Global Public Articles

Don’t Assume PTA or PTO Members Get It The First Time. When you are trying to get the parents of your students behind your fundraising efforts, never be afraid that you are covering the same ground too often. Tell them many, many times why you are doing the fundraiser. It will surprise you how little makes it into your parents minds, even after they have read or heard something twice. Here are some tips to help you make sure that your important announcements get noticed and noted.

Give Specific Reasons For Why You Are Doing It. It is much better to give your parents very specific reasons for the PTA or PTO fundraising drive. You should have a specific goal set and a list of what the PTA or PTO is going to do with the money raised. Parents and teachers will be much more willing to help if they know exactly why you are raising the money

Methods: Take Home Backpack Flyers, There are several things that should always be done in preparation for your fundraiser. One action is to send a letter (take home packet) to parents shortly after school starts telling them about the PTA / PTO fundraising plan. Mention in the letter how you’re going to accomplish your money making goals. Mention to them what program or procuts you will be selling. ie catalogs sale, cookie dough sale, car wash, candy sale, smencils etc. Most will feel a sense of ownership in the PTA or PTO plans.

The second thing you will want to do is write and attach to your sales brochure a letter to the parents of your students. In this letter you will tell them again why you are doing a fundraising project. You might even take this opportunity to tell them what you spent the money on that was raised in last year’s fundraiser.

Methods: E-Mail If your school has a school wide email system or a call out system, use it to announce your sale. This is a great way to let parents know to check their children’s backpacks for their selling kits. I can’t tell you the number of times people have said that they didn’t even know a fundraiser was going on. That is missed opportunity every time it happens.

Methods: School Sign or Marquee Use your school’s marquee to announce when your sale is starting, ending, and delivering. Your parents live in your neighborhood and so they will look at the marquee every time they drive by the school on their way to work or the grocery store.

Methods: Reminders via students Sending a note home in the student “take home pack” is another good way to get the word out to parents. I recommend that you send a reminder note on Friday’s.

Methods: Signs You can post signs advertising your fundraiser in various places around the school where parents will likely see them when dropping off or picking up their children.

Inside the school is where you want to do promotions that appeal to the students. The very best promotions will be geared toward the prizes that the students can earn. Things that are “different” will stand out to the students as the walk through the halls.

Methods: Do a live kick off A live presentation, especially one that is out of the ordinary, will leave an impression on the students. When the children return home, if the presentation has been memorable enough, the students will promote the sale better than a flier or letter ever could.

Methods: School Wide System During the daily announcements remind the students about the fundraiser. Take some time to do some bragging on some of your top selling students. This is a great opportunity to keep students motivated.

Working closely with your fundraising representative is paramount to your success. How you run your sale is literally as important as what you choose to sell. Planning and execution is the key to fundraiser if you want your parents, faculty, and students to support your fundraising drive. Your goal is to raise as much money as possible for your group in the particular sale you are planning. Remember, if you raise all the funds you need in the first fundraiser, you won’t have to do a second one!

The many unhealthy aspects of dairy milk are becoming increasingly recognized. Consequently, some people are giving up dairy milk (or consuming less) and switching to non-dairy milk. Shops everywhere are now selling soy (soya) milk - even other milks such as almond or rice milk. Your health benefits in two big ways when you switch to non-dairy milk:

Firstly, you avoid the unhealthy aspects of dairy milk (too numerous to mention in this short article). And secondly, you benefit from the super-nutritious and delicious aspects of non-dairy milk.

Most people think ’soy’ when it comes to finding an alternative to regular milk. But there are many wonderful plant-based milks that provide a wide variety of mouth-watering flavours: creamy, nutty flavours of nut milks, exotic delicious seed-based milks, wholesome grain milks, and of course soy milk. Once you taste some of these non-dairy milks you will never want to go back to dairy milk.

Some people have the impression that making non-dairy milk is time consuming or that it requires special milk-making equipment. In fact, a new and easy method makes it quick and simple to make non-dairy milk at any time.

Soy milk-makers have been marketed vigorously and this has generated the belief that making milk without a special machine is difficult and time-consuming. The concept of a dedicated milk-maker is that all you have to do is put the ingredients into the machine, then come back later and your milk is ready.

In reality, a milk-maker increases the workload, reduces the nutritional value, and is more time consuming. This is why:

More hassle: the same preparatory work applies, whether making milk with or without a dedicated milk-maker. But with a milk-maker you have the additional job of having to dismantle and clean all the components after making the milk.

A milk-making machine is less effective at squeezing out all the milk (this is done much more effectively and quickly using a simple strainer). With a milk-maker you are generally left with soggy residue that has not been fully squeezed out.

You are very restricted in what you can make with a milk-making machine - normally just soybean milk. A blender is much more versatile than the limited mixing capability of a dedicated soy milk-maker.

The okara (residue) tends to end up too soggy when using a milk-making machine, making it more difficult to freeze or use in other recipes.

When adding condiments such as maple syrup or vanilla extract, it is impossible to check the taste of the mixture while it is being made in the machine.

Biggest drawback: It is difficult to control the heating/boiling process, and as a result, the nutritional value of the milk can be affected (vitamins and plant oils are easily destroyed with heat). Bottom line: milk-making machines produce milk with poor nutritional value compared to making milk without such a machine.

If you wish, you can simply buy non-dairy milk sold commercially from a retailer (many supermarkets sell soybean and rice milk). Unfortunately, you are likely to have a limited choice. Also, buying non-dairy milk for the whole family can be quite expensive. It is much cheaper to make your own milk. Furthermore, some commercial non-dairy milks are high in added sugars and may have other additives.

Once you start making your own milk most people never go back to buying any kind of milk, dairy or non-dairy. As soon as you see how home-made milk is so tasty and nutritious, and as soon as you realize how quick and easy it is to make you will never want to go back to buying commercial milk.

Finding a great bargain on Christmas decorations is fun past time for many people. Collecting new or new to you items to display during the holidays can be great fun since no one truly ever has enough decorations.

The best way to save money on Christmas decorations is to go shopping in the off season. Everyone knows that after Christmas sales are a great time to find bargains, but another great time is in the summer months, especially if you look online.

Negotiating with store owners from little boutique shops in the summer for Christmas decorations is a great strategy. If the stores have them displayed they probably want to move that inventory to make room for next seasons items. Therefore they may be willing to sell some items for less that what is marked.

Another place to save money on Christmas decorations is at yard sales. When people clean out their garages and basements unloading some decorations is common. Decorations can last for years so buying from a yard sale is a great idea if the items are in fairly good shape.

In addition to yard or garage sales you can find similar bargains on swap meets. A swap meet is similar to a yard sale but where a lot of people come together in one location. Many times you can also find new items from small business owners who sale their products there.

Going online to find great deals on Christmas decorations is another good idea. Finding niche websites that sale only Christmas items may have special sales in the summer when traffic is slower.

When shopping for Christmas decorations online do not only go to online stores. Another option is online auctions where you bid against others for the items you want.

Although you can find great deals at yard sales and online auctions, some people do not like to buy used items. If that is you and you still are looking for deep discounts another option is discount stores.

Come with us as we examine one of the most common guitar playing myths about guitar tone. Many think that buying expensive equipment will give you great sound. Join us as we discover what the true secret is to capturing professional sounding tones

There is one aspect of guitar playing that can be quite elusive, even for professional guitarists It can even become an obsession for those who can never seem to find it. This crucial and pivotal aspect of playing the guitar is the tone. Every individual who is serious about the guitar who strives to master the instrument understands that playing guitar is not simply about skill, but about playing that sounds good.

Trying to discover the perfect tone is like searching for the Holy Grail. You’re not sure if it exists, but there are a lot of myths and stories that seem to offer clues about where it can be found. There are a lot of myths about how one can achieve the perfect tone and sound from their guitar, and just about all of them are false.

One popular myth about achieving great guitar tones is that you have to have a certain type of pickup for a certain sound. While certain brands and types of pickups can improve the quality of your overdrive tones and gives you some nice bottom end and some sweet highs, these pickups still won’t give you great tone. There are a lot of individuals who think that getting a new set of EMG humbuckler pickups will solve their tone issues and that immediately they’ll begin playing like Metallica! Some go on to purchase Les Pauls equipped with Alnicos to emulate the tone of Slash. These individuals drop a lot of money to get these pickups put into their guitar, to come closer to sounding like their guitar idols.

Another popular myth about guitar tone is that you have to have a Marshall half stack in order to get professional, warm sounding tones. A lot of individuals get duped into thinking that if they buy the most expensive amplifiers from the biggest brand names it will automatically give them professional quality tones. While it is true that top notch equipment can really help you to fine tune your sound and help you expand your creativity, it’s still not going to make you sound like a professional, and it’s still not going to give you the sound quality you’re going for.

The only way to truly achieve professional sounding guitar tones is to focus 100 percent on your playing abilities! As they say, the tone is in your fingers! You can have all the best selling, top of the range equipment there is and still sound like a complete amateur. In order to develop a great sound and a nice tone, you really have to hone your playing skills. The reason some of rock music’s greatest guitarists sound so good is because they are good! You simply just cannot purchase the exact same setup and gear, expecting to sound exactly like them. If you want great sound, focus first on how you play and on mastering your instrument and that will take you down the path to achieving great sound.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), being a statutory board under the Ministry of Law, is in charge of trademark registration in Singapore. Any applicant may either deal directly with the Registrar or hire a lawyer or any trademark agent as a go-between acting on his or her behalf.

For a trademark to be registered in Singapore, it should be possible to represent it as a graphic. Such a sign could take the form of a letter, a word, a name, a signature, a numeral, a device, a brand, a heading, a label, a ticket, a shape, a colour, an element of packaging, or any combination of these. Singapore trademark law does not require evidence of use to be filed as part of the application process before the trademark registration is granted. This is in contrast to practices in other countries like the United States.

Prospective applicants for trademark registration are advised to consult the records of the Singapore Registry of Trademarks and Patents before filing their own applications. Whether conducted at the IPOS office or online at the eTradeMarks section of the Web site, this search allows prospective applicants to be certain that there exist no prior trademarks represented by a symbol identical or similar to what they intend to use. This is an especially crucial consideration if a similar previously-registered trademark is found in same area of business as the applicant.

Upon verifying that no prior trademarks exist that may conflict with the one being applied for, the applicant may already submit the completed trademark registration application to the Singapore Registry of Trademarks and Patents. Options for doing so include by hand, by registered post, or by filing online through the eTrademarks system. Filing fees for registering trademarks under each class is S$340 for manual processing and S$310 for online processing.

Once the IPOS has received the trademark application, the office will conduct an administrative review to verify that the application is complete and compliant with the provisions of the Trademarks Act, as well as all necessary fees having been already paid. When these conditions are met, a trademark application number will be provided, along with the date for filing.

During the review process, the Registry may object to your trade mark sign for whatever reason and ask you to make corrections within a certain period of time. You should fulfill the Registry’s request, or respond accordingly, before the deadline otherwise your application is deemed to have been withdrawn.

The next step is for the Registry Office to mount an extensive search for similar or conflicting trademarks. They will also review geographical names and ensure your sign conforms to the international classification of goods and services. If your sign represents pharmaceutical products, the Registry would make further investigations. They would check if your mark breaches the World Health Organisation’s INN (International Non-Proprietary Name) list, which provides common names for pharmaceutical products.

If your trade mark passes the conflict test, you must still clear a couple more obstacles before you are home free. Your sign will again by studied to judge whether or not it can be registered under Singapore Trade Mark Laws, which has categories whereby certain marks are disallowed. For instances, marks that lack any distinguishing characteristics may not be entertained. If the examiner finds any objections, you will be asked to make corrections within a certain period of time.

Once it is verified that the trademark complies with Singapore Trademark Laws, the applicant will be notified of the acceptance of the application for registration which will be published in the Trade Marks Journal for public information. This will also allow any interested party to oppose the registration within two months for various grounds including issues such as the application is similar to a pending mark.

Should there be any objections, you can try to have the issue resolved. If the resolution works in your favour and the two months have passed with no further problems, you are free to register your trade mark. You will be issued with a registration certificate and you can use the trade mark freely in corporate paraphernalia.