MyConferenceTime.com has many features. We compiled a few of our favorite shortcuts to help you take advantage of the benefits of scheduling conferences online.
- Give yourself a break. When setting up your conferences, you probably scheduled conferences for a few hours. Pick a time slot in the middle of your schedule, click on the edit icon, and change the number of conferences available for that time slot to zero (0). The time slot will still appear on your conference schedule, but nobody will be able to sign up for that time slot. Enjoy your break.
- Cut your work in half. If you have several days of conferences using the same schedule (for example, Monday from 4pm – 8pm and Tuesday from 4pm – 8pm), only create the conferences for Monday. Once your Monday schedule is set up, click on the “Duplicate Day” link and have MyConferenceTime.com do the work of creating your Tuesday schedule.
- Help parents who have limited English skills. If you know that parents of your students need instructions in Spanish, direct them to click on the “Español” link at the top right so that all instructions are in Spanish.
- Send reminders. When parents enter an email address, they receive a confirmation about the conference. As the teacher, you can send a reminder email as the conference approaches. Go to your conference schedule, select the student names, then click on “Send Email Reminder to Selected Recipients.” Parents will appreciate the reminder – just don’t send them more than necessary because we all dislike getting too much email.
- If you have to print, be friendly. MyConferenceTime.com strives to cut down or eliminate the use of paper, but we also know that sometimes it’s necessary to print a conference schedule. And we know that printing the webpage doesn’t always produce the best results. Use the “Printer-Friendly” link near the top of your conference schedule. This produces a .pdf that minimizes the use of paper – only the necessary information prints.
- Stop scheduling conferences! Even though MyConferenceTime.com is made for scheduling parent-teacher conferences, as a teacher you need to maintain your sanity. Use the “Lock Day” link for specific dates on your schedule to close sign ups. This is useful if it’s the day of conferences and you’re worried about a parent signing up at the last minute when you’re not near your computer to keep an eye on your schedule.
Please let us know how we can help you with your parent-teacher conferences. We all know they are vital to a child’s education. We want them to go smoothly for you, the teacher.