NGS 2020 On-Demand Lectures Now Available

National Genealogical Society’s 

2020 On-Demand! Now Available

Individuals interested in researching their family history can now purchase educational webinars at the National Genealogical Society’s Virtual Family History Conference. NGS 2020 On-Demand! offers three packages of ten, twenty, and forty-five lectures for purchase and streaming on PlaybackNGS.com. As a bonus, every package also includes twenty-six free webinars.

Once an individual purchases a package, he may choose from more than eighty-five sessions that cover a comprehensive range of topics, including DNA, ethnic heritage and women, immigration and migration, records and resources, religion, and research techniques and methodology. To learn more, download the Sessions Guide for the full list of webinars.

Registrants can view or listen to webinars on their computers or mobile devices at their convenience until 15 May 2021. Registrants also are invited to explore the NGS Virtual Expo Hall.

The three package options at PlaybackNGS.com include:

The “Full” Package includes streaming access to a choice of twenty NGS 2020 On-Demand! sessions from 1 July 2020 through 15 May 2021; an electronic copy of the virtual conference syllabus; and 26 bonus lectures.

The “Works” Package includes everything in the Full Package with an additional twenty-five NGS 2020 On-Demand! sessions (a total of 45 lectures you choose); a USB with audio recordings of ALL the recorded sessions (more than 100 hours of audio content that can also be streamed to a mobile device); plus, 26 bonus lectures.

NGS 2020 “Light” Package includes streaming access to a choice of ten NGS 2020 On-Demand! sessions from 1 July 2020 through 15 May 2021; an electronic copy of the virtual conference syllabus; and 26 bonus lectures.

For more information about NGS 2020 On-Demand! or to register, visit PlaybackNGS.com.

Registration Ends Soon for International & Ethnic Workshops

Registration Ends 7 July for 

Six International and Ethnic Workshops

Time is running out to register for six international and ethnic workshops on German, Hispanic, Irish, Italian, Native American, and Swedish heritages, respectively. Registration ends on Tuesday, July 7. Presented live online and hosted by NGS and FamilySearch, the workshops will be scheduled between 14 July and 17 July. Each will be two hours in length. Information and registration for the workshops is available on the NGS Conference website.

Research specialists from the world-renowned Family History Library will conduct the workshops. Several moderators will assist with the Q&A portion of each workshop as well as with technical questions.

Reading Italian Records Workshop
Brandon Baird, AG, will teach participants how to read Italian civil registration records and church records. Fluency in Italian is not required.

Hispanic Research Methodology Workshop Arturo Cuellar, AG, and Lyn Turner, AG, will provide instruction on how to research ancestors in Mexico, Latin America, and Spain. This workshop for beginners will cover basic research guidelines, finding aids, and language helps, along with a case study.

Strategies for Locating German Records Workshop
Camille Andrus, AG, will discuss the records of your German immigrant ancestor, help you identify what records are available, where they’re located, and how to use them effectively. This workshop is for those beginning research in Germany who have identified their ancestor’s hometown and are ready to research in Germany.

Swedish Research Strategy WorkshopGeoff Morris, AG, will lead a workshop on how to approach common problems and tackle them in an efficient way. Elements will include analysis, translation, records, and prioritizing research steps.

Ireland: Discovering Where and How They Lived Workshop
Craig Foster, AG, Dan Poffenberger, AG, Kori Robbins, AG, and Phil Dunn, AG, will provide insight on family history research in Ireland, a country that presents unique challenges in genealogical research. This workshop will help people understand Irish jurisdictions, as well as key record groups.

Native American WorkshopLyn Rasmussen, CG, Forrest Emmett, and Hellen Bileen will focus on using 20th century records as the foundation for researching Native American ancestry.

Prior to each workshop, registrants will receive an electronic handout. Event moderators and NGS staff will assist anyone who is unsure about how to participate in the virtual workshops.

Each workshop costs $35. Register soon to reserve your spot in these expert led workshops. Registration closes at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 July.

For more information about the international and ethnic workshops, or to register, visit our conference website.

Registration Opens for International & Ethnic Workshops

Registration Now Open for Six International
and Ethnic Live Workshops

Registration is now open for six international and ethnic workshops presented live and hosted by NGS and FamilySearch. The workshops, originally scheduled for the in-person NGS 2020 Family History Conference, will be live online between 14 July and 17 July and are each two hours in length. Information and registration for the workshops is available on the NGS Conference website.

Research specialists from the world-renowned Family History Library will conduct workshops on German, Hispanic, Irish, Italian, Native American, and Swedish heritages, respectively. Each workshop will also have several moderators to assist with the Q&A portion of the workshop as well as with technical questions.

• Reading Italian Records Workshop
• Brandon Baird, AG, will teach participants how to read Italian civil registration records and church records. Fluency in Italian is not required.

• Hispanic Research Methodology Workshop
• Arturo Cuellar, AG, and Lyn Turner, AG, will provide instruction on how to research ancestors in Mexico, Latin America, and Spain. This workshop for beginners will cover basic research guidelines, finding aids, and language helps, along with a case study.

• Strategies for Locating German Records Workshop
• Camille Andrus, AG, will discuss the records of your German immigrant ancestor, help you identify what records are available, where they’re located, and how to use them effectively. This workshop is for those beginning research in Germany who have identified their ancestor’s hometown and are ready to research in Germany. 

• Swedish Research Strategy Workshop
• Geoff Morris, AG, will lead a workshop on how to approach common problems and tackle them in an efficient way. Elements will include analysis, translation, records, and prioritizing research steps.

• Ireland: Discovering Where and How They Lived Workshop
• Craig Foster, AG, Dan Poffenberger, AG, Kori Robbins, AG, and Phil Dunn, AG, will provide insight on family history research in Ireland, a country that presents unique challenges in genealogical research. This workshop will help people understand Irish jurisdictions, as well as key record groups.

• Native American Workshop
• Lyn Rasmussen, CG, Forrest Emmett, and Hellen Bileen, will focus on using 20th century records as the foundation for researching Native American ancestry. 

Prior to each workshop, registrants will receive an electronic handout. Event moderators and NGS staff will assist anyone who is unsure about how to participate in the virtual workshops.

Each workshop costs $35. Register soon to reserve your spot in these expert led workshops. Registration closes at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 July.

For more information about the international and ethnic workshops, or to register, visit our conference website.

NGS Announces Move to Virtual Conference for 2020

The National Genealogical Society Announces
2020 Family History Conference Will be Virtual

Due to the continuing spread of COVID-19 across the nation and concern for the health and safety of all those involved in our 2020 Family History Conference, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) has changed its in-person conference to a virtual conference.

Our main priority is to protect the welfare of all attendees, speakers, exhibitors, volunteers, and staff involved in the conference. Therefore, NGS is developing a virtual conference that is a mixture of live and on-demand programming. A full day of NGS 2020 Live! is planned for Wednesday, 20 May, from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (EDT). In addition, streaming access to many more sessions will be available starting in July.

In the coming days, we will post specific information relevant to our registrants, speakers, award recipients, exhibitors, and sponsors. We will also let you know how all prior commitments to social events, meals, workshops, and tour fees, as well as registration, will be handled.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and commitment to NGS as we all make our way through these challenging times.

COVID-19: NGS Conference Update

COVID-19: NGS 2020 Family History Conference Updates

Early Bird Discount Extended; Cancellation Fee Waived

The NGS Board of Directors continues to closely monitor health and safety concerns regarding COVID-19. Last week a national emergency was declared to free up federal resources and improve the country’s response to the pandemic. In addition, on 15 March 2020, the CDC recommended that gatherings larger than 50 people be cancelled for eight weeks.

The 2020 Family History Conference remains more than eight weeks away. Our Conference Committee continues to plan and prepare for a great experience for our conference attendees. While we remain optimistic that the event can be held, we are prudently making contingency plans. The health and safety of our members, attendees, and employees remain our priority and will continue to guide our decisions related to COVID-19.

At this time, the 2020 Family History Conference is still planned as scheduled for 20-23 May 2020 in Salt Lake City. Please visit COVID-19: NGS Conference Updates on our Conference website since conditions on the ground are changing quickly.

The early bird registration deadline is extended until 31 March 2020. We have also waived the $50 cancellation fee, including for those who cancelled previously. If you would like to consider donating your cancellation fee to help NGS weather what may be a challenging period, please email Matt Menashes, NGS Executive Director.

If anything else should change, speakers, exhibitors, and registrants will be notified, and all information will be posted on the conference website. In addition, if there are any changes to event schedules, we will provide information about options that may be available and/or other specific details. Please check the COVID-19: NGS Conference Update page frequently for any changes.

COVID-19: NGS 2020 Family History Conference Updates

NGS has not cancelled its Family History Conference, Echoes of Our Ancestors, 20–23 May 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

We look forward to welcoming you to our upcoming conference. We know, however, that many of you, as we do, have concerns about the spread of COVID-19. Please be assured that NGS is monitoring the situation very closely and we have established a webpage at our conference website to keep you updated. The health and safety of our attendees are our priority and will guide our decisions. Below is our first statement and posting. Any time you want to check back go to our conference website and click on the link COVID-19: NGS Conference Updates.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

COVID-19: Conference Updates

10 March 2020

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is closely monitoring health and safety concerns regarding COVID-19. We are following recommendations by local and federal government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The health and safety of our members, attendees, and employees are our priority and will guide our decisions.

Absent mandated federal travel restrictions and/or local, state, or regional decisions to close venues, NGS has not canceled the 2020 Family History Conference scheduled for 20-23 May 2020, nor any of our related pre-conference events.

If that should change, speakers, exhibitors, and registrants will be notified, and all information will be posted here on the conference website at https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/. In addition, if there are any changes to event schedules, we will provide information about options that may be available and/or other specific details.  

We will work with our venues to check that they maintain appropriate sanitary, health, and safety measures and we encourage attendees to follow guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. 

Our cancellation policy remains in place for your benefit at this time. Please check back here frequently for any updates on the event, including any cancellation policy changes.

Early Bird Discount for 2020 Conference Ends Soon

Early Bird Discount Ends 17 March

 for 2020 Family History Conference

Only two weeks are left to take advantage of our Early Bird Discount for the NGS Family History Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, 20−23 May 2020. After 17 March, the price of registration for NGS members will increase from $215 to $250 for all four days. (Non-members will pay $285, up from $250.) You also will no longer be able to order a printed syllabus or flash drive version of the syllabus.

To qualify for the early bird discount, you must register online by 17 March or mail your registration postmarked 17 March 2020.

The conference, “Echoes of Our Ancestors,” will showcase more than 175 lectures featuring a variety of tracks and topics including DNA, heritage, immigration and migration, records, religion, resources and research techniques, and women. In addition to lectures that focus on tracing ancestors of European descent, attendees will discover lectures on African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and Polynesian ancestry. The program will include all levels of genealogical skills from basic to advanced as well as four days of the Board for the Certification of Genealogists® (BCG) Skillbuilding lectures.

The opening session will feature Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, who has spent a lifetime writing fiction and memoirs about the corrosive power of secrets within families. She stumbled on a secret of her own: her beloved father was not her biological father. As she writes in Inheritance, “I always knew there was a secret. What I didn’t know: the secret was me.”

The Family History Expo will host more than seventy-five exhibitors and be open to the public Wednesday through Saturday. Check the website for a list of exhibitors and the accompanying floor plan.

The NGS Conference will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center and will run from 20−23 May. For conference information and to register go to the NGS 2020 Family History Conference website.

Registration for local area tours and social meal events closes on 17 April 2020. You will not be able to purchase tickets on-site at the conference. Be sure to sign up as quickly as possible.

Add Items to an Existing Registration

To add meals, tours, workshops, and pre-conference events to your current registration, log on to the NGS website, go to Store > My Account > Purchases > Events > Details > 2020 Conference > Add Session.

See you in Salt Lake City in May!

NGS 2020 Family History Conference Program Now Online

Program Now Online for 

NGS 2020 Family History Conference

The program for the National Genealogical Society's 2020 Family History Conference, to be held 20-23 May 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah, is now available online and as a downloadable sixteen-page brochure.

This year’s program, Echoes of Our Ancestors, will feature a variety of lecture tracks and topics on

• DNA
• Heritage 
• Immigration and Migration 
• Records 
• Religion 
• Resources and Research Techniques 
• Women 

In addition to lectures that focus on tracing ancestors of European descent, attendees will discover lectures on African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, and Polynesian ancestry.

The Board for Certification of Genealogists will again sponsor a skillbuilding track. Conference participants may also enroll in workshops on specialized collections at the world’s largest genealogical library. In all, the conference will offer family historians and genealogists more than 175 lectures, an array of social events, several workshops, and a family history expo with more than seventy exhibitors.

The program will begin with Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, who has spent a lifetime writing fiction and memoirs about the corrosive power of secrets within families. She stumbled on a secret of her own: her beloved father was not her biological father. As she writes in Inheritance, “I always knew there was a secret. What I didn’t know: the secret was me.”

The conference will take place at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Registration opens on 2 December 2019. NGS has planned a number of special events with limited seating, so register on 2 December, or as soon as possible thereafter, if you plan to attend any of these events.

To learn more about our special events, see the conference brochure and our program. Participants also will want to sign up early for tickets to the NGS banquet on Friday evening, featuring Steffani Raff, an award-winning storyteller, who will take us on a journey through the history of women’s suffrage.

For up-to-date information about the availability, amenities, and rates for conference hotels, visit the conference website. Be sure to sign up for the NGS conference blog so you do not miss conference news or announcements.

NGS 2020 Conference - Call for Proposals Now Open

The National Genealogical Society Announces

Call for Proposals

for 2020 Family History Conference

The National Genealogical Society 2020 Family History Conference, Echo of Our Ancestors, will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, 20‒23 May 2020. NGS will open the call for proposals on 2 January 2019 and proposals will be accepted until 1 April 2019.

The echoes of our ancestors resonate within us. Their voices, beliefs, cultures, choices, experiences, and traditions still influence the people we are today. We carry their physical traits in our DNA, and display some of their talents and occupational inclinations. The choices our ancestors made—including their decisions to migrate and where to settle—continue to influence new generations and are often reflected in their religion, associations, sense of cultural heritage, and ties to communities.

The study of family history gives greater meaning and dimension to our lives. As the prior generations fade from view, the results of our research illuminate the pale echoes of the past and bring our ancestors back to life to resonate for future generations. The NGS 2020 Family History Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, will explore our connections to our ancestors and the vestiges of their lives, which we can discover through the records that still exist. Conference tracks under consideration include the following:

• Impact of wars, poverty, famine, persecution, and the industrial revolution on movement from ancestral homes in the Americas and abroad 
• Immigration, naturalization, and passenger records 
• Historical migrations, trails, and events that affected patterns of settlement
• Hard-to-find ancestors who seem to disappear from records
• Approaches to rural and urban research
• Military records
• Occupations and trades
• Modes of transportation
• Religions and related record collections
• Ethnic resources and research techniques
• Postcards, letters, diaries, and manuscripts
• Immigrant, benevolent, and religious associations
• Specialized collections of the Family History Library and other repositories

NGS also requests proposals that include the integration of DNA and technology in family history research as well as methodology and problem solving. NGS encourages proposals that demonstrate methods to help genealogists accurately identify ancestors through reasonably exhaustive research, proper source citations, analysis and correlation, resolution of conflicts, and sound reasoning and coherent writing.

Speakers who wish to submit lecture proposals may submit up to eight proposals electronically. The speaker compensation is described in detail on the website. Please visit the website for details about required speaker information and each submitted proposal.

This year NGS has included a free webinar, Becoming a Better Conference Speaker: Proposals and Preparations, which can be found on the National Genealogical Society YouTube channel. Speakers are encouraged to view the webinar before beginning the proposal process. Topics covered include: Lecture Proposals, Presentation, Syllabus, Communicate, and Deliver.

NGS members will receive first consideration as speakers. Notifications for acceptance will be issued in September 2019. Syllabus material, due 28 January 2020, is required for each lecture or workshop presentation and will be included in the syllabus distributed to all conference registrants. Electronic presentation programs are expected from the speakers. Presenters must provide their own digital projector, laptop, and connector to projector cable. NGS will provide projector support, which consists of a VGA or HTMI cable, cart, and power strip. Internet connections will not be provided in lecture rooms.

Sponsored Lecture Proposals
If your genealogical organization would like to sponsor a lecture, submit proposals to NGS. If your organization would like to sponsor a luncheon, please contact eshifflett@ngsgenealogy.org. Do not use the sponsored lecture form.

Please consider preparing a proposal for the 2020 NGS conference in Salt Lake City.

—The NGS Conference Committee