APG Professional Management Conference videos available

There were many excellent presentations shared at the Association of Professional Genealogist's Professional Management Conference last August. If you missed the conference you are in luck, because FamilySearch video recorded several of the lectures. They have now posted them on the FamilySearch research courses

page. Scroll down to the bottom of that page to see the APG videos. Some of the presentations have the handouts available for download also.

Here is a listing of the presentations available on the FamilySearch page from the 2010 APG conference:

A Key to Success: Your Online Presence - D. Joshua Taylor
In the 21st century, the online presence of any professional is essential to their success. This lecture will challenge professionals to think "outside the box" of a standard website, focusing on multiple online tools that can be used for their business. Specific topics will include Facebook, eBay, wiki technology, GoogleDocs, blogs, twitter, and other tools to market themselves and their businesses. Discussions of online security and privacy concerns will also be included, as well as techniques to use an online presence to communicate, share documents, and connect with a client.

Expand Your Revenue: Produce and Sell Your Lectures in Video Format - Donna M. Moughty
This presentation will look at the use of alternative media...how to take your recorded lecture, add your slides, edit out any extraneous material, and create a DVD or downloadable audio or video podcast that you can sell. These skills not only enhance the experience for the viewer but can also provide an additional revenue stream for genealogists.

Niche Planning and Marketing - Paula Stuart Warren
Have you heard about the strategy to develop and market your specialty, your niche? What is or will be your niche? Decisions, decisions, decisions. Often the niche finds you in a form of genealogical serendipity. This lecture covers ways to help determine your niche, craft it to your liking, and figure out ways to let others know about your area or areas of expertise. Evaluating your own expertise can be painful but fulfilling and will let you know where you need to focus your educational efforts. We will discuss techniques for utilizing colleagues and clients to help in the evaluation process.

Choosing the Best Continuing Education Opportunities - Elissa Scalise Powell, CG
This lecture will present various options for continuing genealogical education and will show examples from each program. University courses, conferences, institutes, self-guided study, virtual peer group study, and on-line offerings will be highlighted. The pros and cons of learning styles, price, availability, time commitment and guidance discussed and compared. Attendees will achieve a better understanding of each type of study and will be able to evaluate which they want to pursue further in creating their own continuing education plan.

Get Published in Magazines! - Leslie Albrecht Huber
Many people dream of seeing their words in print but don't know how to go about getting them there. Others write occasionally for small-scale publications for free - but aren't sure how to take the next step to better paying and more widely circulated publications. This lecture will provide the information necessary to be more successful as a freelance writer. The focus will be on genealogy publications but will also cover history magazines and other general-interest magazines.

Additional presentations from the 2009 APG  Professional Management Conference are also available on the FamilySearch research courses page. Scroll down to the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) section near the bottom of the page. Those presentations include the following topics:

Bull's Eye! Planning and Delivering a Winning Marketing Campaign

In this hand-on lecture viewers will learn six essential marketing skills to craft attention-getting messages, cost effectively deliver them via print, web, and other outlets, and measure the return. Viewers will learn how to identify the target audience, craft a multimedia message, deliver that message, make the message viral, measure the return on investment and reward the customer.

The Bachelor: Reconstructing a Solitary Life Using Obscure & Far-Flung Records

Where do you turn when your research subject left no will, never married, and had no children? Discover how turning over every dusty rock along an ancestral trail can produce effective research results for clients. Viewers will learn about obscure and elusive resources and how casting a wide net across the span of his acquaintances and his time in history revealed the bachelor's nineteenth-century story -- a life full of adventure, peril, scandal, and a murder or two.

Get Paid for Your Passion: Becoming a Professional Genealogist

Many genealogists, hooked on the thrill of the chase, would like to know more about what it takes to become a professional and get paid for their passion. This lecture explores psychological, educational, and physical requirements for achieving that goal. Since many businesses fail within one to three years, tips are provided to help the attendee evaluate whether this is for him/her and what it takes to be successful. Topics covered include: defining professionalism; adjusting mental attitudes and doing a self-assessment; tips for success; learning progression; continuing education; finding a mentor; specializing; hanging out your shingle.