On Wednesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., the National Archives will host Megan Smolenyak, author of Who do You Think You Are?, a comprehensive guide for conducting genealogical research and the official tie-in to the NBC show of the same name that traces the genealogy of a famous person. Smolenyak, chief family historian and spokesperson for Ancestry.com, will be joined by Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines.

Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080925/DC35252LOGO)

This event is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Building, which is fully accessible. A book signing of Who Do You Think You Are? will follow the program, and the book is available at a discount from the Archives Shop (202-357-5271) before and during the event. The program is presented in partnership with the National Archives Sixth Annual Genealogy Fair, to be held April 14-15th, 2010.  The Genealogy Fair is free and open to the public, and presented in partnership with the Foundation for the National Archives.

The National Archives Building is located on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.  Winter hours (through March 14) are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Spring hours (March 15 through Labor Day) are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily. Admission is free, and the building is fully accessible.  Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station.  To request an accommodation (e.g., sign language interpreter) for a public program, please e-mail public.program@nara.gov or call (202) 357-5000 at least two weeks prior to the event. To verify the date and times of the programs, view the Calendar of Events online at www.archives.gov.

Background:  National Archives staff in Washington, D.C., and New York City worked closely with the producers and researchers of this genealogy-based program for over a year to identify National Archives documents that help tell the story of famous Americans featured on the programs.  

National Archives records are an abundant resource for genealogical research. "Who Do You Think You Are?" features many such records – including pension applications, census schedules, and Freedmen's Bureau records – that are used by thousands of researchers every year.  A new National Archives web page links to some of the most popular records of genealogical interest, including records used in some of the shows (http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/topics/who-do-you-think-you-are.html).

The web page also includes information about how to begin genealogy research.  Interested viewers can also email questions to National Archives genealogy experts at WhoDo@archives.gov.

Follow us on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/archivesnews

Facebook:  USNationalArchives

SOURCE National Archives

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.archives.gov

When you call customers or prospects do you leave a rambling, boring or informal message? Or even worse, do you simply hang up if they do not answer?

"Maybe that's why these people (and maybe even some of your friends!) don't call you back," says Ron Karr, business development expert and author of Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way: The 7 Traits of Great Sellers.

"With Caller ID, regardless if you left a message or not, they know you've called. Plus, if you didn't feel your call was worth a message, why would they want to waste any effort in calling you back?"

Ron advises sales executives, professional service providers and entrepreneurs:

• If you are going to call a business contact, be prepared to talk - don't hang up.
• Know what you want to say and keep it brief.
• Leave a message that is customer-focused, not self-focused. Give them a reason to call you back.
• If you've called several times without getting a return call, change your message - it's not working.

If calling your spouse, friend, relative or someone you know very well, the act of hanging up can merely act as a silent code between the two of you that says "Hey, it's me. Call me back."

If calling a prospect, customer or someone you don't know well at all, hanging up is simply too risky. For one thing, they have not established that silent code with you.

Secondly, people hang up thinking "if I don't leave a message, they will never know I called." Hello! Is anyone home in your mind? Of course they know you called!

In fact, because the relationship is not all that strong, you have now given that person carte blanche to come up with their own reason as to why you did not leave a message and create their own message. Messages that often lead to false assumptions, emotions and actions based on those false assumptions.

Here's the problem with most voice mail messages and why they don't generate call backs. They are self-focused vs. customer-focused. Every time you hear a message, you make the mental decision as to whether or not that caller deserves more of an investment of your time. Leaving messages that record your name, company name and the request to call you back simply does not motivate many people to call you, especially if you are someone they don't know. Leaving messages with the above and talking about a product or service will not get a callback either.

So how do you get callbacks? Simply change your message from being self-focused to being customer-focused by putting an outcome in the message. A result the person will get from calling you back that will benefit them.

"A client of mine was selling x-ray technology. Getting frustrated that the radiologists were not calling her back, she changed to message to: Please call me if you want to put an end to the irate calls you are getting from the Docs because of lost films. She claims to have gotten 70% of her calls returned. Would you appreciate 70% of your voice mails being returned?" commented Karr.

"Bottom line, if you want your voice mail messages returned, then give the receiver a good enough reason to do so.

"Want to learn how to get your calls returned and get people to buy your ideas? Then make the investment and get the book Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way," added Karr.

http://www.ronkarr.com/store/lead-sell-or-get-out-of-the-way  

About Ron Karr

Ron Karr is the President of the business consulting firm Karr Associates, Inc. Ron specializes in helping organizations and professionals generate remarkable sales and operational results. Ron has been interviewed by Entrepreneur Magazine, Bottom Line Business, and Selling Power, as well as Bloomberg TV, CBS Morning Show in New Orleans, Joe Connolly's Wall Street Journal Report and many other shows.

View Ron's recent interview on The Rhode Show on FOX TV in Providence, Rhode Island: http://www.ronkarr.com/media  

SOURCE Ron Karr

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.ronkarr.com

Smaller available spaces for gardens, a national movement to forego the use of synthetic chemicals in the environment and a desire to utilize low-maintenance and native plants are all addressed in "A Year in a Rock Garden - An Organic Gardening Guide."

According to OrganicGardening.com, sales of organic products are estimated to have topped $25 billion in 2008.

"... There's more capital going into organic agriculture than ever before." (Michael Pollan)

The book is published by CreateSpace, an Amazon group company.

Ron Kushner, the author, is a Master Gardener and Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist who has spent many years establishing and maintaining gardens utilizing organic methods. He is a graduate of The Barnes Foundation Horticultural Program and his organic internship was served at Worden Farm in Punta Gorda, Florida. He is employed by Albrecht's Nursery and Garden Center in Narberth, PA.

Specific gardens are featured each month, along with Kushner's own garden, photographs, specific garden chores, directions and organic practices for an entire year.

Throughout the book readers will:

• Understand specific gardening direction as to what must be accomplished each month.
• Have guidelines for gardening organically without the use of synthetic chemical products.
• Be given input on specific plants, their needs, bloom time, flower color and an appendix of close to 300 appropriate plants and their cultural needs.
• Learn which plants are to be avoided.
• Have a comprehensive list of sources for seeds, plants, gardening tools and supplies.
• Be advised of the up-to-date explanation of what the term "organic" actually means in the United States today.
• Be introduced to a different rock garden setting every month.

The most popular, comprehensive rock gardening books were published in Great Britain in the 1930's and this work is the first rock gardening book ever published with organic gardening guidelines and methods.

This release was issued through eReleases(TM).  For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Ron Kushner

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.ronsorganicgarden.com

John Edgar Wideman, a fixture of the American literary establishment and two-time winner of the prestigious Faulkner Award for fiction, has chosen to publish his latest work through Lulu, breaking from the traditional model he has used to successfully publish more than 20 other works.  

Briefs, Stories for the Palm of the Mind, will be available exclusively on Lulu.com beginning March 14. It is a collection of "microstories" that unveils an original voice and structure, with storytellers who are eavesdroppers, diarists and haiku historians. Selections from the work already have been chosen for the O. Henry Prize Stories 2010 and Best African American Fiction 2010.

Wideman decided against a traditional publishing contract — and royalty advance —  for Briefs because he wanted more control over the publishing process and to develop a more direct connection with his readers. He also wanted to experiment at a time when the publishing industry is undergoing more revolution than evolution.

"I've been thinking about alternatives for a long time," said Wideman, whose works of fiction and non-fiction include the award-winning Brothers and Keepers, Philadelphia Fire and Fanon. "Lulu seems to represent a very live possibility as the publishing industry mutates. I like the idea of being in charge. I have more control over what happens to my book. And I have more control over whom I reach.

"I have a very personal distaste for the blockbuster syndrome," Wideman continued. "The blockbuster syndrome is a feature of our social landscape that has gotten out of hand. Unless you become a blockbuster, your book disappears quickly. It becomes not only publish or perish, but sell or perish."

Wideman, who is also making several backlist titles available on Lulu, is the first client of a new Lulu VIP service that is highly customizable and takes care of most pre- and post-production work, including design, media outreach and marketing. The service is the latest addition to Lulu's open publishing solution and reflects the company's commitment to helping anyone — from amateur authors to experienced ones, and traditional publishers to upstart businesses — reach the world and profit.

"We welcome John Edgar Wideman to the Lulu community," said Bob Young, Lulu's Founder and CEO.

For more information about Wideman or his new work, Briefs, visit www.lulu.com/johnedgarwideman. The book will be featured at exclusive events in New York and Los Angeles on March 14 and March 21, respectively, produced by WordTheatre. For information about those events, visit www.wordtheatre.com.

About Lulu: Lulu (www.lulu.com) empowers anyone to publish and provides an open market for creators to sell and profit. Since 2002, Lulu has attracted more than 1 million creators from 80 countries seeking a more rewarding publishing option.

SOURCE Lulu.com

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.lulu.com

(http://www.myprgenie.com) -- The Christophers announced today that the 61st annual Christopher Awards ceremony will be held here on Thursday evening, April 15, 2010, at 320 Park Avenue, 35th floor. The Christopher Awards salute media that remind audiences and readers, young and old, of all faiths and of no particular faith, of their worth, individuality and power to make a difference and positively influence our world.

"The awards truly highlight our mission to point out what's good in popular culture," said Mary Ellen Robinson, vice president of The Christophers.

"For more than 60 years, we've been honoring the talented writers, producers, directors and illustrators whose work affirms the highest values of the human spirit, and we're thrilled to continue celebrating those achievements," added Judith Trojan, program manager of the Christopher Awards.

To date, more than 1,350 filmmakers, authors and illustrators have won Christopher Awards. Special Christopher Awards have also singled out such individual literary and media icons as David McCullough, Dave Brubeck, Elie Wiesel, Mary Higgins Clark, Carroll O'Connor, master puppeteer Caroll "Big Bird" Spinney, dance educator Jacques d'Amboise, and Children's Television Workshop creator Joan Ganz Cooney. Landmark TV programming, including "Sesame Street," "Masterpiece Theatre," "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," "American Masters," and "Face the Nation," has also been saluted by The Christophers during the past six decades.

"I keep my Christopher Life Achievement Award on a shelf in our library, right at eye level, because I'm immensely proud of it, but also in the hope that those who don't know what it is will ask," said author/historian David McCullough, who was recognized in 2008. "That gives me the chance to talk about the bedrock values The Christophers stand for and why having my work honored by them means the world to me."

The Christophers, a nonprofit organization founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb - "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" - guides its publishing, radio, leadership and awards programs.

Visit www.christophers.org to learn more about The Christophers.

To see press release go to http://myprgenie.com/4688

SOURCE The Christophers

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.christophers.org