Free Virtual Presentations Roundtable Webinar

Do you want to learn more about virtual presentations – the ability to deliver your genealogy lectures over the Internet – and be able to master this new technology? Are you unable to attend RootsTech “A New Family History and Technology Conference” this coming February? Well now you can not only participate in a free webinar about virtual presentations, but also attend RootsTech virtually!

How? Well through the generous sponsorship of Legacy Family Tree Webinars, the RootsTech session Virtual Presentations Roundtable will be broadcast as a free webinar on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 1:45 pm MST (3:45PM EST, 2:45PM CST, 12:45PM PST, 8:45PM GMT). Click here (https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/948007264) to register today!

Learn Virtual Presentation Concepts

What better way to learn about virtual presentations than using the actual technology behind this new way of delivering your genealogy lectures? This session will be a panel overview and discussion of virtual presentation platforms, methodologies and how genealogy speakers and genealogical societies can leverage this method of delivering content to expand their offerings to the genealogical community.

With the wider availability of high-speed Internet as well as better and more affordable web conferencing software, many genealogy speakers as well as genealogical societies are looking to virtual presentations for delivery of lectures and workshops.

Panelists

The panelists for this exciting event include well-known genealogy speakers and members of GSG:

• Thomas MacEntee (moderator) – creator of GeneaBloggers, a community resource of over 1,500 genealogy bloggers and the founder of High-Definition Genealogy specializing in market research for the genealogy industry. Thomas lectures in-person and virtually on a variety of technology/genealogy topics.

• Lisa Louise Cooke – creator of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, genealogist and genealogy educator. Lisa delivers content through various media including webinars, videocasts and podcasts.

• Marian Pierre-Louis – founder of Fieldstone Historic Research, noted house historian, genealogist and genealogy educator. Marian is currently co-chair of the Virtual Presentations Committee, Genealogical Speakers Guild.

• Geoff Rasmussen – of Legacy Family Tree, Geoff has recently been providing a series of genealogy webinars on various topics to the genealogy community.

• Pat Richley-Erickson – creator of the Dear MYRTLE website and blog, genealogist and genealogy educator. Myrt has been conducting webinars in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree on various genealogy topics.

• Allison Stacey – Editor at Family Tree Magazine. Allison has helped Family Tree University become a leading provider of online genealogy education through distance learning classes and webinars.

• Maureen Taylor – better known in genealogy circles as “The Photo Detective.” A well-known author specializing in forensic genealogy and the use of photographs, Maureen has shared her expertise via webinars and online presentations.

Who Should Attend?

• Genealogy speakers and educators looking to include virtual presentations methods in their speaking portfolio.

• Genealogical society decision-makers responsible for providing events and education as well as hiring genealogy speakers.

Who Do You Think You Are? Season 2 - Is Your Society Ready?

[Editor's note: the following information about Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are? was received from Ancestry.com.  There are many ways in which genealogical societies can use this event to increase membership as well as to expand services to current members.]

Beginning in February, NBC will air the second season of the hit show “Who Do You Think You Are?” During the first season, millions of viewers tuned in each week to watch celebrities uncover their family history, and the United States saw a renewed interest in genealogy not seen since the days of Roots. It’s likely that growing interest in tracing heritage will continue to increase.

“Who Do You Think You Are?” creates excitement around genealogy by showing the types of stories and discoveries people can make about their ancestors — ultimately leading viewers to begin thinking about their own family history. Since the show does not delve into the how-tos of research, newcomers are looking for guidance.

The genealogy community is uniquely positioned to be on the front lines of this growth. The new season of “Who Do You Think You Are?” offers libraries, societies and more a unique opportunity to reach out to their local community – the more people in the area who watch the show, the more potential clients a genealogist may have.

Here are several ideas to spread the word about “Who Do You Think You Are? and to leverage the show’s popularity to grow society memberships, client lists and the interest in family history in your community:

1. Host a workshop for beginners. The show will interest people in genealogy; now experts can teach them how to find their own family stories. Last season, several genealogy societies across the country reported standing-room-only attendance at beginners’ workshops – and some classes were popular enough to merit repeat performances.

2. Contact your local media. The show’s popularity offers you a chance to talk to local newspapers and TV stations about how people can get started and especially how professional genealogists can help. You might consider offering to research the family history of a local news anchor and offer him/her their own “Who Do You Think You Are?” mini-experience. Or if you belong to a society, you could invite media to a society event as the San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society did last season: “Our local NBC affiliate, WOAI-TV, not only publicized our event, they filmed our Library and gave us a live interview on the 5:00 & 6:00 pm news.”

3. Encourage clients or society members to spread the word and invite their friends. Who better to promote the TV show, your event, and your services than your clients and society members, who are already passionate about family history and already have a network of friends and family? Urge your clients or members to post links to your event and the “Who Do You Think You Are?” season 1 videos on their Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, websites or blogs.

4. Prepare getting started materials for beginners. Create a 1-page “Getting Started in Family History” guide that you can pass out to potential clients or that beginners can pick up at your event. Also consider posting the same getting-started info on your website, blog or Facebook page.

5. Brainstorm more ideas with your fellow genealogist friends and society members. You know your community best. So why not brainstorm with your genealogist friends on how you can increase your local community’s interest in “Who Do You Think You Are?” and best benefit from that increased interest.

All in all, “Who Do You Think You Are?” continues to present the genealogy community with a golden opportunity to revolutionize, reshape, and redefine family history as a whole. It’s an opportunity to grow and strengthen societies, to infuse our industry with younger audiences who can become the next generation of family historians, and to educate the public about what family history is and how to successfully research their heritage.

So promote your local genealogy community, bring in new members – and don’t forget to spread the word about “Who Do You Think You Are?” Fridays on NBC beginning February 4. 

The TechSoup's On - Do You Have Your Bowl?

Are you familiar with TechSoup.org? Did you know that as a qualified non-profit organization, your genealogical society can acccess not only low-cost or free software and office equipment through TechSoup, but also donations of free items?

TechSoup partners include most major technology companies and providers including Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco, Symantec and more. Products available include Windows, Office 2010, anti-virus software and even Go-To-Meeting as well as basic office equipment.

Register Your Organization

Before you can begin ordering items and services, your genealogical society must register and be approved through a rigorous process. You will need to create an account at TechSoup with a login and password, provide basic information about your organization, and also provide a copy of your 501(c)(3) qualification letter from the Internal Revenue Service.

Once approved - the process normally takes about two weeks - you will be able to designate one or more persons in your society who can make product and purchasing decisions at TechSoup.

Get Products

Qualifying for TechSoup is the difficult part and shopping is the fun part. If you have ever wanted to bring your society into the 21st century from a technology standpoint, then taking advantage of TechSoup, its community and its services requires your attention. Don't pass up this opportunity!

You can follow TechSoup at its Facebook page and on Twitter.

Data Backups for Genealogical Societies

For many genealogists and family historians, the first day of each month is Data Backup Day as popularized by several genealogy-related websites and even magazines. But how much consideration have you, as a genealogical society leader or member, given to ensuring that your society's data is secure?

Data Backup and Data Succession
A quick review of what we mean when we use the terms Data Backup and Data Succession:

• Data Backup means taking any digital data, whether it is emails, website files or other items and creating a backup copy.

• Data Succession means the ability for access to and management of data to be passed on to other society leaders and board members.

Issues
Here are some issues that genealogical societies should be confronting in terms of data backup and data succession, and sooner rather than later:

• Society website administration: is your Webmaster the only person with the password to the society website for purposes of adding new information, making changes, etc.?

• Society data: if your society is not backing up its data on a regular basis, how will you restore years of work by your members and volunteers? Will you need to scan and re-index documents manually?

• Society website data: what if your website host were to go belly-up? Would you be able to set up a new website or blog quickly using backed up data?

• Disaster recovery: If your society's building or space were flooded or hit by fire, how quickly could you get set up at a new location?

Don’t think that one or more of these issues can’t affect your genealogical society. Recently there have been instances of society buildings damaged by leaky roofs, fire and more. One society had their Webmaster leave the group after a disagreement and wouldn’t relinquish access to the website.

Solutions
The intent of this post is not to scare you as a society leader or board member but to get your group to think of solutions and to put into place a plan of action.

• Update your society’s policies and procedures. Spell out clearly not only the responsibilities of the Webmaster, but also who is to serve as a backup, where login credentials and passwords are to be stored etc.

• Create a disaster recovery plan. Just as you would have in a business, your society should prepare a plan in case one or more disasters strike. Consider what it would take to set up a new location, a new website, etc.

• Backup your data NOW. Don’t delay! If resources are tight, see if a society member can donate an old external hard drive. Also, there are many free resources for data backup including DropBox which provides up to 2GB of free online storage.

Conclusion
Any society can take steps to better manage and back-up all of its data including website data. Most if not all of the resources are free and within reach of every society. Make sure that the topic is discussed with your board and make plans in 2011 to have a data backup plan!