2005 APH Conference
Workshops
Thursday, November 3: Workshop Sessions 1-3
Two Full-Day Workshop Opportunities
Sessions 1, 2 and 3. Thursday, November 3, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Breaks for coffee, lunch and snacks.
Thursday Workshops 1-D, 2-D, 3-D.
Personal History University...PH 101
Launching a New Personal History Business
Elizabeth Wright
(Lecture/discussion/interactive format)
This intense, full-day workshop is designed for those Personal Historians just starting their businesses. Participants will enjoy the opportunity to learn together and ask those burning questions about all sorts of topics, including business planning, product ideas, pricing strategies, finding clients, and interviewing. With several expert presenters attuned to your start-up challenges, the session will build knowledge, networks, and confidence. It will include a brief orientation to APH and how the association can help you build your business, a review of the nuts and bolts of starting a small business, the specific steps and decisions involved in starting a personal history business, and discussion in smaller groups about your chosen media (print, audio, or video). Expect free-flowing questions, group brainstorming, and expert guidance. By the end of this three-session workshop, you will have a solid understanding and basic plan for making your personal history business a success.
Coordinated by Elizabeth Wright, the Personal History University will draw on the resources of local entrepreneurial professionals as well as seasoned APH professionals. Elizabeth, an APH member since 1998, the past Vice-President of APH, and one of the most encouraging and inspirational entrepreneurs to welcome new Personal Historians into the field, owns History In Progress, an Oral History and training service in San Francisco.
Note: This workshop is three sessions long. If you choose to attend the Personal History University, please indicate the letter D for sessions 1, 2, and 3 on your registration form.
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Thursday Workshops 1-E, 2-E, 3-E
A Retreat for Experienced Personal Historians
What We've Learned So Far
Jeanne Archer and Stephanie Kadel Taras
(Entirely interactive format)
Have you been in business a while but want to improve in certain areas? Do you wonder how other professionals handle a particular challenge? Do you have helpful tips to share? Focus the first day of your conference experience on an in-depth conversation with other experienced personal historians in a format new to APH. We will retreat from the hustle and bustle of conference activities for a full day of brainstorming, problem-solving and learning from each other. In response to suggestions from previous conference participants, this retreat has been designed to encourage an exchange of ideas among experienced business people. Therefore, the session is open to conference attendees who have worked professionally as personal historians for three or more years and have completed projects for numerous paying clients.
The retreat sessions will cover topics such as the following:
- Project management
- Growing your business
- Seizing publicity opportunities
- Closing the sale
- Elements of Pricing
- Meeting the client's needs/determining scope and intent
- The art and craft of editing books or video
- Visioning for success
We say "such as the following" because the actual topics to be discussed in Grand Rapids will be determined by the participants in the retreat. Once we have filled the available slots, we'll survey the participants in advance to determine which of the topics above (or others) will be discussed.
During the retreat, we hope to leave time during the day to focus on additional topics of importance to the participants. At times, we may also break into smaller groups so you can target your interests even further.
Advance registration required. Register early! Enrollment is limited to 20 registrants. You'll be asked to bring your samples, expertise, an open mind and a willingness to share ideas.
Facilitators Jeanne Archer and Stephanie Kadel Taras, Ph.D., have been APH members since 2001 and 2000, respectively. Jeanne has a background in journalism, public relations and marketing and wrote a best-selling business book before starting her personal history company, Life Journeys. Jeanne led the production of APH's Personal Historian's Guide to Marketing and currently serves as Treasurer for APH. Through her company, TimePieces Personal Biographies, Stephanie makes a full-time living as a personal historian, writing books for family clients as well as repeat customers who use her biographies in their businesses. She recently completed the narrative history of a Florida college. Stephanie serves on the APH board as chair of Print Information Services.
Note: This workshop is three sessions long. If you choose to attend the Experienced Personal Historian Retreat, please indicate the letter E for Sessions 1, 2, and 3 on your registration form.
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Workshop Session 1: Thursday, November 3, 10:00 am
(Choose one of three workshops if you are not signing up for either the Personal History University or the Experienced Personal Historian Retreat)
Workshop 1-A.
Manage the Details!
Paulette Stevens
(Discussion format)
One of the most challenging aspects of a small business is managing the overwhelming number of details. Before a crisis or burnout, simple organizational techniques and problem solving strategies are valuable tools to have in place. This workshop will brainstorm for common problems, utilize small groups for problem resolution and generally encourage writers to think ahead, sharpen their organizational skills, delegate layout tasks, utilize available software and stay cool under pressure. Workshop participants will learn to think ahead to anticipate and solve problems proactively by streamlining tasks and implementing effective software and organizational techniques in the management of a small business.
Presenter Paulette Stevens is an experienced teacher, journalist/reporter and writer. She has taken a dozen stories through the process from interview to publication and created beautiful books. A graduate of the University of Utah in English and history, she is also an entrepreneur, mother of seven children and a mentor for other personal historians in her region. Paulette has been a member of APH since 2003.
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Workshop 1-B.
Expanding the Personal History Market Through Cooperative Efforts
Patsy Kuentz
(Lecture/discussion format)
Milk producers shouldn't have all the fun. Personal historians can expand their market, too! In late 2002, the "Got Stories?" group, the Minnesota Branch of APH, embarked on a campaign to spread the word that capturing personal histories is good and good for you—and for your whole family, too. The group works together utilizing members' skills and talents to create events that promote the personal history concept as well as the fact that personal historians exist and are available to assist those who want to document personal histories. Patsy Kuentz will share the "Got Stories?" group's history, mission, and activities with hopes that other APH members will come away with ideas and tips to help expand the market in their areas, too.
Presenter Patsy Kuentz, an APH member since 2001, holds a B.S. in Nursing from the University of Hawaii—Manoa Campus and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin—LaCrosse. After almost 20 years in medical clinic administration, she switched gears in 2002 to combine her love of interviewing, writing, and documenting family histories to create Recollections—A Portrait of a Life. Patsy has also conducted over 45 volunteer Veterans History Project interviews for the Library of Congress.
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Workshop 1-C.
If You Build It (RIGHT), They Will Come
Neal Harmon
(Hands-on format)
This beginning session is about marketing your business over the Internet. You want or have a beginning website? Do you have a website that isn't giving you new business? Where do you begin? Hosting, design, content, making it look just right—there are so many considerations. Most people miss the most important consideration—traffic. It doesn't matter how it looks unless your site drives traffic to your business.
- Free traffic—Design your website and create content based on what people are looking for. Conduct business research over the web. Optimize your site to attract new traffic.
- Targeted paid traffic—Research using Adwords. Conduct a successful adwords campaign. Test, test, test until you get it perfect.
Presenter Neal Harmon has 4 years experience in website design and creation and has begun teaching Internet Business & Marketing to college and private school students. He loves to open people.s minds to the potential the Internet has for small business. His website, FamilyLearn.com, has grown from visits by only a few family and friends to 12,000 unique visitors per month with no expensive advertising and marketing.purely Internet Marketing. Neal has been an APH member since 2004.
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Workshop Session 2: Thursday, November 3, 1:30 pm
(Choose one of three workshops if you are not signing up for either the Personal History University or the Experienced Personal Historian Retreat.)
Workshop 2-A.
Transcript to Manuscript
Sarah Anne Johnson
(Lecture/interactive format)
In reference to a manuscript of someone's life, Alfred Kazen said, "A personality is quickly built up before our eyes. It is not an intellectual biography, such as a book on a single man seeks to become; it is a close-up, a startlingly informative glance—usually sympathetic, and even when it is not openly so, the coverage becomes a form of sympathy. It is not wisdom that we are trying to understand; it is exceptionality." In this workshop we will focus on finding what is exceptional about an interview subject and developing that as a lead into a manuscript, using quotes from the interview to build and develop the narrative thread of a character's story.
Presenter Sarah Anne Johnson, our Keynote Speaker, is the author of Conversations with American Women Writers (University Press of New England, 2004), The Art of the Author Interview (UPNE, March 2005), and More Conversations with American Writers (UPNE 2006). Her interviews have appeared in The Writer, The Writer's Chronicle, Provincetown Arts, and Glimmertrain Stories. Her fiction has appeared in Other Voices, and she's received fiction residencies from Vermont Studio Centers and Jentel Artists Residency Program. Sarah is a contributing editor at The Writer, and teaches "The Art of the Author Interview" in the MFA program at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at conferences nationwide. (www.sarahannejohnson.com)
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Workshop 2-B.
Tradeshow Savvy: Raise Public Awareness and Get Results
Paula Slavens and Julie Zander
(Hands-on/interactive)
This workshop challenges the myth that tradeshows are not effective for acquiring new clients. It also demonstrates that the endeavor can be both enlightening and fun. After having participated in several tradeshows, members of the Northwest region have learned how to make tradeshows more effective by testing reactions of the public, creating signage and display strategies, developing surveys that qualify prospective clients, and distributing appropriate literature. Workshop attendees will see an actual booth set up and experience approaches used to draw people into the booth. We will also share tested tradeshow materials.
Presenters Paula Slavens and Julie McDonald Zander are APH members from the Northwest region. Paula, who joined APH in 2000, is co-owner of Special Editions Customized Biographies, creating graphically-rich narratives integrating genealogical and social history research for individuals, families, and companies. After a career in journalism and producing many biographies for her family, Julie Zander started her company Chapters of Life memory books in 1999 and joined APH that same year. She has been an active volunteer and regional coordinator for APH.
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Workshop 2-C.
"You've Got Questions—We've Got Answers!" (Q&A for Videographers)
Loretta Heindrichs
(Presentation/interactive format)
Given the mushrooming interest in videography for Personal Histories, this workshop will provide an opportunity for APH members using video to share experiences, demonstrate what they've learned, and build dependable resources. There will be a panel of several experienced APH videographers who will share their current insights on relevant issues. Then the workshop will be opened for participants to ask questions and share information. Participants are encouraged to bring resources and video clips to share with others who are developing their artistic skills using the new media.
Facilitator Loretta Heindrichs has many years experience in the fields of gerontology and older adult education. She has a master's degree in counseling and recently worked in the Center for LifeLong Learning on the campus of Lorain County Community College, in Elyria, Ohio. Loretta joined APH in 2004 and is the owner of Keepsake Video Memories, LLC.
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Workshop Session 3: Thursday, November 3, 3:30 pm
(Choose one of three workshops if you are not signing up for either the Personal History University or the Experienced Personal Historian Retreat)
Workshop 3-A.
Listening to Ghosts—Touching Ancestors Through the Recovery of Family Oral Tradition
James Walsh
(Lecture/discussion/interactive)
Oral History reaches well beyond the life of the person who is being interviewed. These living stories are usually the only glimpses that we have into the lives of the deceased, their human struggles, dreams, joys, and loves. This Oral Tradition is now being given a new look by academics and historians as a vital and important historical source. This workshop will challenge attendees to explore stories that live in their own ancestral history, stories that have survived generations because they carry with them a vital human truth. We will look together at these stories and try to glimpse the humanity of people who we can no longer interview.
The workshop will focus on the analytical tools and questions that might assist personal historians and genealogists with stories that emerge from interviews about people who are deceased. Attendees will gain an appreciation for the importance of Oral Tradition and the "human truth" that it reveals. (All attendees will need to bring a story from their own ancestral Oral Tradition)
Presenter James Walsh teaches history full time at the University of Colorado at Denver and part time at Regis University. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has taught U.S. history for six years through a project that asks students to mine the ancestral Oral Tradition in their own families and to share the stories with the class. This experience has had a lasting impact on his students and on his life and has fostered a deep appreciation for the importance of listening to stories and keeping them alive. Jim joined APH this year and continues his conference role as APH's Historian-in-Residence.
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Workshop 3-B.
Ways to Get Free and Low-Cost Publicity
Carlyn Saltman
(Lecture/discussion format)
There are many free and low-cost ways to advertise and market your personal history business. The presentation will consist of methods, tips, hints, and suggestions accompanied by a handout. Open discussion will follow the presentation.
Presenter Carlyn Saltman owes the increasing success of her company Your Story Matters Personal Documentary to low-cost forms of publicity. She has been using video to help people review and record what matters most to them since 1998—and filming since 1982. Before discovering that she was a personal historian, she made documentaries in sub-Saharan Africa, attending the UK's National Film & Television School along the way. Her first two films were acquired by the Smithsonian; three others won awards from the Society for Visual Anthropology and the New England Film Festival. In 1998, she took what turned out to be her last trip to Africa to produce an AIDS education video for Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Her passion and curiosity turned to her own "tribe." She trained as a psychosynthesis counselor and hospice volunteer and now produces video memoirs and ethical wills for clients across the US and coaches clients who want to produce their own.
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Workshop 3-C.
Graphic Design for Writers: Creating the "Look" You Want
Linda Coffin
(Lecture/hands-on)
You know all about semi-colons and apostrophes. You can turn disjointed snippets into flowing prose. But your books, brochures, and web pages often look flat. Doesn't that beautiful story deserve a beautiful "look"? Using visual examples, this workshop will inspire you to try new things in your layouts. Rather than discussing technical tools (typefaces, gutters, screens, bleeds, and so on), we will focus on how these tools interact to create a visual impression. You will learn how to "write to the design," and we will create sample layouts using real-life examples. You will leave this workshop with layout ideas you can use immediately.
Presented by Linda Coffin. Linda Coffin has been a self-employed graphic designer for 20 years. Her business, PageCrafters, specializes in working with non-profit organizations and small businesses. Recently Linda has been merging her love of genealogy, history and family heirlooms into a new business venture called HistoryCrafters. Among other things, she creates albums that tell the stories of family heirlooms. Linda joined APH in 2004 and designs the APH newsletter. She is also a member of the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Genealogical Society, the National Genealogical Society, and the Association for Women in Communications.
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Friday, November 4: Workshop Sessions 4-5
Workshop Session 4: Friday, November 3, 2005, 10:30 am
(Choose one of four workshops.)
Workshop 4-A.
Art of the Interview
Sarah Anne Johnson
(Lecture/interactive format)
An interview is a performance, and although a performance can reveal much, its revelations are selective, and its omissions and concealments are often as instructive as its grand pronouncements. This workshop offers resources and tools to successfully research, conduct, transcribe, and edit an interview. Through workshop exercises, discussion, and handouts, participants will become familiar with the art and craft of the interview and leave ready to conduct interviews so as to reveal as much personal history as possible.
Presenter Sarah Anne Johnson, our Keynote Speaker, is the author of Conversations with American Women Writers (University Press of New England, 2004), The Art of the Author Interview (UPNE, March 2005), and More Conversations with American Writers (UPNE 2006). Her interviews have appeared in The Writer, The Writer's Chronicle, Provincetown Arts, and Glimmertrain Stories. Her fiction has appeared in Other Voices, and she's received fiction residencies from Vermont Studio Centers and Jentel Artists Residency Program. Sarah is a contributing editor at The Writer, and teaches "The Art of the Author Interview" in the MFA program at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at conferences nationwide. (www.sarahannejohnson.com)
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Workshop 4-B.
Dialogue That Delivers
Gloria Kempton
(Lecture/interactive)
What is the secret to bringing personal histories to life on the page? How can we show in three-dimensional detail the quirky and fascinating characters we have been interviewing? What will cause future generations to know them as real people? The answer is one word: dialogue. Many narrators use only one element of storytelling: narrative. And they often achieve one effect: dry writing, dull history, flat characters. Dialogue is the element that will infuse our stories with life and help us to create three-dimensional stories. In this workshop, we'll learn just how that works, how dialogue can make a flat story spring to life, how it can turn a ho-hum moment in our personal history into a suspenseful and page-turning ride, how it can evoke laughter and tears from the reader. Why? Because dialogue is the voice of the story. Learn to encourage your clients to let the characters tell the story. Learn how to help them reveal their most authentic selves in their stories in a way that's sharp, witty, and very real—through the dialogue they speak in everyday life.
Presenter Gloria Kempton's mission is to coach and mentor those with a dream to write out of their inner passion, authenticity, and goodness—so as to entertain, give hope to, and/or heal their readers. She has been involved in writing for more than 25 years, publishing more than 500 short stories and articles as well as several nonfiction books. She has won several distinguished writing awards, and coaches writers through mentoring, workshops, classes, and retreats. Gloria is currently an instructor for the Writer's Digest School, teaches writing at several community colleges, and hold a bimonthly workshop called Writer's Recharge in the Seattle area.
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Workshop 4-C.
When You're Thrown For a Loop, How Do You Land on Your Feet?
Linda Lyman
(Interactive format)
Several postings on the APH listserv this year have expressed shock and dismay when a client became unreasonable or pulled out of the agreement, making it obvious that, in spite of our best efforts, situations can go awry. So if your client becomes difficult or irrational, if your equipment malfunctions in the midst of a touchy interview, how do you maintain your equilibrium to continue drawing from the best that's within you?
Presenter Linda Lyman has years of experience giving workshops on strengthening life skills, many of them on even more difficult subjects like dealing with death and dying, loss and grief. She was a family therapist for decades before she left the mental health system and, with Marty Walton, started the Storehouse Collection of Memories 10 years ago.
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Workshop 4-D.
De-Mystifying Digital Audio
Ryan Robbins
(Lecture/interactive format)
So you've done some research, know the basics, but can't decide to take the plunge and buy the latest digital audio recorder? Or, you're already frustrated with the recorder and software package you purchased? Need to know how to fix mistakes and edit recordings you've already completed? Want to know the best way to transcribe your digital audio files? This workshop will take you through the process of recording, clean up, editing, and saving your digital audio files using one of the latest, most cost-effective, software-based audio tools available. WARNING: You may experience an "I can really do this AND afford it" moment during this workshop!
Presenter Ryan Robbins has provided multimedia production and consulting for a wide range of uses for corporate, academic, and public clients. He consults on a variety of audio and video recording issues for TAPE TRANSCRIPTION CENTER clients including digital recording, audio/video editing, audio preservation, and transcription related challenges. (And tries to have fun doing it!) Ryan brings to the table a deep appreciation and sense of humor to historical phenomena as they relate to present day culture.
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Workshop Session 5: Friday, November 3, 2005, 4:30 pm
(Choose one of four workshops.)
Workshop 5-A.
Intro to Book Production
Mandy Syers
(Beginner level, Lecture format)
Take your project from a typeset manuscript to a printed and bound book. In this workshop, you will come to understand different print technologies including offset, laser, inkjet, and print on demand. You will learn to design book pages to printshop specifications, how to choose the right paper, and how to get an estimate from a printshop. We will explore different binding options including sewn, perfect bound, looseleaf, etc., how to choose the right cover material and how to get an estimate from a bindery.
Presenter Mandy Syers is the owner of Heirloom Books, and designs, prints, and binds books for her clients. She has been a member of APH since 2000.
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Workshop 5-B.
Promoting Your Passion
Paula Stahel
(Lecture/interactive/hands-on)
Would you rather open your mouth for a root canal than in front of an audience? With today's technology, dentistry is virtually painless. With preparation, public speaking isn't just painless, it's fun. Sharing your passion for personal history opens new avenues to networking, media contacts, clients, and income. Discover how to identify your own story to engage your audience, how to become as comfortable before a group as you are with your best friend, how to promote yourself as a speaker, and how to develop client leads from your presentations.
Presenter Paula Stahel used to be tongue-tied but now will run her mouth happily in front of any group willing to listen.and knows every community is filled with speaking opportunities. An independent writer for more than 20 years, Paula has specialized as a Personal Historian since 1998, joined the APH in 1999, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2001, presently as board Secretary.
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Workshop 5-C.
Post WWII U.S. Through Music, Storytelling, and Photography
James Walsh
(Intermediate level, Discussion format)
This session will walk attendees through the last 50 years in American history, not in lecture format, but through folk music, stories, and photographs. Following the presentation, attendees will be engaged in a discussion around their memories and personal stories lived through this time period. Attendees will gain a deeper appreciation for the last 50 years in American history as they relate to the lives of their oral history subjects. Attendees will also be asked to see their own stories within a fresh social perspective, viewing their own stories within the larger social and cultural context.
Presenter James Walsh teaches history full time at the University of Colorado at Denver and part time at Regis University. He is currently finishing his PhD at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has taught U.S. history for six years through a project that asks students to mine the ancestral Oral Tradition in their own families and to share the stories with the class. This experience has had a lasting impact on his students and on his life and has fostered a deep appreciation for the importance of listening to stories and keeping them alive. Jim joined APH this year and continues his conference role as APH.s Historian-in-Residence.
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Workshop 5-D.
Why Use Video to Tell Stories: The Scientific Research in a Nutshell
Monica Younger
(Lecture/discussion format)
We all know intuitively that a video presentation is memorable. But why? And what's the evidence for this? In this workshop we will explore the relevant academic research with respect to learning and remembering, and video. By applying scientific research to your video business, you will learn to help your clients understand the impact of video as a medium for remembering.
Presenter Monica Younger has a master's degree in Technical Communication. For the past six years, she has worked with a team of researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine who have developed Project LIVE, an interactive video learning tool for medical education. Monica joined APH at the beginning of this year and is the owner of Denver-based Digital Family History, LLC.
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Saturday, November 5: Workshop Sessions 6-7
Workshop Session 6: Saturday, November 5, 2005, 11:00 am
(Choose one of four workshops)
Workshop 6-A.
Selling Skills for Entrepreneurs
Laurie Freshour
(Lecture/interactive format)
This workshop will cover basic selling skills that will teach you how to engage your customer and close more sales. Learn how to find the customer's hot button by asking the right questions. Be able to identify a customer's buying signals and handle objections. Know how to close the sale. You will be able to immediately apply the information from this workshop and make a difference in your bottom line.
Presenter Laurie Freshour spent 22 years in the marketing field before she began her speaking and sales training career with her own business, Selling Edge Strategies, L.L.C. She has learned what works and what doesn't, managed sales territories in Michigan for several well-known corporations, designed and delivered workshops, and received numerous awards for sales achievement and business excellence. With her entrepreneurial experience, she can truly relate to the opportunities and challenges small business owners face on a daily basis and what skills are necessary to succeed.
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Workshop 6-B.
Did You HEAR That?!?
Gloria Nussbaum
(Beginner level, Lecture/Interactive sharing format)
Sometimes we make Personal History work too complicated. This workshop will show you simple but effective ways to record stories that preserve not only the stories but the VOICE telling those stories! Persons who attend this workshop will discover how wonderful it is to provide the client with an audio "book" of the stories of their loved one in that person's voice, with inflections, speech patterns, familiar sayings and of course, that unique laugh! We'll talk about the value of voice and look at a variety of "finished products" in audio format. There will opportunity for others who work primarily with audio to share their ideas and expertise. This workshop will be valuable to all persons but specifically to new members or those who are looking for a "simpler" way to do this important work.
Presenter Gloria Nussbaum's love for audio goes back to playing with tape recorders and carrying her transistor radio everywhere as a child. She worked in radio broadcasting in Phoenix, AZ for 10 years. She's been an APH member since 2001, runs her own Personal History business, Real to Reel, recording personal stories and is currently the APH Membership Chair.
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Workshop 6-C.
The Colors of APH America
Lynne Choy Uyeda Gin
(Discussion format)
This workshop and interactive discussion will begin with a 15-minute video featuring California's Census 2000 Road Tour. The Road Tour was a national event that encouraged everyone to "Be Counted" during Census 2000. The video will be followed by a brief report and results of Census 2000 data that reinforces the changing demographics of the U.S. population, and an interactive discussion of outreach strategies to the APH Regions' non-white communities. Cultural sensitivities, customs, traditions, and taboos will be shared for the purpose of gaining a "comfort" level in approaching non-white segments of the population.
The lack of diversity in APH is a dilemma previously expressed by APH Board members. This workshop in "Cultural Sensitivity" is designed to take the mystery out of approaching groups and organizations by sharing the "Five W's" of: "Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How" APH members can be involved with non-white groups. After this workshop, attendees will find unique and innovative strategies that result in outreach programs and meaningful presentations to diverse groups. Workshop attendees will gain the knowledge and confidence to approach and interact with the diverse communities in their own APH regions. The ultimate objective is having an APH Membership that reflects the mosaic of the North American population.
Presenter Lynne Choy Uyeda Gin founded her public relations and marketing communications firm in Los Angeles in 1984. Her professional background includes developing and implementing strategic campaigns targeted to specific groups with a specific message, including journalism, script writing, speech writing, and video production. Her clients have included major corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations—a natural stepping-stone to becoming a personal historian to document the stories of "ordinary people with extraordinary lives." Ms. Gin has won many awards for developing outreach programs and other marketing campaigns targeted to African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islanders living in the U.S. Ms. Gin is a third-generation Californian of Chinese ancestry. She resides in the Bay area of northern California and has been an APH member since 2004.
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Workshop 6-D.
If You Build It (RIGHT), They Will BUY
Neal Harmon
(Hands-on format)
This workshop is about converting visitors to buyers over the Internet. Do you have a website that isn't giving you new business? Do you have visitors coming to your site that aren't becoming clients? Traffic is the most important factor, but converting that traffic to clients is the next most important factor in creating a website. In this workshop, you will learn how to convert visitors into repeat visitors and repeat visitors into clients (paying customers). We'll discuss how to design your website for people as well as search engines, and look at approaches that work—and approaches that don't work.
Presenter Neal Harmon has 4 years experience in website design and creation and has begun teaching Internet Business & Marketing to college and private school students. He loves to open people's minds to the potential the Internet has for small business. His website, FamilyLearn.com, has grown from visits by only a few family and friends to 12,000 unique visitors per month with no expensive advertising and marketing—purely Internet Marketing. Neal has been an APH member since 2004.
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Workshop Session 7: Saturday, November 5, 3:30 pm
(Choose one of four workshops.)
Workshop 7-A.
Thinking Outside the [Tool] Box: Creative Strategies for Getting Off the Treadmill
Trena Cleland
(Lecture/discussion format)
What keeps you from doing the work you love AND paying the bills? This workshop will introduce manageable steps on the path to creating a living (and a life) without full-time employment. We'll discuss innovative ways to supplement your personal history income and lower expenses while designing a simpler, more sustainable, and more fulfilling lifestyle/work-style. After this workshop, you will have a better sense of the possibilities of creative entrepreneurship. You'll leave with inspiring strategies, principles, and resources to guide you on your path, as well as ideas gleaned from group discussion. You will take away a handout of relevant resources, as well as an understanding of how to use their skills in unconventional ways.
Presented by Trena Cleland. Trena Cleland's life was forever changed by Barbara Winter's book Making a Living Without a Job. Since 1991, she has lived happily and inexpensively off the 9-to-5 mainstream grid in Berkeley, California. Trena joined APH in 1998 and gave this workshop to an enthusiastic group of APHers at the Northern California regional gathering in 2004.
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Workshop 7-B.
Pricing for Profit
Sarah White and Marty Walton
(Lecture/Discussion format)
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—and one that produces a profit for your company—or you won't be in business for long! This workshop provides a framework for making pricing decisions that takes into account your costs, your customers' perception of value, and your goals for profitability. Participants will gain insights into how to deliver services profitably through developing skills like tracking project-specific time and costs, comfortably discussing money with clients, determining when to use subcontractors, and more. Note: As a trade organization we cannot discuss specific pricing as it could put us in violation of anti-trust laws.
Presenter Marty Walton is the Operations Manager for the APH. Presenter Sarah White is the Marketing Chair. Marty is a partner in "The Storehouse of Memories", a personal history service established in 1995. Sarah consults on marketing and advertising from Madison, Wisconsin, and writes books, articles, online content, and life histories. Marty joined APH in 1995 when it was just beginning; Sarah joined in 2002.
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Workshop 7-C.
Repeat of Thursday Afternoon's Workshop
Listening to Ghosts—Touching Ancestors Through the Recovery of Family Oral Tradition
James Walsh
(Lecture/discussion/interactive)
Oral History reaches well beyond the life of the person who is being interviewed. These living stories are usually the only glimpses that we have into the lives of the deceased, their human struggles, dreams, joys, and loves. This Oral Tradition is now being given a new look by academics and historians as a vital and important historical source. This workshop will challenge attendees to explore stories that live in their own ancestral history, stories that have survived generations because they carry with them a vital human truth. We will look together at these stories and try to glimpse the humanity of people who we can no longer interview.
The workshop will focus on the analytical tools and questions that might assist personal historians and genealogists with stories that emerge from interviews about people who are deceased. Attendees will gain an appreciation for the importance of Oral Tradition and the "human truth" that it reveals. (All attendees will need to bring a story from their own ancestral Oral Tradition)
Presenter James Walsh teaches history full time at the University of Colorado at Denver and part time at Regis University. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has taught U.S. history for six years through a project that asks students to mine the ancestral Oral Tradition in their own families and to share the stories with the class. This experience has had a lasting impact on his students and on his life and has fostered a deep appreciation for the importance of listening to stories and keeping them alive. Jim joined APH this year and continues his conference role as APH's Historian-in-Residence.
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Workshop 7-D.
Final Cut Pro...and More!
Presenter To Be Announced
(Presentation/interactive)
With a new Apple Computer store opening in Grand Rapids this fall, the Conference Program Committee plans to bring in a technology pro to demonstrate the latest in video equipment and video editing software. There will be opportunity for workshop participants to express their interests and ask questions.
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