What if schools treated visitors like this?

Last week I attended a conference in South Carolina with eleven members from the church I attend. It was a one-day conference where we learned how this church successfully engaged their community.

Even more than the good content of the conference, I was blown away by how we were greeted and served by over 400 volunteers. Somehow, this church managed to motivate these volunteers to serve participants as if we were royalty. Several volunteers were in the parking lot and waived at us with a big smile while directing us to a parking place. After exiting our vehicles, we were greeted and asked, “Where are you from?”

The magic continued. When we entered the church and picked up our registration packets someone yelled out over a loud speaker “Galax, Virginia,” our hometown, and hundreds cheered. Unbeknownst to us the person who greeted us in the parking lot radioed the registration table, telling them where we were from. Inside we were escorted, not given verbal directions, to our breakout sessions and were pampered with enthusiastic attention.

Treat guests to your school with this kind of enthusiastic service and watch what happens. Why not stimulate some positive gossip in your community? Heck, some might even accuse you of truly believing that parents and community members are valuable partners and critical to school success.