Choices and Titles: Continued.

Last time on Choices and Titles I listed five titles and asked you to pick you preferred option based solely on the title. I believe titles should be attractive and informative. How do these ones on the program at FGS in Boston measure up on those two factors?

“See Ya in the Funnies”

“Where do I go from Here?”

“Searching Tips and Tricks”

“Adding Muscle and Sinew to the Frame of Memory”

If the title carries little information, then burden of being meaningful falls on the 30 or 40 word description. Now thats a test of wordcraft. Construct a 30 word description of one of your lectures or lessons and see what I mean.

What do you think?

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Topics to Teach Genealogy Society Executives

There is a special group of people in every genealogy society that need help. they are hungry for practical ideas, and motivational learning. Its the executive; public minded volunteers that hold a society together. I think every genealogy speaker should have one or two presentations in their list of lectures and workshops that can be aimed at the executive group.. This year i am working on delevoping a lecture on effective newsletters. I've noticed some others offer such lectures. Here are a few examples

Choices and Titles: How do Lecture Titles Influence Our Choices?

It's 2:00 in the afternoon, three quarters of the way through the second day of a regional genealogy conference. You are getting a bit tired. You look at the choices for the next hour. Here's what you find

Discovering Creative Training Strategies

Recently people have been suggesting books for me to read this summer to glean ideas and inspirations on creative training ideas. I've been thinking of developing some of my lectures into all day seminars and my associates have suggestions. So read on at the list of titles.

Adventures in Hiring a Speaker

This morning as I reviewed my email I saw one from a colleague in the Genealogical Speaker's Guild telling about her adventures and disappointments. She had responded to a "call for lectures"  with some proposals. A member of the program committee called shortly thereafter to tell her that she had been selected. While waiting for written confirmation that never came, she declined two other speaking opportunities. When she contacted the host society next, you can guess what she learned– she was not on the program. The other opportunities are gone too. I felt her disappointment as I read the message. Is her experience unique? 

Genealogy-Event-Driven Marketing

I read something recently on SpeakerNetNews.com that suggested that events create a controlled-marketing environment that drives sales. I find this very interesting. And it got me thinking about a conversation I had one evening at a regional genealogy conference with Ryan Taylor and Dave Obee, both  authors and lecturers.

TeleClasses for Busy Genealogy Entrepreneurs

I receive a weekly newsletter from Seminar Announcer, a free service that promotes seminars all over the continent. There are an amazing number of free and reasonably priced programs available that are aimed at business and marketing that would be useful to anyone hoping to get ahead on the business side of professional genealogy. I was particularly interested in the TeleClasses or Audio Conferences as they are sometimes called. I suspect they are a practical solution, though imperfect, to convey information to others and could be a model for the delivery of several aspects of genealogy education. Here are some upcoming events listed:

Updating My Program Evaluation Form

A recent comment on an earlier posting prompts me to share thoughts on my program evaluation form. Let's make this like a workshop and you can participate with me. First I'll discuss my objectives in using a form, then some insights into the the reasoning behind the structure. Finally comes your part. Look at the form, then make suggestions for changes and improvements, or comment on how it looks from your perspective. Interested? Read on.

Self-directed Learning: A Confession to Tom Jones

Dear Tom,

There are very few people in Saskatchewan interested in advanced genealogy so the only classes in the community seem to be geared to beginners or intermediate genealogists and focus on records. Sounds just like the situation in Oklahoma,Shropshire, Montana, Midlothian and Manitoba and . Might even be a universal problem. But I digress.

I needed a class. There was nothing suitable, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was reviewing my collection of NGS and FGS conference syllabuses and found in the 2002 NGS Conference Syllabus the material for your lecture, “Proved? Five Ways to Prove Who Your Ancestor Was (Some Reliable and others Not Reliable)” I remember it as a very impressive lecture, but you know I am a fan.

Learning to Research Background Information

Kay Haviland Freilich wrote and article entitled, "Skill Building: Background Information: An Overlooked Research Tool" which appeared in the September 2005 issue of On Board: Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists pages 17 and 18. She wrote about the importance of knowing the background information on our ancestors time and place. She zeroed in on learning the laws, geographic and political jurisdictional changes, and the creation of records. This is the sort of thing librarians have training in, searching for background information. How do they do it?