What’s Your Membership Management Plan?

How do you keep in touch with your membership?  Does your organization have a plan to let them know about meetings, projects, paying dues and other announcements?  How do you attract new members and what do you do when someone new shows up at a meeting?  You need a plan and members assigned to help carry it out.

If you’re looking for inspiration, start with your church.  I have been pleasantly surprised at the welcome I have received at several churches I’ve visited while traveling.  Even after learning I was just “passing through”, most went out of their way to make me feel welcome and to insure I was aware of all the services available to me – even for one visit.  Contrast that with a genealogical society that was surprised when I asked for a newcomer’s guide.  They couldn’t understand why I wanted to know about current projects (there were none) or a list of society resources.  Although I submitted content for the quarterly newsletter, I never received any acknowledgement nor received even one copy of the newsletter.

Needless to say, I’m no longer associated with that society.

Many societies do have plans for welcoming new faces who show up at meetings, but what about those distant member prospects who contact you through the society’s web site?  Does your newcomer’s guide include how to participate in the society from a distance?  It doesn’t take much time or effort to save a PDF version of your newcomer’s guide and membership form and to create a standard welcome message that could be emailed to prospective distant members.  Don’t forget to include a follow-up message as part of your membership management plan.

Does your plan end when a prospect becomes a member?  Not at all.  Get new local members involved in committees and events right away.  Distant members don’t have the advantage of attending society meetings or getting involved in many local events and projects.  Make sure to post articles describing speaker presentations and other events and try to develop projects which will allow distant members to participate in the society.

Thanks to simple technologies like email and web sites, your society can expand by including members outside the local area.  It will take a bit of planning and some updates to your standard procedures to include them as functioning members, but the rewards for both the society and all its membership will be well worth the effort.  Your membership is your strength.  Make sure you’re doing everything possible to keep your organization strong.

Announcing Events

A society blog is a great way to put the word out about upcoming meetings, fund-raisers and other events.  It allows you to include information about the agenda and guest speakers, provide directions to the event’s location or entrance fees.  But don’t stop there.  Most local papers and radio stations have community service sections in their papers and on their web sites providing community groups a bit of free press.  Make sure you develop contacts with your local media and know how far in advance you need to submit your event information to get it included in their publications.

There’s another very useful resource you should consider – especially if you would like to connect with out-of-town visitors.  Take a look at Yahoo’s Upcoming site.  Visitors to the site can designate a location and find upcoming concerts, museum exhibits, festivals, sports events and meetings.  Anyone can add an event – all it takes is a free Yahoo! account.  You can post the obvious information – date, time, place – plus you can include details about the event and even links to your group’s web site.  Did I mention that it costs you nothing to do this?  Nothing but a few minutes of your time.

Now, here’s where it gets good.  Because this is a Yahoo property, you can bet any of the posted events will be easily found by the big search engines.  And, Upcoming is a great site for folks with smart phones like the iPhone, Blackberry and others that include web browsing capability.  They can quickly find events near their current location (iPhone includes GPS functionality) and connect to both Yahoo and Google maps to find their way to the event.

Take a look at Upcoming.  Try adding your meetings to the site.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Affordable Tools

I manage a web site for a small veterans association and one of the biggest challenges I’ve had working with volunteers on organizational projects is compatible software. While most of my associates use Windows-based computers, I use a Mac [and now a Linux system, but that's another story]. They have any number of word processing systems on their machines and often their photo-editing software is the package that came with their digital camera. Just getting a couple of paragraphs posted on the web site can be a time-consuming effort.

Today there is a growing collection of open source software that is not only free to use, but easy to learn and many even are available for Windows, Mac and Linux systems. This article will introduce you to several applications that could be quite useful within your association.

The term “open source” describes a growing collection of applications that have been built by groups of people – many of them volunteers. These applications are licensed to users in such a way that you can use them at no charge. Yes, this is an over-simplified definition but it gives you an idea of how open source works. The Linux operating system (OS) is one of the largest open source projects. Anyone who wants to get involved can help in the development of Linux – from programming to project management to documentation. Because it is “open” to all, everyone [everyone who understands programming, that is] can see exactly how it’s built. As a result, problems with the application – bugs, security issues, etc. – are often found and fixed in a relatively short period of time.

Linux has been known as the “geek” operating system. Until recently you needed to be pretty experienced in computer stuff to do much with it. Things have changed – dramatically – and Linux now sports a pretty face and easy manner. There are more and more low cost computers in the marketplace today using Linux and other open source applications to help keep the costs down.

Regardless of the operating system, your experience is influenced more by the applications than the OS. You may already be using the Firefox browser and if you aren’t, you should take a look at it. An impressive office application suite is also available in OpenOffice.org. Both applications include versions for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Firefox is my browser of choice and a researcher’s dream. The tabbed browsing makes my online research efforts so much easier to manage. I also use OpenOffice.org because it works on both my operating systems and – even more important – it supports the open document format [see Let's Talk Standards at Family Matters for more information on open document format]. Other useful applications include GIMP, a sophisticated photo/image editing program; Scribus, a comprehensive desktop publisher; PDFCreator, which creates portable document format (PDF) documents [Windows only]; and ClamAV, an antivirus scanning tookit. Wikipedia maintains a comprehensive catalog at their Free Software Portal.

So, what is the down side? If there is one, it would be technical support. Some of these applications – like Firefox, GIMP and OpenOffice.org – are widely used and have significant support communities built around them. You’re quite likely to find books and magazine articles providing howto information for these apps at your local bookstore. For most open source applications, your best support options are online – at the application’s site or associated support sites you’ll find electronic manuals, video tutorials, user forums and blogs offering all kinds of technical support.

Finding software is the first step. Open source applications can help you overcome the “I can’t afford it” and “It doesn’t work on my system” hurdles. Sure, there will be other issues to address in your effort to get everyone working together on a project, but it’s sure nice to know you have some good, affordable options.

Continuity Plan: Analysis

[Note: although many of these steps are applicable to anyone wanting to protect their own research and equipment, for this article and the rest of the series, I will be discussing continuity planning as it pertains to genealogical/historical societies.  At the end of the series, I will discuss how to alter a continuity plan to suit the individual researcher.]

 

The analysis portion is usually the first step for most genealogical societies developing a continuity plan.  And since the plan is best represented as a “life cycle,” it is normal to perform periodic analysis in order to ensure that the plan is up to date.  In my experience, analysis is the most time-consuming and detailed portion of a plan.

Take Inventory of Functions

The first step is to take inventory of all the functions of your society.  And don’t be surprised if you need to take several passes – this is why a continuity plan is set up in a life-cycle format.

Here is a partial list of items, both tangible and non-tangible:

Location

• Furniture (desks, chairs, bookshelves, tables, lighting)
• Office space or meeting space (rented or owned)

Communications/Connectivity

• Fax
• Telephone
• Internet Connectivity (modem, DSL, T1, T3, broadband wireless)

Technology

• Computers
• Copiers
• Projectors
• Readers (microfilm microfiche)
• Scanners
• Television
• VCR/DVD

Research

• Books
• Digital media
• Original source material
• Maps
• Periodicals

Membership/Outreach

• Mailing lists
• Membership data
• Name recognition
• Web presence
• Website/Blog data

Administration

• Administration data
• Board of Directors documents (resolutions, minutes)
• Contacts (other societies, vendors, etc.)
• Email (server, mailboxes, archives)
• History (archives of former board members, minutes, etc.)
• Non-profit status information (state and federal tax status, etc.)
• Office supplies

Finances

• Banking information
• Membership dues
• Revenue stream

Critical vs. Non-Critical Functions

Once the functions have initially been identified, the next step is to designate them as being critical to the continued operation and survival of the society or non-critical.  Some factors to consider when making this determination:

• Are certain functions mandated by law or practice? E.g., annual board meetings, non-profit/tax status, certification, etc.  Realize that a society can forfeit its status with certain organizations if minimum requirements are not met.
• The lack of which functions would damage the society and in what way? Could these function impact how the society is perceived by members, donors, etc.,?
• If an interruption of one of these functions were acceptable, at what point would the interruption become unacceptable?  Is it a matter of length of time? Is it a matter of cost and/or maintenance?

Recovery Requirements

Once the functions are identified and classified as critical or non-critical, the next step is to determine what is needed to recover or restore these functions.  For each function, you should list:

• the time frame for restoration of the function
• the business requirements for restoration of the function
• the technical requirements (if applicable) for restoration of the function

Interruption Scenarios

While you can’t cover all scenarios, you can cover those that are likely to happen.  A society located in Florida would probably focus on a hurricane while a California society would focus on an earthquake.  Both societies could include flooding since such a scenario may occur due to a water main break, sprinkler system malfunction, etc.

Some common scenarios include:

• bomb
• cyber attack
• data loss
• earthquake
• fire
• flood
• power outage
• theft
• vandalism

Only list scenarios which require unique solutions for restoration of a function.  Example:  a power outage (either planned, caused by a natural disaster or due to provider malfunction) would not affect functions such as finances (directly – indirectly it would prevent use of computers to update data).  A power outage caused by a simple interruption of service (blackout, etc.) would affect a society minimally (short period of outage) whereas an earthquake or hurricane where surround areas are affected and there is possible infrastructure damage would affect a society quite a bit.

So How Do I Track All This? 

A perfectly valid question.  In reviewing the components of the analysis phase above, most societies will need some tracking mechanism which lists functions, whether they are critical or non-critical, recovery requirements, and which scenario(s) would impact them.

To get a jump start on the process, use this spreadsheet on Google Docs.  While it may not cover all of the items, you are invited to make a copy and customize it for your own use.

Do You Have a Continuity Plan?

Whether you are concerned about the assets of your genealogical/historical society or your own personal family history research, you should consider developing and implementing a Continuity Plan.  While all of us are easily the victims of procrastination, not having a plan ready can mean the difference between being up and running within hours/days or having to spend weeks, months and years recreating data and re-acquiring assets.

What Is Continuity Planning?

Based upon the Business Continuity Plan concept currently utilized in many organizations which can be applied to both societies and individuals as “caretakers” of data, Continuity Planning consists of five separate components arranged in a life-cycle format:

Over the course of the next six posts on the topic of Continuity Planning, I’ll be discussing each component in detail as well as a comparison of what should be included within a plan for societies and within a plan for individuals.

Does Continuity Planning Only Involve Technology and Data?

When discussing a plan for “recovery,” be it on a business, non-profit, or personal level, almost everyone first thinks of “intangible assets” such as data.  The next thought involves “tangible assets” such as computers, microfiche/film readers, prints, etc.  But a comprehensive Continuity Plan includes other non-technology related tangible assets often forgotten:

• books
• photographs
• furniture
• rental or office space
• supplies, etc.

And don’t forget some frequently overlooked intangible assets such as:

• web/Internet presence
• revenue stream
• name recognition, etc.

Does Continuity Planning Only Involve Disasters?

I wish it were so.  My first encounter with a disaster involving data was in the mid-1980s when I worked for a financial company.  A fire on a lower floor of the large building did not cause water or smoke damage, but it did cause release of asbestos through the entire building.  I lost several personal items, for which I was reimbursed by my employer’s insurance company.  But I was out of work for several days before an alternate workspace location could be secured.  And then we had to recreate data based on outdated backups.  Not much fun.

And in speaking with Kathryn Doyle at the California Genealogical Society and Library, I asked if the society lost any materials during the Great Quake of 1906, and if so, how they dealt with getting back into an “up and running” mode, as it were.  “We lost our collection of 300 books (housed with the secretary of the society at the California Hotel which went up in smoke) in the 1906 earthquake and later advertised for donations across the country.  The Newberry sent several boxes that had belonged to the governor of Pennsylvania which they already owned.”

Kathryn also described how the society dealt with the loss of physical space in a city with a severe shortage of space: “The Fairmont Hotel, which was just weeks from opening on April 18, 1906, was totally gutted. The hotel opened a year later in 1907 after being totally re-done and we rented a space there.”

But there are many other events which a society or a person might encounter that could easily be characterized as disasters:

• theft of a laptop, computer, USB memory stick or flash drive
• loss of a research notebook at a library or on an airplane
• a hard-drive failure
• vandalism of books, photographs or other related items
• database file corruption, etc.

The next post in this series will discuss the differences between a continuity plan for historical/genealogical societies and one for an individual pursuing genealogy research.  Stay tuned!

Intro to Content Management Systems

In the beginning there was HTML – hyper-text markup language.  If you haven’t heard of HTML, it’s the language of the Web.  It’s how you create the formatting for your content. Although HTML is still alive and well, any number of tools have been created to make page development almost as easy as creating a document in your word processing software. Even though these are easy to use, there’s still a lot of effort involved – editing the page, uploading it to the web server, checking, fixing, uploading and so on. And that doesn’t even count the cost of the software application itself . . .

There’s no need to be intimidated or discouraged. Today, there’s a better – and cheaper – way. Actually there’s several. These are called content management systems (or CMS) and they are web-based systems that organize and manage your entire site as well as provide sophisticated editing tools to make it easy to concentrate on the most important part of your site – your content.

The real beauty of a content management system is that it separates the site design from the content. Many systems offer several design options so all you have to do is xhooaw a theme. This frees you to concentrate on content. You can write and edit your articles without having to worry about managing the design elements. The CMS handles all that. It will also manage the indexing, linking, menus and other elements that make your site a useful knowledge center for your society’s membership. As you become more experienced – or find a volunteer with some design skills – you can customize a generic theme into your own unique look.

This article takes a look at several basic systems, describing how they can be used by a society or association to manage their sites.

General Web Site

General sites are used to present and maintain your organization’s information. This is generally a combination of static information (items like the society’s by-laws which are seldom changed) and dynamic information (news items, event calendar, etc.). Content management systems for general sites provide for multiple authors handling specific content types. For example, membership committee members might post and edit membership content while the reunion committee handles all reunion news.

Content management systems for general sites support all levels of sites – from the very basic to the most complex. There are several good open source systems (open source generally do not cost anything to use). Some of the more popular systems like Joomla can be found as hosted services where the software is set up and maintained by your hosting provider. Usually this is included in your hosting fee and is well worth the price if you’re not technically inclined.

General web site applications generally are the most flexible but will require a significant planning effort to organize the content within the site. If the site is to have multiple authors, you will also need to plan for permissions within the various content categories and develop a review and approval process for your site.

General site applications include:

• Joomla
• Jaws
• Typo3

Portal Site

Portals are designed as interactive sites where site members generate most of the content. These sites include features like message boards, polls and photo albums where all members are encouraged to participate. RootsWeb is a good example of a portal.

Portals are good choices when you want – and expect – active participation from your membership. It helps when your membership is comfortable with computer technology and wants to participate. Your role will be more a site manager and cheerleader than a content manager and web development experience is necessary to install and manage a portal site.

Portal applications include:

• DotNetNuke
• OmniPortal
• PortalApp

Blog Site

A blog (short for web log) has been designed to present articles in consecutive order much like a journal or diary. The most recent entry is the one at the top of the screen when you visit a blog site. Site content is further organized by the use of categories and tags (keywords) which help visitors find specific content.

Blog sites are the easiest and cheapest to get up and running. Many blogging services offer free starter accounts which can be upgraded to paid accounts as your content and needs expand. Most blog content is organized in a standard format making it easy to distribute your content – and migrate it should you decide to move from one CMS to another. Don’t let this simplicity fool you – blog sites have great potential.

Blog applications – hosted:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• TypePad

Just in case it isn’t totally obvious yet, we here at MCOHS are great blog fans.

Commentary: The ‘Big Bang’ Already Exploded

Leland Meitzler points us to an article by Jim Beidler [Genealogy's 'Big Bang' Theory]. Here’s a key point:

Simply put, societies have lost members to age and death, while the new folks who would have been inclined to replace them (pre-Internet) instead have chosen to do genealogy in their pajamas from home on their computer desktops.

In other words, the Internet is destroying genealogical societies and the conference business and the spirit of volunteerism that existed before the Internet. I must be living in an alternate universe [mine is VERY digital] because I see an expanding genealogical community thanks to the Internet providing opportunities that were impossible in those pre-Internet days.

Ignoring the impact of the commercial databases for the moment, all the “pajamas people” [I'm a proud member of that group!] have made massive amounts of free genealogical and historical information available to anyone with access to a search engine. Family photos, documents and family histories which once were buried in closets – or worse – have now been scanned and posted to photo-sharing sites, family web sites and blogs. Cousins are finding each other through these sites and sharing even more information using online collaborative efforts like WeRelate.

Online communities have blossomed thanks to online technologies like Internet phone and messaging systems, blogs and email. Individuals involved in these communities generously share their expertise – be it technical, legal, creative or knowledge of a specific area or group. And, because many of us are still working and/or raising families, this community offers the ability to span time and distance – commodities in short supply in many of our lives.

I have enjoyed a much more satisfying experience online than I ever experienced in my local society. I have found kindred souls who provide both support and friendship and many a great digital conversation [yes, even while wearing my PJs].

As for the special collections libraries, university libraries and county historical societies, it’s only a matter of time before their collections are digitized and available to all. And, with today’s affordable online video conferencing, even more of us can attend – and participate in – workshops and conferences from the comfort of our homes [I'd get dressed for that!].

Mr. Beidler should be rejoicing that so many young people are involved in today’s genealogical community and learning how to provide tools they can use to support their efforts.

They are the ones who will be carrying the torch forward . . .

This is a reprint of an article originally posted at Family Matters blog.

Put PDF to Work

For years the genealogy community has posted transcribed records online as text files. There were two big reasons for this – limited disk space and software compatibility. Disk storage was a premium for both the big sites like Rootsweb and our personal sites. Graphic files are much larger than text files and would suck up all the available storage space. Then there’s software. We all have our software preferences in operating systems (Windows, Mac or Linux) and office systems (Microsoft, WordPerfect or OpenOffice.org). If you transcribed an obituary in Microsoft Word on a Windows computer, chances were good I couldn’t open it on my Mac computer using the Pages word processor. What did all of us have in common? The ability to open and edit text files.

Times have changed and we have a lot more options now. Although some of the big repositories still require text files, the public prefers original records to transcriptions and formatted text to plain. Disk space is cheaper and Web hosting packages are offering more for less. And, thanks to the Portable Document Format (PDF) developed by Adobe, it doesn’t matter what software was used to create the document (or scanned original).

Consider the basic cemetery inventory – four or five columns of information on each plot within a cemetery.  Sure, people are thrilled to get their hands on that information.  But, what if you included a map, photos from the cemetery and hyperlinked names within the inventory to other available content for that individual?  How much value have you added to that simple inventory document?  PDF documents let you do that.

First you create your document – our cemetery inventory for example – in your favorite software. Add the formatting, colors, images, maps and hyperlinks you want to include. Then, using a PDF creation application, you convert your original to a PDF file. It will look just like your original – same fonts, same layout, same colors – but it requires a PDF reader application to view it. Reader applications are free and available for all operating systems. Both Mac and Linux come with PDF readers pre-installed and if your Windows computer doesn’t have Adobe Reader pre-installed, you can download it for free.

While we can all read a PDF document and follow any hyperlinks included within the document, we generally cannot edit the contents. Some documents can even be searched for specific text. What a reader can do with a PDF document depends on how the original was created. For example, a PDF document created from a word processing document like Microsoft Word will have functional hyperlinks and can be searched, while a typewritten original that has been scanned and converted to PDF will not. A scanned document is a graphic snapshot of the original and while it may look exactly like the word processing version, it has no editing capabilities. That is true even after it’s converted to PDF.

Just how difficult is it to create a PDF document? If you can print a document, you can make a PDF. It depends on the PDF creation software you use, but the creation process is that simple. So, let’s talk software.

PDF Creation Software

The most comprehensive – and most expensive – PDF creation application is Adobe’s Acrobat. Acrobat Standard costs $299 and other editions are even more expensive. It does have lots of features including OCR (optical character recognition – the ability to convert scanned text into editable text), but unless you’re doing serious PDF creation and manipulation it’s probably overkill. Acrobat is available for both Windows and Mac systems.

At the other end of the cost spectrum is PDFcreator. This open source (as in no cost) Windows option installs as a print driver. To create a PDF document, you just print it with PDFcreator selected as your printer. This means that any application with a print feature can create a PDF document – genealogy software immediately comes to mind. A very nice howto article is available at linux.com (don’t ask).

There are several other low cost options for Windows users. Both CutePDF and Foxit offer additional PDF editing functionality. CutePDF offers both a free and a pro ($50) version. The free version requires you to also have Ghostscript installed. Foxit offers several packages. The Foxit Creator ($35) creates a virtual print driver – similar to PDFcreator. Foxit Page Organizer ($59) is needed to rearrange, split or merge PDF documents and the Organizer Pro ($99) also includes annotation features. The Foxit Editor ($99) allows you to combine PDF documents and make changes to displayed text.

Mac users have PDF creation built into the print command. At the bottom of the print dialog window are several options for “printing” to PDF. The latest version of Mac’s Preview application includes some basic editing functionality, but if you need more, you can purchase PDFpen beginning at $49.95.

Linux users have several open source options. CUPS (Common Unix Printing System), provided in many Linux distributions, can export to PDF. PDF Editor provides basic editing tools.

You’ll also find that other applications are including PDF generation as a feature in their software. OpenOffice.org [an open source office suite that requires an article of its own to completely describe] provides PDF creation features in all its applications, as does WordPerfect Office ($120 and up).  Check your favorite applications to see if PDF capabilities are included in them.

UPDATE: Mac users have another option for manipulating PDF documents.  PDFLab is a freeware application with tools for merging and splitting PDF files.  MacApper has the details on this application and its capabilities.

Why a blog?

Thanks to Geneaphile for pointing me to these very interesting articles:

• Why a Genealogical Society Should Blog
• Does Your Library Have a Genealogy Department? Do They Have a Genealogy Blog?

Both are written by the queen of blogging – Lorelle VanFossen – well worth the read.  And, if you’re looking for a good example of a Genealogical Society blog, stop by the California Genealogical Society and Library Blog.

Publishing Update

TechCrunch reports Amazon announced this week that they will only sell print-on-demand books from their BookSurge service.  Prior to this point, anyone who paid to register an ISBN with their publishing project would have access to bookstores like Barnes & Nobles, Borders and even Amazon.

While this will impact the reach of retail publications, I doubt it will affect the specialty markets such as associations.  Amazon’s BookSurge service is more expensive than others with fewer size and binding options so it has limited reach.  Once a “self-publisher” pays to register an ISBN for their publication, it will be listed in Books in Print for all to see.  Yes, there is still significant marketing required to generate sales – no matter who prints the book.

I hope that Amazon will see the downside of this decision and quickly return to the open system that has made them so popular.

UPDATE: The Amazon announcement was more detailed than originally reported.  To paraphrase these details, Amazon wants to be able to print the books sold through Amazon so they have control over delivery.  This does not mean that other POD companies have to print the copies sold at their sites through Amazon.  Amazon has a service – Amazon Prime – where customers pay an annual fee for unlimited shipping on all orders.  Apparently concerns about rising costs on this service was one of the reasons for this announcement.  Several competitors are still skeptical of Amazon’s motives.