Conference Highlights
APH experts to kick off conference with product ideas for niche markets...
Crossroads to Success as a Professional Personal Historian
Bring a pen and paper and prepare for your creative juices to flow when the conference officially begins with its first general session on Thursday morning, October 30. The Conference Committee has arranged for a panel presentation by experienced APH members who have successfully carved out niche markets for themselves in the personal history business.
APH President Paula Stahel will introduce and APH Secretary Libby Atwater will moderate the panel discussion, getting the conference off to a rousing start with fresh ideas on developing specialized markets in a personal history business. Our panel of experts includes Paula and Libby, along with Annie Payne, Taylor Whitney and R.J. McHatton, who will share techniques they’ve used to build and expand their unique segments of the marketplace. They will discuss frankly which methods work and which do not, while revealing the process of developing these successful projects.
Niche projects often have quick turnaround times and affordable client fees, and some serve as adjuncts to larger projects. Along those lines, our panelists will discuss archival preservation, video biographies, special projects, memorial books, speaking engagements, corporate histories, and university viewbooks. And, of course, we invite you to share your own personal history niche products during the audience participation segment. By attending, listening, and sharing ideas, you may derive one “ah-ha moment” that could justify your entire conference investment even before attending the first workshop
Newcomers Orientation Session:
New members and newcomers to the annual conference are invited to arrive a bit early on Wednesday afternoon to attend an orientation session from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
APH President Paula Stahel will present a preview of 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 Paulette Stevens, other APH hosts and fellow attendees on Wednesday evening. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served, and a cash bar will be available from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Don’t miss this opportunity to mix and mingle, meet new friends and catch up with old ones.
Registration Desk/APH Store:
Check in at the Registration Desk in the lobby outside the hotel ballroom from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and daily thereafter to register and pick up conference materials. The APH Store, located in the Summer Room just down the hall from the ballroom, will open for business Thursday morning and remain open throughout most of the conference.
Our “Saving Lives” brochures, copies of the Personal Historian’s Marketing Guide, and the APH Member Toolkit—our notebook-in-the-making about how to develop and run a successful personal history business—will be available for purchase as well as copies of speakers’ books, oral history resources, recordings of conference workshops and presentations, past issues of the APH Newsletter, and hopefully our long-awaited Tales from the Heart anthology—a collection of stories compiled or written by APH members to showcase the various faces of personal histories.
Evening Activities/Product Demonstration Sessions:
The opportunities to learn never end at APH conferences; they just change focus. On Thursday evening, the following special-interest sessions will be held:
Regions Tables: Members’ Product Displays – (6:30-7:30 p.m.)
Attendees are invited to bring their sample products to look over and discuss during this hour. Bring business cards and a close-up photograph of yourself to place with your display. Please contact APH Regional Chair Sarah White at regions@personalahistorians.org for more details. A great opportunity to meet other personal historians in your region early in the conference!
Print Show & Tell – (7:30-9:30 p.m.)
- Liz McCutcheon of As Told To www.astoldtostories.com has graciously agreed to organize and lead this event. A continuation of the Regions Tables hour, enabling members working in print or other non-video media to continue viewing one another's products. In keeping with the crossroads theme, the focus will be on projects and products that served as a crossroad for the personal historian and/or the client. The emphasis will be on what is new in products, process, and value proposition after facing the challenges of a project. We all learn lessons as we do this work, and this is an opportunity to share some of them in the context of the physical products we create. For example... Did a project lead you to changes in your products or a new product? Did it lead to new production methods? Did a project lead to working with a client in a new way with unique challenges or rewards? Did a project lead to something different on the business side such as changes in how the price was set or the work delivered? Each person will have roughly five minutes to show their product(s) and tell their crossroad story, followed by a couple of minutes of Q&A.
If you have any questions, please contact Liz at liz@astoldtostories.com or by phone at 303-939-9977.
VideoShare – (7:30-9:30pm)
- Steve Pender of Family Legacy Video, Inc., has graciously agreed to organize and lead this event. Taking a cue from this year's conference, the theme will be "Crossroads in Personal Video Biography." We'll be looking for clips that reflect the crossroads theme, including segments featuring life-altering decisions and experiences as related by the subjects of our video biographies or that reflect crossroads in our own video careers. Clips should run no longer than 5 minutes.During this event, each video biographer will have one minute to introduce his/her clip and explain how it relates to the crossroads theme. After the clip is shown, up to two minutes will be allowed for Q&A. Two hours give us time for approximately 12 to 15 clips. Clips will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you have something you'd like to share, submit it ASAP.
If you have any questions, contact Steve at videoshare@personalhistorians.org or by phone at 520-743-4090. Clips will not be accepted after October 24, 2008. Send your clip on DVD, along with a brief written description to:
Steve Pender
Family Legacy Video, Inc.
P.O. Box 86376
Tucson, Arizona 85754-6376
Salon Sessions:
On Thursday and Friday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30, meeting rooms will be reserved for informal sessions. Any attendee with an idea or interesting question to explore may reserve one of these rooms. Salon session reservation requests, announcements, and sign-up sheets will be available at the Registration Desk. These informal salon sessions are not planned in advance by APH.
APH Annual Business Meeting Luncheon:
The annual meeting of the Association of Personal Historians, Inc., will be held at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, in the Three Seasons Ballroom.
The APH Board of Directors will update members in attendance on the status of the organization and discuss ongoing strategic initiatives and other projects.
Members will be invited to discuss ideas and share their perspectives.
A Legacy of Values: When Thoughts Turn to Ethical Wills
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 ten years. On Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m., Barry will discuss how ethical wills today are being written by people at turning points and transitions in their lives and when facing challenging life situations. Attendees will learn what ethical wills are, why, when, and how to write one, and even their potential value as an added product line for personal historians.
Tales from the Heart:
A treasured tradition at all APH conferences, this event will conclude our conference on Sunday morning. Prior to the Passing of the Torch closing ceremony, personal historians will share their own stories as well as those of their favorite clients. Your soul will return home richer for the experience. Contact Sharon Waldman at tales@personalhistorians.org soon to sign up as participation is limited due to time constraints.
Photos provided by APH Member Roger West - taken at the APH 2007 Conference in Franklin, TN.
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