Highlights

Registration Counter/APH Store:

Check in at the Registration Counter in the Cool Springs Conference Center adjacent to the hotel from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday and daily thereafter to register and pick up conference materials.

The APH Store, located near the Registration Counter, will open for business Friday morning and remain open throughout the conference. Our “Saving Lives” brochures and copies of the Personal Historian’s Marketing Guide will be available for purchase as well as copies of speakers’ books, oral history resources, recordings of conference workshops and presentations, and past issues of the APH Newsletter. We're also hoping to offer the first two modules of the Member Toolkit—our book-in-the-making about how to develop and run a successful personal history business.

Newcomers’ Orientation Session:

New APH members or newcomers to the annual conference are invited to arrive a bit early on Thursday afternoon to attend this year’s orientation session from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. APH President Jeanne Archer will present an entertaining orientation program with a preview of conference workshops and events as well as tips on how to get the most out of the conference and out of your APH membership.

Welcome Reception:

Join Conference Program Chair Jane Baxter, other APH hosts and fellow conference attendees in Salon 5 for light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. Don’t miss this opportunity to mix and mingle, meet new friends and catch up with old ones while enjoying a great introduction to the stimulating days ahead.

Viewing Room:

New this year, per members’ request, will be a dedicated room where conference attendees can review each other’s projects in their entirety as well as check out special computer equipment and software. DVD/CD players with monitors will be set up to facilitate multiple users simultaneously. MacAuthority, a local Apple products dealer, will supply a desktop computer and many software programs for members to test-drive at their leisure. The room also will be available for members who simply want to relax and peruse a colleague’s books. We expect the Viewing Room to be a very popular place, especially with folks who may want a more in-depth or one-on-one experience than an evening at Video Share or Print Show & Tell can provide. Be sure to bring copies of your work to share throughout the conference in this special APH space.

Evening Activities/Product Demonstration Sessions:

The opportunities to learn never end at APH conferences; they just change focus. On Friday evening, in a relaxed setting, conference attendees will have the option to attend salon sessions geared to various areas of interest:

VideoShare – (Friday only)
Video biographers will show clips of their personal history programs from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Teri Duff will facilitate the evening again this year, keeping us on track to view as many clips as possible. Anyone wishing to show a product must submit a 3-5 minute segment on DVD by November 1, 2007, to Video Share c/o Jane Baxter, 1204 Greenfield Ave., Nashville, TN 37216. Submissions will be included in the evening lineup as they are received. Please send your DVD early on as we have only 25 viewing slots available. Full-length versions of projects or products may be placed in the Viewing Room for member perusal throughout the conference.
Print Show and Tell – (Friday only)
Those working in print or other non-video media can view one another's products during this session from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Everyone is invited to show samples and give a brief presentation of the scope of the project, how the work was produced, and how pricing was calculated. Stephanie Kadel Taras will coordinate this effort. Please contact her at skadel@timepiecesbios.com for more information.

Open Salon Sessions:
These informal salon sessions are not planned in advance by APH. On Friday and Saturday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00p.m., two or three rooms will be reserved for topics that may emerge during the conference. Any attendee who has an idea or interesting question to explore may ask to utilize one of these rooms. Salon session announcements and sign-up sheets will be available at the Registration Counter.

APH Annual Business Meeting:

The annual meeting of the Association of Personal Historians, Inc., will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 10, 2007, at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs Conference Center. The board of directors will update the membership on the status of the organization and discuss ongoing strategic initiatives and other projects. Members will be invited to discuss ideas and voice opinions.

Regional Meeting:

Meet other personal and oral historians in your region during Saturday’s Regional Meeting at 11:15 a.m. Regional Chair Sarah White will lead a panel of personal historians who have found success working with other APH members within their regions. Get to know your regional leaders and colleagues who may share your passion for preserving the past.

Town Square:

Saturday, November 10, 1:30–4:30 p.m. Regions Chair Sarah White has big plans for special regional tables this year where members may show and share their wares with others, while demonstrating a little “Hometown Hospitality.” Something new this year will be Speed Coaching—an exercise wherein individual members will have a chance to spend five minutes questioning any one of a panel of successful personal historians. As usual, members and vendors are invited to rent tables for selling and demonstrating their products. See our Vendors/Ads page for more information.

Optional Grand Ole Opry/Nashville Getaway:

On Saturday evening, buses will be waiting outside the Franklin Marriott at 5:00 p.m. to transport pre-registered conference attendees to downtown Nashville, where they may choose to attend the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium (its original home) and enjoy a slice of country music history or explore Nashville’s nightlife just around the corner. Sign up now as we expect to fill our seat block at the Opry very quickly.

Special Presentations:

Expressing Personal History Through Theater Sunday, 8:15 a.m. James Walsh, a full time member of the History Department at the University of Colorado at Denver, specializes in teaching history through oral tradition—“history from below.” Theater carries an emotional component with immense social power. James will describe how he has used theater to teach Oral History for the past nine years and how the experience shaped him as a teacher. Stories regularly collected by APH members carry endless potential for social impact. The audience will be challenged to imagine how theater can supplement and complement the written word when it comes to bringing personal history into the public sphere.
Ethical Wills for Personal Historians: Adding Value to Your Portfolio Monday, 10:00 a.m. Barry K. Baines, MD, is a hospice medical director and author of Ethical Wills: Putting Your Values on Paper. An APH member since 2003, he has spoken nationally on the topic of ethical wills over the past nine years. On Monday morning, conference attendees will be privileged to hear Barry’s presentation. This session will provide a common base of understanding of what ethical wills are, why, when, and how to write one. You will learn about the potential value of ethical wills as a product line for personal historians and explore ways to implement an ethical will component in your practice

The Range & Rhythm of Personal History–Dinner, Theater and Song

Don’t miss this great opportunity for networking over a delicious dinner and enjoying some fabulous Nashville-style entertainment on Sunday, 6:30–11:00 p.m. This final evening of the conference will provide an entertaining look at the power of theatrical performance art and songwriting, and the deep connections to personal history they both harness and convey.

Tales of the Heart:

A treasured tradition at all APH conferences, this event will conclude our conference on Monday morning. Plan to stick around for a very special time when personal historians will share their own stories as well as those of their favorite clients. Your soul will return home richer for the experience.

View/print the Conference Special Events in pdf format.

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