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PastPerfect Newsletter News from the World's Most Popular Museum Software Company |
May 2012
In This Issue
- Free Information Sessions Featuring Inventory Manager and PastPerfect-Online
- "Mary's Grant Writing Advices"
- Search Engine Visibility Part III - Providing Content to Others
- Tech Tip - Membership Reports
- Upcoming Training Classes
Free Information Sessions Featuring Inventory Manager and PastPerfect-Online
by Sara Van De Carr
Time again for an annual collection inventory? Looking for a tool to make the process easier?
Learn how PastPerfect 5.0’s easy-to-use and affordable Inventory Manager can help you accomplish successful collections tracking projects.
This free webinar will cover:
- Creating inventory lists and customizing worksheets
- Scanning and printing barcode labels
- Tracking collections electronically and quickly updating location information
- Maintaining an inventory history and ensuring accurate records
If you’re interested in learning about Inventory Manager and how this tool can help meet your needs, attend the FREE 1 hour informational webinar on Wednesday, May 16th at 1:00 – 2:00pm ET.
Reserve your seat now by clicking on the following link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/760214728. You will receive a confirmation email once you have registered. Please call 1-800-562-6080 if you have any questions.
Interested in making your collections more accessible?
PastPerfect-Online enables you to expand your museum’s audience to millions of Internet users by creating a secure, easy-to-use, and affordable online database from your PastPerfect catalog records.
This free webinar will cover:
- Creating a fully searchable database of the catalog records, data fields, and images you want to publish online
- Building forms for visitors to send feedback, email links to friends, and request image copies
- Receiving a monthly report on visitor search statistics
- Using customizable layout options – no design expertise needed
Reserve your seat now by clicking on the following link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/537447801. You will receive a confirmation email once you have registered. Please call 1-800-562-6080 if you have any questions.
"Mary's Grant Writing Advices"
by Mary Alexander Director, Museum Advancement Program, Maryland Historical Trust
We regularly speak with clients who ask for advice on finding grants to purchase PastPerfect products. To learn more about this topic, we turned to a generous expert who frequently provides information at conferences and professional meetings. Mary Alexander is the Director of the Museum Advancement Program at the Maryland Historical Trust. She has been on both sides of the grant writing process as an applicant, peer reviewer and grant program administrator. Thank you Mary for sharing your sage advice!
Click here to read Mary's article.
Search Engine Visibility Part III - Providing Content to Others
by Brian Gomez and Stephanie Witt
The last two articles focused on getting your site in order and creating a buzz with your immediate and remote constituents by exchanging links and using social media. This article is about "Content Marketing," which is the practice of providing quality, relevant content to drive customer action. In business, this is to create profit. In this article, we want it to create traffic, both for your website and through your door.
As museums and cultural organizations, you have the knowledge and the cool stuff that grabs people’s attention. If they come to the museum, you will happily provide that information to them. It makes sense - they paid to come visit, give them value.
With content marketing, we want to give this service away freely, at least some of it, in order to build enthusiasm and motivate the population to take some action. Most organizations already do this in some way. They post articles in the local newspaper telling why the current exhibit is timely and relevant. They send a staff member to speak at schools or at other community functions. The concept is not new.
What is new is the ability to get your message out more often, a lot easier and to syndicate that message! Submitting content digitally to born digital sites isn’t hard, but you do need to find the relevant sites that are seeking content that you are capable and willing to provide.
A good place to start is the blog on a state or county historical society’s website. You can contact them about an article that you think will be relevant to their site and beneficial for everyone. Make sure the article is appropriate for their blog, both in topic and writing style. Other places to submit content to include history or art blogs, travel and tourism sites, and even sites dedicated to specific items found in your collection. Creating an exhibit about Drive-ins and Diners? Submit an article to your local classic car clubs. Many of them have a website where their newsletters are posted. Have a new exhibit on area schools and their history? Work with the PTA to get something in their newsletter.
Two things to remember with your content:
1. Always link back to your home page for people to find more information about your article's subject matter.
2. Pepper your article with the name of your organization and keywords that not only describe your content, but describe your organization!
Tech Tip - Membership Reports
by Adam Stepansky and Jessica Meulendyk
Membership Report in Reports | Dues & Donations
This report provides counts by membership type during a time frame you specify, and compares it to the same specified time frame for three years past. The "New" column displays the number of billing members with joined dates during the selected time period. The "All Payments" column counts all dues payments made including renewals, lapsed renewals, and new membership payments during the selected time period. The "Lapse Renew" column indicates the number of memberships renewed during the selected time period, but whose renewal was 6 months or more after the membership expired.
Membership Renewals Report in Reports | Dues & Donations
This report prints a list of memberships who joined, renewed, or expired during a selected time frame. You set the date range and choose whether you want to include overdue memberships. Each billing member’s Membership Number, Membership Name, Company, and Dues Amount are listed. If the member is either new or has renewed, the payment date is listed in the Date column along with their new Paid Thru date. If the contact is overdue, their expired Paid Thru date will be listed in the Date column. New members are designated by an amount listed in the New Amount column, renewing members will have an amount under the Renewal Amount column, and expired members will have an amount in the Past Due Amount column. At the end of the report, there is some great summary information including the total number of new memberships, the total number of renewals, and the total number of overdue memberships for that time frame along with each category’s revenue. This report is also exportable to Excel.
Upcoming Training Classes
by Jennessa Reed
Seats are still available for our next PastPerfect Training classes! Online classes enable you to learn PastPerfect 5.0 from the comfort of your own computer from experienced PastPerfect trainers. You will see a trainer’s PastPerfect program on your own computer and listen to her online or over a long distance conference call. Each class day is only a few hours long, so you can attend training and still complete your daily museum tasks.
If you are a new PastPerfect user, these classes are an excellent starting point! If you are an experienced user, Online Training can help you refine your ability to use the software and take advantage of the new features PastPerfect 5.0 has to offer.
Join us for one or both of our three-day training classes:
Managing Contacts, Donations & Memberships with PastPerfect 5.0
May 8-10, 2012 | 12:00pm to 3:00pm Eastern Time (9am to 12 Noon Pacific)
Cataloging Collections Using PastPerfect 5.0 *NEW CLASS*
June 26-28, 2012 | 12:00pm to 3:00pm Eastern Time (9am to 12 Noon Pacific)
PastPerfect Training Classes are priced at $69/person for AASLH Institutional Members ($86.25/person for non-members). Classes fill quickly, so call us toll free 1-800-562-6080 TODAY to reserve your seat!
For course descriptions and additional information about PastPerfect Training, please visit our website training page.
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PastPerfect Software Inc. 300 N Pottstown Pike Suite 200 Exton, PA 19341 |
1-800-562-6080 news@museumsoftware.com www.MuseumSoftware.com |