Kathy Patrick
Have you heard about webinars? It means web conferencing or a presentation that is transmitted over the Internet. Most webinars offer the listener a way to type in questions for the presenter if it is being watched in real time. Webinars are available for viewing after the initial presentation for varying lengths of time. Many are free but some charge a small fee to view.
Genealogy and family tree software programs offer webinars on general genealogy topics plus ways for their users to get the most benefit from the software. Legacy, RootsMagic, and Family Tree Maker all offer webinars. For example, Legacy offers 40 different webinars this year. See those websites for webinar schedules and topics.
Ancestry.com also offers online learning. At their website, click on Extras at the top, then click on Ancestry Academy webinars.
There are many webinar topics from basic to more advanced. A few examples are “Common Surnames: Finding Your Smiths” and “Clues in Census Records.”
For the Familysearch.org website, click on Learn at the top then click on Research Courses. Many webinars are only 20-30 minutes long so you can easily fit one into your schedule. Topics can be searched by place, subject or by the skill level of the genealogist. They offer classes on doing research in 32 different countries and also on genealogy education and methodology. You can also select Research Wiki or Discussion Forums under the Learn tab for help from other researchers.
Visit our society website for many video presentations including our Genealogy Quest video series.
~ Kathy Patrick is a Board Director and library volunteer for Larimer County Genealogical Society. Please visit our events calendar on our website at www.lcgsco.org or our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lcgsco) to see our monthly programs, Free classes and workshops.