First Aid for the Conferenceless

Did you ever want to attend a family history/genealogy conference and couldn’t?

It’s painful, I know, so painful, it feels like a medical emergency!  It’s hard knowing experts are teaching and you can’t be learning from them.   You probably whined at missing topics like  “Genealogy Boot Camp” by Thomas Jay Kemp, or “Inferential Genealogy” by Tom Jones.

Knowing your misery, I bring hope for when you feel hopeless.  How would you like to sit at the feet of these and other experts and learn from them in the comfort of your own home on your own time?  You can!  If you have an internet connection, they are only a mouse click away!

Today, let me tell you about one resource.

FamilySearch.org has free webinars for every interest level, from beginner to professional genealogist.    Five minute webinars for beginners give a great footing in basic steps.  Intermediate researchers will appreciate the longer, more in-depth webinars on searching specific sources, while professionals will gain from viewing lectures given at the APG Professional Management Conference in 2010.  The Board for Certification of Genealogists has posted a certification seminar, and ICAPGen hosts Mentoring Classes.

There are courses in researching various countries, some of which are England, Ireland, Germany, Poland, etc.  Other expert instructors include Christine Rose, Linda Woodward Geiger, Roberta “Bobbi” King, Jean Wilcox Hibben, Barbara Renick, and Apryl Cox.  [Please forgive me for not including their credentials.  Trust me.  They are very qualified.]

Now that you’re feeling some relief from you pain, how do you find them?  Head over to www.familysearch.org.  At the very top of the page, in the green part, is a tab labeled “Learn.”  Scroll down through all the topics, pick one, grab something to record notes, hit start the button, and don’t forget the popcorn!  You’ll be back on your feet in no time.

What are you doing to further your genealogy education?