Little Rock: APG Notes

DearREADERS,
The 2009 Professional Management Conference presented by the APG Association of Professional Genealogists offered tracks for aspiring as well as experienced professionals. From my notes:

Writing Professionally (20 Principles)
Presented by Thomas W. Jones, Ph. D., CG, CFL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS

• Technical writing is not creative writing.
• If the subject is dead, then use past tense. If the record still exists, then use present tense. (John Smith died in 1826, but his surviving diary in my possession says...)
  
• Avoid use of self (that must make Ol' Myrt's writing creative rather than technical?)
• "For a polished professional appearance consider using a dedicated typesetting and layout program such as Adobe InDesign rather than a word-processing program (like Microsoft Word)."

Bull's-eye! Planning and Delivering a Winning Marketing Campaign
Presented by Heather Henderson

A good rule of thumb for handouts, brochures and pass along cards:

• 1/3 graphics
• 1/3 text
• 1/3 white space

These ideas would translate well for society newsletters and advertisements for annual seminars and monthly workshops.

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com