6. Other Fun Things to
do in Portland:
As The New York Times said in its
recent article:
www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/travel/08wdportland.html, “Visitors
who've been away from Portland for the last decade marvel at all the
new hotels and freshly tidied streets. But it's the array of new
food choices that startle most. Downtown strollers come upon
greengrocers, bakers, fishmongers and enough intriguing restaurants
to enable a two-week dining binge.”
The Portland Museum
of Art, 7 Congress Square, (207) 775-6148,
www.portlandmuseum.org,
presents a wide variety of exhibitions and programs. Its world
class permanent collections include works of European masters
including Auguste Renoir, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, and
Mary Cassatt and many outstanding works by American artists
including Winslow Homer, Robert Indiana, Andrew Wyeth, Rockwell
Kent, and Marsden Hartley.
“Bread warm from
the oven… free-range chicken fresh from Maine farmers… produce
delivered daily straight from the field… plus good things to eat
while you are here.” It's all waiting for you in the beautiful
Portland Public Market. 25 Preble Street, (207) 228-2000:
www.portlandmarket.com.
“Come taste Maine's Best Foods, fresh from the Producers, with
special live entertainment throughout the year. Check our Festivals
& Events page to find out about other special events at the Public
Market. We are open almost every day, except for certain holidays;
check our Location and Hours page.”
To find out more
about things to see and do, check out these helpful websites:
·
Convention
and Visitors Bureau of Greater Portland: www.visitportland.com
·
Freeport
Merchants Association:
www.freeportusa.com
·
The Maine
Mall: www.mainemall.com
·
Port of
Portland:
www.portofportlandmaine.org
·
Portland’s
Downtown District:
www.portlandmaine.com
In future issues of
the e-zine we'll highlight more of the best Portland has to offer
and tell you how you can get a detailed map and informative brochure
of the greater Portland area.
7. Conference Press Kit is Producing Results!
As you know, we have prepared a
Conference Press Kit to inform the important media organizations in our
area about the Conference and why it will be newsworthy for their
newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programs.
Paper copies of the Press Kit were
distributed to delegates and others attending the October 2 meeting in
Waltham. This has already produced results. We have had several
requests for additional copies of the Press Kit from persons who want to
deliver them to their media and press contacts -- particularly in Maine.
Also, we received this encouraging
email from one Maine editor:
Good afternoon. The press release about
the genealogical conference has been received.
As genealogy is a leading hobby, I'm
interested in doing a feature about the conference in our Home & Family
section if there are a few interesting photos that could accompany it.
... For the feature, we would need a few shots of people at (previous)
workshops performing the activity and a close-up or two of an item of
interest, such as tools used in paper conservation, a display of maps
for sale, etc.
I attended a previous NERGC conference
in Portland and enjoyed rubbing shoulders with others with a
genealogical bent. Best of luck with the event.
The Press Kit is available on the
Conference website:
www.nergc.org/press_kit.htm. It contains:
·
Contact
Information – names and emails of key Conference Personnel
·
The
Conference Press Release
·
Highlights
of the Program
·
More
Details on the Featured Speakers
·
More on
NERGC
·
Names and
Contact Persons for the 22 Participating Societies
We can also provide attractively bound
copies of the printed paper version of the Press Kit to anyone who can
put them in the hands of senior media people in their area. For copies,
please send your request in an email to
john@konvalinka.com.
8. Committee Reports:
Society
Fair:
Cheryl Patten has
graciously offered to assume the Chairmanship of the Conference Society
Fair. Please contact her at
cpatten@tdstelme.net to discuss plans for your Society's
participation in this popular event.
Advertising:
Jan Burkhart, Advertising Chair,
reports that Society ads should be nearing completion and reminds
Participating Societies that they are entitled one free page as well as
their paid advertising page.
Publicity:
Ads for the Conference are appearing in
important genealogical magazines and Journals, including Family Tree
Magazine, Ancestry, Heritage Quest and FGS Forum. As Elsie Gustafson
reports, these efforts are also producing free calendar listings in
these publications.
Also, thanks to Debbie Roberge, a nice
article about the Conference appeared in November 2004 issue of her
"Pine Cone and Tassel" Magazine.
http://pineconeandtassle.com
And Sara Archbald, Newsletter Editor of
the Maine Historical Society plans to give some press to the Conference
in her winter newsletter.
YOU CAN HELP! Can you arrange for some
publicity or news about the Conference in any magazine or newsletter
where you might have contacts? The Press Release is on the NERGC
website:
www.nergc.org/press_kit.htm and we can provide any additional
information you think would be helpful.
ALSO: Can you help us gain a wider
circulation for this Conference E-zine -- by emailing it to all members
of your Society – and to any others who you think will be interested in
the Conference? Many Thanks!
Finally, the Committee will soon be
mailing and e-mailing the Conference Press Release and other details
about the Conference to a large number of genealogical and historical
societies, libraries, archives and Family History Centers in New
England, New York, New Jersey and Eastern Canada.
If you have ideas and suggestions for
additional publicity, please email us
(john@konvalinka.com
or troutbrook48@yahoo.com )
Queries:
Janet Wallace, our Query Column Chair,
reports that she is receiving a number of queries and reminds everyone
that for proper entry format, prices and payment procedure, please visit
the NERGC web site: www.nergc.org
and click on Conference Brochure -- OR -- Email:
QueryColumn@aol.com for
information.
Syllabus:
Stacy Sousa, Syllabus Chair, reminds
all speakers that the deadline for submitting syllabi is November 30th
-- and that having them before the deadline would be a big help to her.
Room Sharing:
If there is sufficient interest (and a
volunteer willing to take on the job) we will provide some facility for
persons interested in sharing hotel rooms at the Conference. Let us
know your interests and willingness to help.
9. Registration Information:
Gratia Mahony,
Registration Chair, reports that the rate of registrations is good, and
is keeping pace with previous NERGConferences. The Hosted Luncheons,
particularly Elizabeth Shown Mills' and Cyndi Howells' are filling
quickly and will probably be sold out well before the 1 March early
registration deadline.
Gratia also reminds us that it's not
too early to add the Portland NERGConference to our Holiday Wish Lists
-- and/or to get our registrations taken care of before the holiday
crunch sets in.
The Conference brochure and
registration form is available for download at the Conference website
www.nergc.org. Here you can see the
full conference program and the many lectures and special events to
choose from.
