Yesterday I finally got up the nerve to broadcast my first Periscope!  It’s funny how long it takes to get the background cleaned up, angle for the phone just right, and your topic organized.  It’s all fun once you get broadcasting, but the prep was a bit much. You see I am a bit of a perfectionist. So for me to hit the broadcast button was a bit nerve-wracking!  If you’d like to watch it you can through my channel on Katch.me (www.katch.me/jenniferalford) or go straight to the recording at https://ktch.tv/6sS1

In my first scope I talked about a number of ways to get started with your genealogy education. I thought I’d share more of the details here so you could more easily find out about some of the things I mentioned.  So here goes!

• Visit a genealogical society library.
  • They often have a volunteer that will help you get started and guide you through their collections.
  • Not everything is online… visiting a library can give you access to a lot of resources that are not available anywhere else.
• Attend a society meeting/presentation.
  • Visit your local society and attend one of their meetings.  Regular meetings often have great networking and educational opportunities. Sometimes a topic that may seem like it won’t be of help in your research, will inspire you with great ideas of new avenues to research! To find nearby societies you can visit the FGS website and search by location.
• Attend a local/state/national conference.
  • Conferences are action packed with education, networking, and usually has exhibitors with great books that you may help you. You can meet the genea-stars and make new friends.  Folks that won’t roll their eyes when you talk about finding that marriage application! Check out The In-Depth Genealogist’s Events calendar for more opportunities.
  • RootsTech is February 3-6, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Learn more here. Visit booth #1334 to get to meet me and my The In-Depth Genealogist buddies.
  • Fairfax Genealogical Society Conference is April 1-2, 2016 in Fairfax, Virginia.
  • The Ohio Genealogical Society Conference is April 28-30, 2016 in Mason, Ohio.
  • National Genealogical Society Conference is May 4-7, 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
  • Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference is August 31-September 3, 2016 is in Springfield, Illinois.
• Watch webinars.
  • Many societies are now offering free webinars.  Check out the Illinois State Genealogical Society, Southern California Genealogical Society, and Minnesota Genealogical Society to name a few.
  • Legacy Family Tree Webinars are also free and if you’d like to subscribe you’ll have access to hundreds of fantastic presentations that have been recorded.
• READ.
  • Your library has tons of great books that you can check out.  Don’t just look at genealogy! History of time periods and locations can be quite useful in understanding the times that our ancestors lived in.
  • Blogs are fantastic places to learn about research strategies, new resources, and get all your genealogy news.  Check out Geneabloggers and search for topics you are interested in.  Then use Feedly to help you manage all those blogs so they don’t inundate your inbox.
• Find your geneapeeps!
  • Having a gang of genealogy buddies that you can call on when you get stuck in your research or you need support.  It’s good to have some friends to lean on!

So that’s what I covered in this week’s broadcast.  Next time I’m going to talk about strategies for conferences… since I’m headed to RootsTech!  Thanks for reading and please let me know if I’ve missed any avenues for education.  I’ll try to cover them in a future Periscope!  Follow me on Twitter as JenniferAlford