2006 APH Conference
Workshops



Morrison Bridge
Willamette River: scene for the Portland Spirit dinner cruise Saturday night

The APH conference also will feature 32 90-minute workshops presented in six separate sessions throughout the conference. There will be workshops are tailored specifically for those new to the personal history field; others present information and perspectives especially for seasoned personal history professionals; still others will be appropriate for interested participants at any level. 4 additional workshops, to which the public will be invited, will be presented at the Community Forum in the DoubleTree Hotel's spacious Exhibit Hall on Saturday afternoon of the conference.

Key to descriptions below:

*Asterisk denotes presenter has agreed to allow recording of workshop.

Words inside parentheses after title indicate workshop level:

  • General: General interest applies to all levels
  • Basic: For newer business entrepreneurs or personal historians
  • Intermediate: To enhance business experience and personal historian skills
  • Advanced: For seasoned personal historians

Thursday, October 5: Workshop Sessions 1-3

Workshop Session 1: Thursday, October 5, 10-11:30am

(Choose one of five workshops.)

Workshop 1-A: Beginning Video Production (Basic)*

Learn the basics of video production. This session will focus on preproduction and production aspects of video work. We'll address what you need to do to prepare for production; basic camerawork, such as set-up, framing, lighting, and audio for video; and information and tools for working with video and audio professionals. It will touch on editing, but only to show the effects of camerawork. If possible, attendees will have a chance to shoot video during the workshop.

Presenter Ariel Rogers of Durham, N.C., has an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a B.A. in Film and Media from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She started doing documentary film ten years ago and launched a video production company, LifeSong Studios, with two partners in 2003. Her documentaries have been shown at independent and documentary film festivals and are on archive at universities and film centers around the world.

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Workshop 1-B: If You Build It (RIGHT), They Will Come (Basic)*

This beginning session is about marketing your business over the Internet. Do you want or have a Web site? Do you have a Web site that isn't giving you new business? Hosting, design, content, making it look just right—with so many considerations, most people miss the most important one—traffic. It doesn't matter how it looks unless your site drives traffic to your business. Learn to design your Web site and create content based on what people are looking for. Optimize your site to attract new traffic. Conduct business research using Adwords. Test, test, test until you get it perfect.

Presenter Neal Harmon of Provo, Utah, an APH member since 2004 who has five years' experience in Web site design and creation, teaches Internet business and marketing to college and private school students. He loves to open people's minds to the potential the Internet has for small business. Purely through Internet marketing—not expensive advertising—his Web site, www.FamilyLearn.com, has grown from visits by only a few family members and friends to 12,000 visitors per month.

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Workshop 1-C: The Big Bucks in Company Histories (Intermediate)

You've written a personal history. How much harder could it be write a corporate or organizational history? How does one break into this lucrative market? Three experienced APH members will discuss how to reach and impress this market; how to bid and win a contract; how to do the interviews, research, and writing; and how histories and spin-offs from them can improve your bottom line.

Presenters: As a journalist and book editor, Pat McNees of Bethesda, Md., has written histories of an Ohio lift truck company, a Dallas-based organization of company presidents and the largest research hospital in the world. Starting with oral histories, Joella Werlin of Familore in Portland has developed histories of family businesses through the narratives of the family members who built them. Eduardo Zemborain of San Isidro, former partner in a large architectural firm in Argentina, markets his personal history business, My Special Book, to corporate clients internationally.

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Workshop 1-D: The Business of Personal History (Basic)*

Becoming a personal historian is similar to having been an explorer in the Age of Discovery—you're heading into uncharted territory. Additionally, newcomers to the field may have no idea how to establish a small business. This workshop will teach business basics as they apply to personal history and enable newcomers to create documents and schedules to operate a professional personal history business. It also touches upon making good first impressions with clear, concise collateral materials.

Presenter Libby Atwater of Ventura, Calif., is a journalist, teacher and personal historian who founded Choose Your Words in 1994 as an editorial services company. She soon discovered that she did not know how to run a business. In the past eleven years she has acquired business skills that she shares readily with writer, editor and personal historian colleagues. She can help newcomers to this field learn business basics and avoid the pitfalls she has encountered.

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Workshop 1-E: Personal Facts in Public Records (General)*

This workshop is designed to familiarize personal historians with basic genealogical record sources that can provide important personal and family information and enrich personal and family histories. Learning to tap into these rich resources will enhance the personal historian's work and make it easier. The lecture/discussion session will focus on basic, readily available genealogical sources to supply facts about individuals, such as census, newspapers and government records (federal, state, county, local).

Presenter Caroline House is a professional genealogist working in Davis, Calif. With a nearly life-long fascination with genealogical research and several years' experience in research and teaching genealogy, she has spoken at many regional genealogical seminars and is a former director of an LDS Family History Center.

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Workshop Session 2: Thursday, October 5, 1:30-3pm

(Choose one of five workshops.)

Workshop 2-A: Demo Reels: The Ultimate Sales Tool (Intermediate)*

Demo reels are our calling cards. How we package ourselves and our products can be crucial to making sales. Not only do they show clients what we have done, but they also provide examples of what clients can expect their movie to look like. We will discuss clip selection and organization, packaging and presentation, and Internet streaming vs. videos and DVDs. Participants may contact the facilitator ahead of time to include examples of their own work in the discussion.

Presenter Teri Duff of Oakland, Calif., has a B.A. in Communication/Visual Arts from the University of California at San Diego and an M.A. in Radio and Television from San Francisco State University, where she taught for several years. She has produced awardwinning documentaries that have played in festivals throughout the world. Teri joined APH in 1999 and began Family Archive Films. She has been making documentaries for families ever since.

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Workshop 2-B: Analog to Digital Basics: Audio Tape Cassettes & Old Photographs (General)*

This demonstration and discussion workshop covers two digital basics. First, it looks at how to convert audio tape cassette recordings into digital audio files on your computer and what to do once you've got them there (audio editing and recording CDs). Second, it teaches how to scan and restore old photographs for publication. The workshop is for technophobes and technophiles alike.

Presenter Peter Farquhar of San Francisco taught history and geography for twenty years at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz and began developing techniques for the digital archiving of family history in 1992 with U.C. Berkeley's Bancroft Library. He conducts workshops on various digital technologies and produces beautifully designed and carefully printed family histories accompanied by digitally archived media. He has been a member of APH since 1998.

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Workshop 2-C: Legal Issues—Rights, Copyright, Royalties—For the Historian for Hire (General)*

What should personal historians know about U.S. copyright law? What rights do you have as a historian for hire? Why would you want to reserve some rights? Can you use anything you find in doing your work? When do you need permission to use material? Who owns the interview? Can you keep a copy of the interview? How much movie memorabilia can you include without violating copyright law? Learn answers to these and other questions.

Presenter Kohel Haver is an attorney with Swider Medeiros Haver LLP in Portland. He specializes in copyright, arts and publishing law. He is a frequent presenter at art schools and national conferences on subjects relating to free speech, fair use and copyright law. He has served on the boards of Portland Community Media and Northwest Lawyers and Artists. He is a member of the Alliance for Community Media, Graphics Arts Guild, Authors Guild and many other groups.

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Workshop 2-D: So, That's the Question! (Basic/General)*

Have you ever wondered after a personal history interview, "Did I ask the right questions? Were they the most important ones to ask?" This workshop will focus on helping attendees formulate interview questions that elicit the best responses from clients, and will include resources, Web sites, books, and miscellaneous question lists. Through discussion and exercises, attendees will gain an appreciation and knowledge of the kinds of questions that really work in personal history interviewing.

Presenter Bruce Doneux worked on several oral history projects in Hawaii before starting his own video personal history business, Talking Story Services, in Pacific Grove, Calif., in 2000. He has been a member of the APH since 1999 and was the Northern California APH regional chair for three years. He also served on the APH Board of Directors as bylaws chair for two years.

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Workshop 2-E: Gerontological Considerations (General)

When done well, a life review can greatly enhance an elder's self-esteem. However, life story professionals are of necessity required to make quick assessments, which can sometimes mean the difference between a good outcome and a bad experience. This workshop will provide a basic understanding of personal and societal issues common for older people. It will teach how to identify symptoms of elderly depression and attempt to accommodate them, when possible, with communication techniques that encourage elders to tell life stories.

Presenter Mary O'Brien Tyrrell of St. Paul, Minn., has a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree and a Master of Public Health degree in Community Health Education. For the last twenty-five years, she has been employed in gerontology. In 1994, she founded Memoirs, Inc., and has supported herself exclusively with this venture since 1995. During those years, she has assisted hundreds of elderly people to write and publish their memoirs, which they distribute at book signing parties.

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Workshop Session 3: Thursday, October 5, 3:30-5pm

(Choose one of five workshops.)

Workshop 3-A: Digital Video for Oral Historians (Intermediate)*

This workshop will focus on techniques and technology for gathering better oral histories using inexpensive digital cameras and equipment. The workshop may touch on the Oregon Nikkei Oral History Project, which uses digital video technology to gather, store and distribute the oral histories of Oregon's Japanese American community.

Presenter Tim Rooney of Portland is the videographer and archivist for the Oregon Nikkei Oral History Project, coordinated by the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center. He teaches digital video production at Portland Community Media, one of the leading television and community media centers in the country. He also is involved in an Arab and Muslim American oral history project.

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Workshop 3-B: If You Build It (RIGHT), They Will BUY (Intermediate)*

Do you have a Web site that isn't giving you new business? Do you have visitors coming to your site who aren't becoming clients? Converting Web site traffic into paying clients is important. This workshop teaches you how to convert visitors into repeat visitors and repeat visitors into paying customers. We'll discuss how to design your Web site for people as well as search engines, look at approaches that work as well as those that don't, and understand the principle of call to action.

Presenter Neal Harmon of Provo, Utah. (Please see his biographical information under Workshop Session 1-B.)

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Workshop 3-C: Use Social History to Enrich Your Life/Family/Corporate Histories and Generate Higher Income (General)*

In this workshop, personal historians will learn how to research their clients' experiences, write as a social historian and set their clients' experiences against the broader historical currents of the day, so that future readers will be able to learn how Americans lived, worked, and played in the twentieth century. Such an emphasis will greatly enrich the narratives and give clients' stories much greater meaning for their descendants.

Presenter James Simmons of Del Mar, Calif., possesses a Ph.D. in English, having completed his dissertation on Victorian historiography. He has written a dozen books, including five histories/ biographies published through major publishers, and more than 500 magazine and newspaper articles, including more than fifty profiles in magazines.

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Workshop 3-D: Marketing for Introverts II (Basic/General)

Do you LOVE your work but hate to SELL it? Many talented, creative and intelligent personal historians dread marketing and selling their products and services. In this popular workshop, people with sales reluctance will hear surprising answers and personalized solutions to this problem, which is common among people who are more comfortable working with clients than selling. This workshop presents a detailed roadmap for decreasing reluctance about doing marketing and sales while increasing a specific list of skills. When mastered, these very necessary business activities become much easier and less stressful.

Presenter Dhyan Atkinson of Boulder, Colo., is a business consultant with a background in psychotherapy. She specializes in helping small business owners master essential business skills—especially marketing and sales. In addition to one-on-one consulting, she teaches classes and workshops both on-site and nationally via teleconference. She counts personal historians among her favorite clients and has more than 300 APH members on her permission-based email list.

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Workshop 3-E: The Emotional Side of Personal History (General)*

Client decisions to proceed with personal history projects are often fraught with indecision, anxieties and fear. Those concerns typically do not vanish when they agree to engage you but evolve and recur throughout the project, requiring you to provide ongoing counseling, support, motivation and "pep talks." This session provides insights into personality differences and their respective needs: how to anticipate problems, deal with concerns, patch up differences and bring the project to an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Presenter Bob Joyce, an honorary lifetime APH member, has been doing personal history preservation writing, editing and publishing since 1992. He has been involved with APH, as an organization since its founding. He served as APH treasurer in 1997 and was chair of the 1998 conference in Santa Ana, Calif. He served as APH president from 1999 to 2001 and Southern California regional coordinator from 2002 to 2004. He is the author of four books dealing with personal history.

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Friday, October 6: Workshop Sessions 4-5

Workshop Session 4: Friday, October 6, 1:30-3pm

(Choose one of five workshops.)

Workshop 4-A: Making the Past Come Alive (Intermediate)*

Historical re-creation is an essential skill in writing autobiography, memoir and biography. Without the ability to re-create and animate the past, using interviews, documents and memory to craft a story, a writer is left to construct a dry chronicle. How do you tell a compelling story about events you did not witness? This workshop provides specific, practical tools and "writerly" techniques that will help you craft compelling narratives of the past. A short writing exercise will be done with immediate feedback.

Presenter Dr. Lauren Kessler of Eugene, Ore. (Please see her biographical information in the description of her speech on the Speakers page.)

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Workshop 4-B: Introduction to Oral History, Part I (Basic)*

In this first of a two-session workshop, participants will be introduced to the world of oral history and learn how to create an oral history interview: techniques, sensitive issues, legalities and more. After attending both workshop sessions, participants will be able to approach and interview individuals about their past histories, properly record and preserve those interviews, and use the oral histories in their research, projects and families.

Presenter Dr. Laurie Mercier is associate professor of history at Washington State University Vancouver, where she teaches classes in modern U.S., Pacific Northwest, immigration and oral history. She is the author of Anaconda: Labor, Community and Culture in Montana's Smelter City and Mining Women: Gender in the Development of a Global Industry, 1670- 2000. Mercier is former president of the national Oral History Association and served as associate director of the Center for Columbia River History.

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Workshop 4-C: Letting Potential Clients Sell Themselves on Your Services (Advanced)*

Would you like your potential clients to sell themselves on the importance of doing a personal history with you? By asking certain key questions in a simple, conversational manner, you can find out whether the person you are talking to is ready, willing and able to pay for your services. The technical term for what participants will create in this workshop is a "sales dialogue"—a nonthreatening conversation with an interested, potential client to ascertain whether what they need or want is what you offer. Come to this workshop to find out how doing "more listening and less talking" can be a more effective sales technique than convincing or presenting.

Presenter Dhyan Atkinson of Boulder, Colo. (Please see her biographical information under Workshop 3-D.)

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Workshop 4-D: Part I: Fear Factor: Effective Public Speaking (General)*

The first part of this two-part workshop features interactive discussion on the Do's and Don'ts of public speaking—what works and what doesn't. This session will help participants become more persuasive, dynamic and effective speakers.

Presenter Lynne Choy Uyeda Gin of Belmont, Calif., ran her own public relations and marketing communications firm for more than twenty years. Her clients included major corporations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. She has trained upper-level executives and CEOs for major presentations and keynote addresses, and prepared them for major media events where they appear "center stage" and on-camera. A frequent guest on radio and television shows, she often is quoted in magazine and newspaper articles.

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Workshop 4-E: Personal History Documentaries: More Than Just Talking Heads (Intermediate)*

A well-lit, well-framed head and shoulders shot can be nice, but sometimes an audience wants more. This workshop will look at the many ways we can incorporate visual variety into our documentaries. Samples of programs made by APH members and others will be shown to demonstrate these various methods. Participants may contact the facilitator ahead of time to include examples of their own work in the discussion.

Presenter Teri Duff of Oakland, Calif. (Please see her biographical information under Workshop 2-A.)

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Workshop Session 5: Friday, October 6, 3:30-5pm

(Choose one of five workshops.)

Workshop 5-A: "When Will She Stop Screaming?" A Short Course in Narrative Journaling (General)*

Charley Kempthorne will define "scene" in narrative, identify its primary elements and demonstrate by writing a brief scene. Then participants will write a quick scene from their lives, starting with a dramatic line. Volunteers will be asked to read theirs aloud for discussion. With the writing of scenes down pat (really!), the session will end with a discussion and demonstration of how to make writing a narrative journal a quick and easy—and practical—daily pleasure.

Presenter Charley Kempthorne of Manhattan, Kan., holds an M.F.A. in Narrative Writing from the University of Iowa. He started the first Reminiscence Workshop in the nation in 1976. He has taught memoir writing workshops around North America. In 1996, his book, For All Time: A Complete Guide to Writing Your Family History, was published by Heinemann and still is in print. He publishes a newsletter and has kept his own narrative journal, now five million words long.

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Workshop 5-B: Introduction to Oral History Part II (Basic)*

In the second of these two-session workshops, participants will put theory into practice. They will conceptualize an oral history project, practice and critique interviews, and discuss ways of preserving and publishing interviews. Workshop participants are asked to bring a tape recorder and a tape so they can experience what it's like to actually interview a stranger and sit in the place of the narrator being interviewed.

Presenter Dr. Laurie Mercier. (Please see biographical information for Workshop 4-B.)

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Workshop 5-C: Panel Discussion: The Power of Partnering Between Nonprofits and Personal Historians (General)*

It's time we recognized the power of collaborations between nonprofits and our personal history practices. In this brainstorming session, panelists and participants explore how collaboration can lead to higher achievement for both partners. Panelists include personal historians and representatives from the nonprofit sector. We'll investigate what organizations we might approach, how we can help them with stories that prove the value of their mission, and how they might help us to serve low-income or underserved communities.

Facilitator Sarah White of Madison, Wis., an author and personal historian, is a member of the APH board, past marketing chair now serving as regions chair. In 2005, she produced a community history partially funded by a local arts grant. The panelists who have volunteered to bring their experience with nonprofit organizations include Libby Atwater and Kathleen McGreevy, both with extensive experience working with healthcare organizations, and Hella Buchheim brings a twist to the discussion—she used a commissioned personal history as a fund-raiser for a nonprofit organization.

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Workshop 5-D: Part II: "Meet the Press in 60 Minutes" (General)*

The second of this two-part workshop features interactive discussion on the Do's and Don'ts of relating to reporters and interviewers for print, radio and television. In addition to discussing what works and what doesn't, participants will learn to control the interview while letting the reporter think he or she is in charge. They also will learn how to be articulate, speak in "sound bites," establish themselves as an authority and maintain credibility as a spokesperson.

Presenter Lynne Choy Uyeda Gin of Belmont, Calif. (Please see biographical information under Workshop 4-D.)

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Workshop 5-E: Getting from the Small Practice into Business (Intermediate)*

This workshop is oriented to those who ask themselves how to get out of their single activity and build a stable and growing business. Participants will learn how to think in terms of planning and consistent growth, strategies and clues about marketing and selling, the "product" concept, communicating, organizing, training, producing and managing.

Presenter Eduardo Zemborain of San Isidro, Argentina, is a former partner in a large architectural firm in Argentina. He earned a Master's in Business Administration in 1992 and launched his personal history business, My Special Book, in 2002.

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Saturday, October 7: Workshop Session 6

Workshop Session 6: Saturday, October 7, 10-11:30am

(Choose one of seven workshops.)

Workshop 6-A: Interviewing for In-Depth Personal Histories (Advanced)

Would you like to be able to attract clients who will pay you $1,500 to $2,000 per week or, better yet, 50 cents or more per word, to ghostwrite and produce 60,000 or more words of their personal histories/autobiographies? That's what Maury Breecher does. He can teach you what he knows and how he does it. He'll also emphasize the need for empathic listening.

Presenter Maury Breecher, Ph.D., of Corpus Christi, Tex., (www.maurybreecher.com) is a longtime personal historian/ghostwriter. He is the author or co-author of six published trade books and the ghost-author of seventeen other works. He is a member of the Author's Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of Science Writers. His books are available at Barnes and Noble and www.Amazon.com. Breecher wrote his workshop proposal while sitting at the desk of an Arizona millionaire who not only paid him $1,500 per week for a contracted twelve weeks, but also furnished room and board.

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Workshop 6-B: Therapeutic Aspects of Personal History: Ethical Wills, Life Review, and Spiritual Autobiography (Advanced)

As personal historians, we like to say that our work is therapeutic, not psychotherapy. But what parts are therapeutic for our clients? Beyond interviewing techniques, are we paying enough attention to the relational, emotional and spiritual aspects of recording histories? How can we maximize and even market the therapeutic benefits? This session addresses these questions with particular emphasis on ethical wills and on life review as a vehicle for mending stories that have been "broken" by challenging events.

Presenter Linda Blachman, MA, MPH, of Berkeley, Calif., is a seasoned personal historian, public health consultant, and counselor for life transitions with extensive experience in preparing ethical wills and spiritual autobiographies. In 1995, she founded Mothers' Living Stories, a nonprofit project that helps seriously ill mothers record life stories and legacy messages for their children and trains others in listening, life review and legacy. Her book, Another Morning: Voices of Truth and Hope from Mothers with Cancer, is hot off the press.

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Workshop 6-C: Pricing for Profit (Basic/General)

Pricing your personal history service for profit is one of the most important business decisions you'll make. You must offer your service at a price your target market will pay—one that produces a profit. This workshop will provide a realistic framework for smart pricing decisions that take into account your costs, your customers' perception of value, and your goals for profitability. Note: As a trade organization, we cannot discuss specific pricing to avoid violating anti-trust laws.

Presenters: Sarah White, APH regions chair, is author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Marketing. She consults on marketing and advertising, and writes books, articles and life histories. Paula S. Yost served on the APH board for six years, four years as vice president. She founded LifeSketches/Heirloom Memoirs Publishing in 1998 and has completed more than 300 personal histories in book form, online and as oral histories. Paula is a popular speaker and workshop leader and works closely with nonprofit organizations, including APH, Story Circle Network and the Writers League of Texas.

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Workshop 6-D: Using Digital Storytelling to Preserve Family Stories (General)*

Learn how to promote your business and enhance your product line through digital storytelling, using common software tools to create short videos on your home computer. A Digital Family Story is a three-to-five-minute video preserved on digital media telling a story, usually in first person, which is unique to a family or a family member. Modern technology and affordable application software give virtually everyone an opportunity to create these vignettes to share with family and friends.

Presenter Dan Barrett of Kent, Wash., is a retired banker who trained at the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, Calif. His wife, Helen C. Barrett, Ph.D., is an educator and consultant. Together, Dan and Helen have conducted several two- and threeday workshops teaching participants how to create a digital story. Certified genealogists Kathi and Tom Hamilton also may assist with the presentation.

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Workshop 6-E: Send Your Grammar to Boot Camp (General)*

Just as no army can afford weak soldiers, so must each sentence of your manuscript work at peak efficiency and without error. We will review common but often violated grammar rules, followed by short interactive exercises to ensure that participants can not only identify the grammar problem but also correct it. These problems include, but are not limited to, the use of the colon and semicolon, hyphenated words, misuse of commas (e.g., fragments, runons, and comma splices), punctuating introductory and relative clauses, and other matters of concern to participants.

Presenter Nancy Burkhalter, Ph.D., of Seattle has a lively teaching style, using many funny exercises to engage participants. She has taught all levels of writing and grammar for more than twenty-five years. She also has written several academic articles about grammar pedagogy and given many presentations at conferences. Her (as yet unpublished) linguistics textbook includes several chapters about grammar.

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Workshop 6-F: How to Preserve Grandma's Laugh: Working in Audio (General)*

This interactive workshop will cover the essentials for working in an audio format—preparing for, organizing and conducting the interview, producing a "talking book," and the equipment and technology needed to do this work. We'll look at various types of recording equipment, practice editing digital audio and learn how to produce cassettes and CDs as the final product. Participants will learn to feel confident about their ability to do personal history work with the final product in audio format. They will discover the joy, satisfaction and relative simplicity of working in audio and have fun in the process.

Presenter Gloria Nussbaum of Beaverton, Ore., is known as an audiophile in APH because of her passion for preserving the actual voice of those with whom she works. She has a background in radio broadcasting and has been a member of APH since 2001, the same year she started her own personal history business, Real to Reel. She serves as the APH membership chair.

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Workshop 6-G: Effective Marketing at Trade Shows and Presentations (General)*

After six years of participating in Northwest regional APH events, we have seen the importance of effective signage and direct mail follow-up on qualified prospects. This workshop will include an in-depth explanation of how to acquire and refine your prospect lists and make them effective with follow-up direct mail. A product booth will be set up for attendees to review, including signage, display hardware, handouts, decorations, a prize-drawing box and other essentials. Participants will also have access to their own customizable signage and consistently high-quality, direct mail tools; thus providing the missing link to making trade shows and presentations an effective marketing approach.

Presenter Paula Slavens of Beaverton, Ore., 2006 assistant conference chair, has been a personal historian for seven years. In the corporate world, she gained twenty years of experience in marketing communications, graphic design and creative writing, as well as business acumen in industries ranging from high tech to healthcare. Slavens and her husband, Rick, work together, combining skills to create graphically rich books that turn interviews, social history, historical events and genealogy into works of art.

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