Meeting Old Business
Closing
New Business
Old Business
Purpose of the Meeting
Opening

6. Compare with your partner
Agenda Activities
Draft your own agenda
Compare with your partner

7. The Facilitator Set the atmosphere Set the pace of the discussion
Circular, boardroom style; make space for breakout groups if needed
Be open to all opinions, take in all ideas
Set the pace of the discussion
Stay on track within the allotted time
Adhere to the meeting agenda, Ground Rules, and procedures
Remain a “backseat driver”
Keep the discussion going without lecturing
Allow all voices to be heard; ensure the group gets perspectives from all stakeholders
The facilitator is not the most important person/role—the members are the most important. The facilitator just needs certain skills that may need extra practice.

8. Facilitation Activity
Free brainstorm—shout out ideas for Ground Rules
Facilitator writes ideas on poster paper
Writing everyone’s ideas down validates people’s voices. Putting words to paper creates an accepting atmosphere.
Build Consensus on each Ground Rules
Use the Fist-to-Five Method of Consensus-Building
GROUND RULES

9. Building Consensus: Fist-to-Five Method
Fist: “No, I don’t like this and I will
block consensus.”
One: “I think there is too much
work to be done, but I won’t block
consensus.”
Two: “I don’t like this much, but I’ll
go along.”
Three: “I’m in the middle, I like
some but not all of the proposal.”
Four: “This is fine.”
Five: “This is the best possible
option.”
We will go through the ground rules 1-by-1.
Vote on each ground rule using the hand signals.
If there are any fists, ones, or twos, we will revise the rule.
We will only move on when everyone is holding up threes, fours, and fives.

10. The Organizer Welcome guests to the SAC meeting
Keep a log of the guests so you can reach out after the meeting with more updates.
Remind SAC members and guests of the dates and times of upcoming meetings.
Reach out to the community with SAC updates.
Organize and maintain SAC Sub- committees

11. The Secretary Prepare and monitor the agenda
Follow along to support the facilitator.
Prepare and maintain the sign-in sheet
Take meeting minutes (if you wish).
Fill out SAC forms and upload SAC Sign- in Sheets at the end of the meetings.

12. Welcome to the Dr. William Hite Jr. School SAC Meeting!
February 21st, 2017

13. Data

14. Data

15. Data

16. $5,000 Grant! We need three of our best ideas to use our new grant on.
Each group will brainstorm a list of as many ideas as they can come up with.
The group will share out, and we will create one master list of ideas.
We will all learn to prioritize our ideas to choose our Top Three.

17. Roles
Facilitator: Keep conversation moving at a fair and efficient pace. Make sure the group brainstorms effectively.
Secretary: Take notes of your group’s ideas.
Organizer: Act as the Spokesperson for the group; report out once brainstorming is finished.
Members: choose a role from your envelopes.

18. Brainstorm What should we spend our $5,000 on?
List as many ideas as your group can come up with.

19. From our Master List, choose your favorite ideas.
Prioritize
From our Master List, choose your favorite ideas.

20. How did the simulation go?
Debrief
How did the simulation go?

21. What Did We Learn? How to Write an Agenda How to Facilitate a Meeting
How to Build Consensus as a Group
How to Brainstorm and Prioritize as a Group
How to get results out of your SAC Meetings!

22. How else can we support you?
Get In Touch
How else can we support you?
SAC Support Team
Phone:
Shannon O’Brien
SAC Program Specialist