* Sharing Stories (Freedoms Way/Mount Wachusett College)

Freedom's Way National Heritage Area and
Mount Wachusett Community College
Present

Sharing Stories

Saturday, March 16th, 2013
Snow date March 30th
8:30 am – 1:30 pm • Devens, MA
Conference Fee; $10 includes Lunch
Registration Required— Must be received by March 1st.
Space is Limited, Register Early

Click Here to Download
Full Workshop Program & Registration Form

Learn from expert presenters and each other at four topical workshops. Sessions will share practical tools and resources on: Social networking made easy; Telling good stories - fundraising, exhibits, and more; Bringing documents to life; and Winning collaborations with powerful results

Schedule with Workshop Descriptions
Registration & Refreshments — 8:00 – 8:30 am

Workshop A — 8:30 –10:00
Getting Started with Social Media — Using Online Social Networking: There's no stopping it. The pressures to "jump in and do itall" are simply overwhelming. Learn how to begin using social media to share your stories, information and events. Presented by Melissa Fetterhoff, President and CEO of the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce in the Middlesex and Worcester Counties.

Compelling Stories – Asking & More: Build your storytelling skills and put them to good use in your next grant proposal or support letter. This session will share pointers on writing that will paint a vibrant picture of your organization's purpose through the limited format of a typical proposal. Presented by Maureen Hart Hennessey, and indeependent curator and grant writer with over 30 years experience in exhibition and program development, collections management, grants writing and publications.

Workshop B — 10:30 – Noon
Unfolding Lives – Upholding Voices —What can those old letters, journals, newspapers, account books, broadsides, maps, photographs and prints reveal about the hopes, fears, conflicts, celebrations, expectations and experiences of our fellow towns- people in the past? Examine how to build interesting encounters and programs by using primary sources found in local collections. Presented by Jayne Gordon, the Director of Education and Public Programs for the Massachusetts Historical Society that began in 1791. Previously, she was Executive Director of the Thoreau Society.

Reconnecting Communities – Fitchburg, Lancaster & Medford: This panel will share stories on how quite different collaborations began and are still thriving. Each began as a grass- root, community-based effort, involving creativity, determination and private-public partnerships, that resulted in outreach using walkability, wellness, heritage tourism and community engagement. Panelists: Sheri Bean, a Transportation Planner at the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission; Allie Fiske, Programs Director for the Coalition fo Arts, Culture, and a Healthy Economy (CACHE in Medford); Michael Sczerzen, Chair of the Lancaster Historical Commission for 14 years and longtime President of the Lancaster Historical Society; Ayn Yeagle, dietitian, works at the Montachusett Opportunity Council, Inc. overseeing the Elder Nutrition Program and coordinating the Fun 'N FITchburg program.
Moderator Philip Duffy, Town of Clinton's Community and Economic Development Director and more than 20 years experience in the fields of architecture and design/build construction.

Lunch — Noon – 1:30pm