Early background presentation

1. HGS The Way Forward
Starting the Conversation
Intriguing Connections.
Visualising the future. Creating and engineering
new opportunities. Building on firm foundations
for the future and continuing 40 years of success
for HGS.
Considering options and projecting the art of the possible

2. Time to think...
Progress
Improve
Enhance
Develop
Advance

3. Have You at Anytime Thought?
It’s all so uncertain and outside of our
control, No it isn’t
It’s the economy...Yes and?
We don’t need to change...
We do need to change, Don’t We?
All the societies are facing the same
challenges...are they?
BUT what are we going to do about it...

4. Change as a Creative Challenge
Technology, the Net and Mobility have all
changed and disrupted many areas of
human endeavour. Often for the better
but not always...
The Net has shaped and changed the face
of family history and genealogy without
it most of us would not get past go...
As the Mathematician Leibnitz said:
“It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in
the labour of calculation which could safely be
relegated to machines....”
Fortunately for us Alan Turing Shared
Leibnitz’s Vision and we certainly had the
need at that time, the Turing Bombe at
Bletchley Park 100th Anniversary of his
Birth

5. But have we become complacent as everyday
users and creators on the Net. Has ubiquity
made us trivialise what we use it for and how
we use it?
This is about, content, capability & technology. It is
not just about having a prettier, jazzier website.
It’s about...how we can use it to achieve better
outcomes than would otherwise be possible

6. With 1 Billion Users Now On Facebook can we
avoid Moronic Myopia lets hope so, is this largest
multiuser system we will ever witness being used...
It is a living network of family history in the
making, love it or hate it, ignore it at your peril. It will be the
world’s most complex artefact in 50 years. At most and probably
much sooner, if not now... Society is becoming obsessed with self-
curating, documenting, connecting, sharing it’s not going to go away
Action: Can you describe 3 things you would
like to do with the web and your family
history and how those capabilities would help
you gain new insights?

7. Why Change?
If you do not change
direction, you may end up
where you are heading.
Lao Tzu To improve is to change; to be
perfect is to change often.
Winston Churchill
Everyone thinks of changing the
Action: Describe the future you
world, but no one thinks of Envisage for HGS in the next 3/5 years ?
changing himself. Leo
Tolstoy 40 Years on what is the HGS
Legacy and Future Like?

8. “NBC in USA has
Canned WDYTYA on
TV, what does that say....” will “...What are the
it happen in UK and when? ramifications of Open
Access and Open
source in the area of
history, archives, collections and
“What Happens When other cultural collections. Welcome
FMP has all FH society foundation making open access
transcriptions for all a condition of funding...
counties...” and there are no
more records to transcribe...when will
that be and what happens next
“Ancestry Up for Sale”
what direction will it take? Is the
market peaking, otherwise why are
they selling right now...

9. No Man an Island, Entire of Itself
“No man is an island, entire
of itself; every man is a
piece of the continent, a part
of the main. If a clod be washed away
by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a
promontory were, as well as if a manor of
thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's
death diminishes me, because I am involved
Thinking point: A Society or Group of
in mankind, and therefore never send to
individuals or organisations, affiliated in a
know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for common cause, interest, values, beliefs and/or
goals. The sum of the parts is greater than
thee.” John Donne the individuals.
Metaphysical Poet Synapses and Connections:
Society is a
understood Social Networks
Social Network

11. Let’s think about it ...
What is Our Purpose?
“to advance the education of the public in the study of
genealogy”
“In furtherance of the above but not further or otherwise:-
• Collect, publish, co-ordinate and make accessible
in the interests of genealogy ANY documents or
records particularly relating to the county of
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight...
• Promote the presentation of such documents and
Thinking Point: The existing
objects, do they hold true for
HGS now and in the future? records
Can you demonstrate and • Hold lectures, meetings, ...issue new
account for as required by the publications” Citation: HGS Constitution
Charity Commission, not only
now but as change continues
and if membership does not
grow or shrinks significantly?
Will they hold true in 5 years
time?

12. Let’s think about ... What
do You Want & Why do The Talkers, The Doers,
you bother? The Make it Happen Merchants
The Thankless Task of Volunteering...sounds
familiar how do you get motivated and meet
your own aspirations as well as helping others.
Time and Effort , Fair bit of Hassle all
for „Public Benefit?
• What do you want?
• why are you doing this?
And you do it for free...?
Action: Jot down In 2-3 lines why Advance the education of the
public in the study of
you bother and what you want genealogy
from HGS yourself?

13. Let’s think about You ...
What do You Want &
Why do You Bother?
Action: Jot down Your top 3-5
ideas...for Your Priorities for HGS Advance the education of the
Way Forward? public in the study of
genealogy

14. What is Your Vision?
What are your ideas, thoughts, concerns
and what contributions would you like
to make?
Your Ideas are they valued and
supported by others, will they make
a contribution of „Public Benefit’
What is your Vision of Advance the education of the
the Future? Your public in the study of
ideas inspiration and genealogy
aspirations?

15. How will HGS maintain its ability to
demonstrate Public Benefit?
1. Within 3/5 years most useful records will have been
transcribed, or less?
2. If the Crown Jewels are with Find My Past what role will
HGS and all the County based societies be offering?
3. How will HGS be able to advance it’s role and function in
a changing world and environment in which everyone is
already online and a research centre in their own right.
4. HGS needs to demonstrate to maintain charitable
status...Advancement of Education and Advancement of
culture, arts and heritage
What is your Vision of Advance the education of the
the Future? Your public in the study of
ideas inspiration and genealogy
aspirations?

16. Is Doing Nothing a Viable Option?
• If everything is hunky dory, then YES, if not
then the answer is most likely NO and we had
better start thinking and having a
conversation about what we do next.
• Don’t bury our heads and hope it will be ok, a
strategic set of decisions need to be made.
• It is not just about updating a website, that is
just a good stepping stone

18. Where are we now?
Can we map and quantify where we are?
• Membership Trends: absolute and by trend
downwards over 5 years.
• Revenue / Expenditure: Revenue down and
costs up, dual property running to
Q1, reserves will dwindle if not reversed
• Drain on costs: premises and journal print
• Reserves / Net Assets: falling as a result
• From circa 4000 members to 2323 in 2012
SOME other FH’s are holding their own

19. Keeping Score Ken’s Key Indicators ...
/
Members Libraries TOTAL Members Overseas Overseas OVERSEA GRAND Difference * NEW
Members Libraries S TOTAL TOTAL from MEMBERS
(outside Previous (Latest
Europe) Quarter number)
March 2,677 21 2,698 22 132 8 162 2,860 N/K N/K
2011 (13,193)
June
2011 2,441 22 2,463 19 107 8 134 2,597 - 263 59
(13,252)
September 2,506 22 2,528 19 116 8 143 2,671 + 74 39
2011 (13,291)
December 2,531 22 2,553 20 120 8 148 2,701 + 30 49
2011 (13,340)
March 2,536 22 2,558 20 118 8 146 2,704 +3 34
2012 (13,374)
June 2,110 14 2,124 17 91 6 114 2,238 - 466 71
2012 (13,445)
September 2,187 21 2,208 18 91 6 115 2,323 + 85 27
2012 (13,471)
* According to sequential membership numbers
After the first year, 36 of the 59 new members who had joined for June Quarter 2011 had NOT RENEWED
After the first year, 24 of the 39 new members who had joined for September Quarter 2011 had NOT RENEWED
Loss of new members = about average 3/5 or 60% to date (over only two quarters)

20. Can HGS Keep the Attention of New Members?
According to sequential membership numbers:
1. After the first year, 36 of the 59 new members who had joined
for June Quarter 2011 had NOT RENEWED
2. After the first year, 24 of the 39 new members who had joined
for September Quarter 2011 had NOT RENEWED
3. Loss of new members = about average 3/5 or 60% to date
(over only two quarters)

22. • Notes on Financial reports
• Costs reduction needed
• Premises and Journal as
key costs
• Revenue reflects fall in
Membership
• This doesn’t measure
overall success.
• How can we restart
growth and development?
• How do we compare?

24. Oxon

26. Events
• HGS Open Day , 2007 700, 2012 470
• HGS Groups: UNKNOWN can we quantify?
• Recruitment and signups at Events?

27. Web Stats and Trends
• 2012 Consistently 29k/28k unique visits a quarter, subject
to validity of 1and1’s stats, say £9k a month, or 2k a week
approximately
• BUT without GA
• Keyword analysis not helpful as single words, need
phrases, see example KW Report No Split of
New/Returning Traffic
• No Split of Organic Search/Direct and Referral Traffic
and source of referrals other than search
• No Year on Year Analysis
• No Measure of Bounce, Pathways, No of Pages, Time on
Site etc, Social
• Location based Heat Maps

37. Comparisons Show
Some Are Doing Better than HGS
What is the difference?
How Will HGS Reverse the Trend over the
Next 3-5 Years?

39. Reinvent Your Core Proposition,
Lead Learn and Leverage. Create
Compelling Reasons to Come Back
and Differentiate Your Offer

40. Content & Conversion
Get Found, Get Engaged,
Sign-Up & Retain with Valued Unique
& Dynamic Content

41. Content is King
• Relevant, dynamic and unique content and capability that informs,
engages and enriches
• Reach out and connect across a range of members interests and needs
• Provides a bridge between the excellent transcribed data and people's
research
• Facilitates the learning path, from beginners to experienced users
• Shares Knowledge, Data Skills and Capability
Do it better online than off and
do it now....

42. Projects and Opportunities
Eileen Davies is our Projects Co-coordinator and at the moment
is Completing the baptism indexes for the county 1538-1659
and 1842-1874.
• Creating a ‘Surname Index’ from all of the various
documents, lists, books and newspaper that we have access
to. Aim 100,000 names
• Unwanted birth, marriage and death certificates donated
and have a lot and not all confined to the county. I think an
index to these certificates could be put online
• WWI Options for a Project, War Memorials (Steve Jarvis)
• One Name Studies with Hampshire relevance possibly to
discuss?
• Directories and Resources

43. Convert with a Call to Action
Think of every click as a mini conversion
• Prioritise conten, effort and precious resources
• Projects, publish a programme, show you are delivering
tangible Public Benefit and ...
• Something Different and Unique
• Phase Out Printing the Journal within 12 Months, this is a
cost imperative...
Do it better
online than off and
do it now....

44. Public Engagement
Life is a Social Network, Get on board,
Moderate and Manage, to not be there is
Negligent!
Do it better , Measure Manage &
Moderate
Than it’s been done
before
And whilst we can help
Make it happen

45. What We Can Offer
Marketing, Technology , Solutions Now
Significant Upgrade in HGS Capability , Skills
and Competence Doing it better than it has
been done before
Do You Want to Make It Happen. Turn the Corner and
Lead the Way?

47. Proposed Free
Newsletter
Strategic Referral General Subscribers 1b
Network Public
Framework 1e 1d Product
Purchasers
1c
Social Registered
Networks Users
6 1a
Private Logged
Newsletters 9b
IN Users 1
Outbound
Analytics Website 9a Email Feeds
Measure Marketing
Success 4
7
Web
E-Journal 9d
Platform 3
Paying Members
2a Ebook
Subscribers Only 2
Ecommerce Publishing
Sell Online 5
Contributing Content 3c
2b
Subscribers Management 3a
Books and
Editing
Subscribers
2c
Integrated Downloads 9c
Admin Forms Products
2d 3b
Subscribers (Other)
Inbound 9e
Media
Content
Library 10 8 x Key referenced in Way Forward Document
RSS Feed

48. Project Team & Resourcing
1
General Prospective
Past Members Competitors Influencers
Public Members
2
Membership
Groups 3
4
Development Forum (inc Executive)
5
Group Dev Forum Membership
Projects Webmaster
Members Members Marketing
6
Project Team (6-8) Members 8
Project
Lead Member HGS Project Non technical
7 Coordinator HGS Exec
Lead Content
Member
Management 9 Executive
Designer/
Development
HGS

49. HGS Existing System 1 0f 2 Notes from John Colyer
Technical Environment. I use HTML-Kit Build 292 to code the HTML/ASP for the Backup Recovery and
pages. Microsoft Access 2003 to provide the database backend for the ASP pages that Security. Files duplicated and
deliver the group meetings on demand. CSS used on many pages, but not all. kept on home PC and backed
up to memory stick, then
duplicated onto office PC. No
special security procedures.
Risks Profile Not sure how to answer this. Apart
from I will normally be available, when I go
overseas it is normally only for only two days and
can be contactable by email, although week 46 may
be for the Monday to Friday 12-16 November, but
the necessity for me to attend that week is still
TBC, as is the week choice but that is the current
plan. Skills required to support it: inquisitive nature
and an understanding of HTML links! To update the
group meetings database only requires the file to
be saved in Access 2003 format to update the diary
table.
Do not convert to a newer version as that doesn’t
work when loaded. HTML can be embedded in the
Subject Description field for providing emphasis.
Future proofing to SQL will be far better.

50. HGS existing Web System Directory Set-up
Site Map/Directory System No current definitive Site Map other
than http://www.hgs-online.org.uk/hgs_map.htm which was hand amended after
an automatic generation from a web based tool some years ago. Simple flat
structure except for *** shown below.
***
1. Church and School Pictures in a separate folder hgs_pictures
with its own index.htm file and a flat structure at that level.
2. Group Meetings database grpmtgs.mdb held in db
3. Downloadable files held in downloads for updates to Hampshire
Burial Index, Hampshire Family Historian, and Programme
Update files to the Burial Index.
Site Construction. Handover.
I have no specific document that covers this, I had thought of doing one, but that might now be nugatory. I have
a friend who could quite easily unravel how the site works if I fell under a bus! The main thing is that the group
meetings are held in a database called grpmtgs.mdb and this is loaded into the db folder.
Each group has a name and as long as the name is consistent, then everything works. Everything else is hard
coded and doesn’t change very often.
The publications list is updated every once in a while, if it were possible to auto-generate those pages and a pdf
in the future that would be even better.
Emails are quite easy to administer and Sheila does this along with Roger. The password for the website is the
same password as they use to get into the email admin area.

51. Process of Implementation
Dev Forum
Workshop
Project Team
Content
Creators
Executive
Groups
WDYTYA
Launch
FEB 2013

52. Think Olympics, a vision carried forward
with a listening ear, despite those who
would doubt...Once we got behind it..
what an outcome !
We are Volunteering.... , Are you
ready, willing and up for the Next
Generation of HGS?
We are Team Players, Let’s Make it
Happen whilst this window of
opportunity is open