SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, June 5, 2021
“LAWS, LEGACIES & LOSERS – A DAY WITH JUDY RUSSELL”
South King County Genealogical Society is pleased to announce a full-day virtual seminar with Judy Russell, a noted speaker, genealogist, and writer with a law degree. We hope you can join us for a fun and informative day. More details will be posted on our website at skcgs.org/seminar.html as updates become available.
Remember to mark your calendars and share the news with your friends.
Saturday, January 2, 2021, 10am-noon PT
Family Tree Maker User Group
Question & Answer. Each month, we will learn about using the features of FTM. Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG for meeting link, meeting reminders and discussion. This is a virtual meeting with closed captioning available. Dial-in (audio only) is also available.
Monday, January 4, 2021, 1pm-3pm PT
Persons of Interest #Research Opportunity
Join us to help tackle the brick walls in your family tree! Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Research-Group for meeting link, meeting reminders and discussion. This is a virtual meeting with closed captioning available. Dial-in (audio only) is also available.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021, 6:30pm-8:30pm PT
Board Meeting
SKCGS Board Meeting. All SKCGS members are invited to attend; only Directors may vote. Write to Board@skcgs.org for the meeting link.
Friday, January 8, 2021, 12:30pm-2:30pm PT
German Interest Group (EGS)
Topic is: “The Anabaptists and Finding My Brallier Roots in Alsace.” Speaker Paul Brallier will discuss how wars, politics and religion led to the formation of the Anabaptists and how his ancestors played a part. Visitors are always welcome. Request an invitation at least 4 days before the meeting: https://egsgermangroup.wordpress.com/
Monday, January 11, 2021, 1pm-3pm PT
Genetic Genealogy/DNA
“How to Get Started with Your New DNA Results.”
Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Genetic-Genealogy for meeting link, meeting reminders and discussion. This is a virtual meeting with closed captioning available. Dial-in (audio only) is also available.
Saturday, January 16, 2021, 9:30am PT Social time, 10am-Noon Program
General Meeting & Speaker
“Armchair Mysteries Solved at Home with Old School Communication and New School Technology” presented by Patti Gillespie, B.A., M.S., of Family Lines & Stories.
Learn tips, tricks and techniques to successfully resolve ancestor mysteries using both online sites and offline sources for information.
For meeting link and meeting reminders, go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/society
This is a virtual meeting with closed captioning available. Dial-in (audio only) is also available.
Monday, January 18, 2021, 1pm-3pm PT
Technical User Group
“Google Photos for Identification of Mystery People.” Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/TUG for meeting link, meeting reminders and discussion. This is a virtual meeting with closed captioning available. Dial-in (audio only) is also available.
Monday, January 25, 2021, 1pm-3pm PT
Genealogy Chat
Meet up and chat about genealogy subjects and topics. We have no agenda; we just like one another! Go to https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society for meeting link, discussion and meeting reminders. This is a virtual meeting with closed captioning available. Dial-in (audio only) is also available.
???? Saturday, December 5, 10 am – noon PDT, Family Tree Maker User Group. Question & Answer. Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG for discussion and meeting reminders. All our meetings have Closed Caption available.
???? Monday, December 7, 1–3 pm PDT, Research Group, Persons of Interest #ResearchOpportunity. Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Research-Group for meeting reminders and discussion. All our meetings have Closed Caption available.
???? Monday, December 14, 1–3 pm PDT, Genetic Genealogy/DNA: How to Use Wikitree as a DNA Research Tool. Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Genetic-Genealogy for meeting reminders and discussion. All our meetings have Closed Caption available.
???? Monday, December 21, 1–3 pm PDT, Technology User Group: Wassail party! Bring your beverage of choice and we’ll chat about genealogy, tech, computers, websites or whatever has come up this past month or year. For invitations and discussion, join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/TUG. All our meetings have Closed Caption available.
???? Monday, December 28, 1–3 pm PDT, Genealogy Chat. Meet up and chat about genealogy subjects and topics. We have no agenda; we just like one another! Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society for discussion and meeting reminders. All our meetings have Closed Caption available.
???? Monday, 16 November, 1–3 pm PST. Technology User Group: One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse. Valorie will present, not Stephen Morse, who created the webpage tools! Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/TUG for meeting invitations and discussion.
????Friday, 20 November, 6-7 pm PST. Joint presentation SKCGS/KCLS: Genealogy Research Help: Why, What & Where? presented by MaryLynn Strickland and Valorie Zimmerman. Online, free. Registration required:https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/events/5fad66d317e1da2400c94008
???? Saturday, 21 November, 9:30-noon PST. SKCGS General Meeting: Thomas MacEntee presents Genealogy Pit Stop: Researching in 15 Minute Increments. Mr. MacEntee will be using Zoom to present, and registration is required: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYucOuprT4jGtxk16x3MNxRTYLhEmFuDa0E.
Please register before Friday the 20th, so we have an idea of how many people to plan for.
After getting your confirmation, please put the event and the link you will receive into your calendar. Only the first 100 people to join our live meeting will be able to participate, so connect as early as you can; ideally 9:30 am.
If you are unable to attend the meeting, a recording of the lecture will be available to members and registrants for 30 days after the meeting. Discussion in our online group: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society
???? Monday, 23 November, 1–3 pm PST: Genealogy Chat. Meet up and chat about genealogy subjects and topics. We have no agenda; we just like one another! To join, click or paste into your browser: https://meet.google.com/phg-exxp-one?hs=122&authuser=0 or call (US) +1 484-268-2552. For meeting invitations and discussion, join or free online group: https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society
???? Saturday, 7 November, 10–noon PST. Family Tree Maker User Group. Q&A. For meeting invitations and discussion, join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG
???? Monday, 9 November, 1–3 pm PST. Genetic Genealogy / DNA: Recap: Strategies for Research. For meeting invitations and discussion, join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Genetic-Genealogy
Wednesday, 11 November: Veterans Day –https://auburnwa.gov/vetsday. The local live event this year is all virtual.
Fellow genealogical societies,
We’d like to ask a favor of you. If you have a Facebook page or group, would you please share our event there?
https://www.facebook.com/SKCGenealogy/posts/3925438457470553
Thanks so much!
Valorie, for the SKCGS Seminar committee
Monday, September 28, 1 – 3 pm PDT: Genealogy Chat. Meet up and talk genealogy. We have no agenda; we just like one another! Click or paste into your browser https://meet.google.com/zkj-fphx-qky?hs=122&authuser=0 or join by phone: (US) +1 406-686-2783 PIN: 268 156 108#. Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society for invitations, reminders and discussion.
Saturday, October 3, 10 am – noon PDT: Family Tree Maker User Group. We are just starting up online meetings – join us! Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/FTMUG for meeting invitations and discussion.
Monday, October 5, 1 – 3 pm PDT: Persons of Interest #ResearchOpportunity. Our newest online meeting; join us to help tackle the frustrating people in your tree! Join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Research-Group for meeting invitations, to share your #ResearchOpportunity and help others with theirs.
Monday, October 12, 1 – 3 pm PDT: Genetic Genealogy/DNA Interest Group – When DNA is the Only Option: Hunting for Ann’s Father presented by Janet Stroebel. Please join https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Genetic-Genealogy for meeting invitations and discussion.
Saturday, October 24, 2020, 10 am – 1:30 pm PDT. Seminar: South King County Genealogy Society is pleased to present Diahan Southard, of Your DNA Guide, offering two topics: No Tree? No Problem starting at 10:00 to 11:30 and from noon to 1:30, Connecting your DNA Matches. This is a fundraiser for us, yet only $20! Register: http://skcgs.org/seminar.html Spread the word on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/346272226523013
Fellow Washington state genealogical and historical societies,
Normally your members might not want to drive to south King County for a DNA seminar. However, now everyone is just a few clicks away! We would appreciate you sharing news about our seminar with your members and Facebook and Twitter followers. We hope your group is well and healthy in these perilous times.
Registration is open! Attached is the flyer and registration form for our upcoming seminar with Diahan Southard.
If you are feeling that your DNA data is not fully working for you, join us Saturday, October 24 for two sessions with Diahan Southard, a pioneer in the field. She will help you analyze and connect the data the companies give you with your family tree.
If you plan to pay by check, we suggest downloading and sending the registration form soon because of the Postal Service slowdowns. Payments using Paypal, Venmo and Square are all accepted. Just download the registration form: http://skcgs.org/seminar.html , fill in the PDF and email to treasurer@skcgs.org.
Why not do it today and add it to your calendar?
Registration is open for the SKCGS Fall Seminar with Diahan Southard Saturday, October 24. Sessions 10 – noon, and 1 -3
Registration is open! Click the image at http://skcgs.org/seminar.html to download the flyer and registration form for our upcoming seminar with Diahan Southard.
If you are feeling that your DNA data is not fully working for you, join us Saturday, October 24 for two sessions with Diahan Southard, a pioneer in the field. She will help you analyze and connect the data the companies give you with your family tree.
If you plan to pay by check, we suggest downloading and sending the registration form soon because of the Postal Service slowdowns. Payments using Paypal, Venmo and Square are all accepted. Just download the registration form, fill in the PDF and email to treasurer@skcgs.org.
Why not do it today and add it to your calendar?
South King County Genealogical Society did it!. . .
. . . and your society can, too!
Like most of the rest of the world, genealogical societies were not prepared for the corona virus pandemic. Faced with cancelled meetings and seminars, society function and governance as well as communication, education and service to our general membership were in jeopardy. In the first month of lock down we had to scramble to get online quickly or we would disappear. How can our societies fulfill their educational mission if we’re not providing education?
Fortunately, the South King County Genealogical Society was more prepared than we had thought. When the Rootsweb lists died in 2019, it seemed like a disaster. We decided to use Groups.io, a move that provided so much value to us, yet was free! Because we signed up early, we could create subgroups, had a built-in calendar, photo storage, file space and more. Some of these features are no longer available free but if funds are available and you need the features, Groups.io is still an excellent choice for getting your society online and educating. SKCGS special interest groups are thriving because we can share images via email or login directly to the group on the web, use the shared calendar to keep track of events, and discuss issues and deal with questions before, after and between meetings. Search https://groups.io/search?q=genealogy and find over 2000 groups so far. Find us at https://skcgs.groups.io/g/Society.
When SKCGS had to move to online meetings because of the lock down, we were already accustomed to the new online group.. Adding links to join a Google Meet session was just as easy as pasting in the street address for invitations and reminders for our previous physical meetings.
Many years ago, a tech savvy person in our Society decided that the Google Suite for Non Profits would meet some of our needs for online file backup, now more commonly called “the cloud.” GSuite was then and still is free for nonprofits. It took us a while to begin using many of its features; but now its use is routine.
We place meeting minutes, committee and budget reports in a shared file folder rather than sending endless emails. We upload flyers in various formats for posting to Facebook, Twitter, newspapers and group emails. We use Google Docs and Sheets to collaboratively edit documents and spreadsheets. We even have photo storage.
In these pandemic times, the most important feature of our GSuite is Google Meet. Meet is free, more secure than most of the competitors, easy for the users and presenters both, and very flexible. If a recording is wanted, there is one button to push to start and stop. People can successfully connect by telephone if their internet connectivity is temporarily bad. Did we mention, it is free and will continue to be free?
Our special interest groups have continued meeting once a month throughout the summer and our attendance is actually going up during the lock down, which is amazing. Due to special requests we have added a Genealogy Chat session; now we use G Meets at least once a week for online meetings. We have gained new members because of the friendly, informative interaction at these get-togethers.
It is not uncommon to have visitors from other parts of the country. The wonderful site ConferenceKeeper.org has been a life-saver for our society. In publicizing SKCGS meetings, we’ve announced them here in the blog, on the Washington State events page https://wasgs.org/eventListings.php?nm=76 and in the local newspapers. But most of our visitors report that they find our meetings at ConferenceKeeper, and they tend to come back!
The Benefits of a Virtual Genealogical Society by Katherine Willson https://www.vivid-pix.com/ondemandclasses ($1.99 for 30 days rental) discusses some of the reasons societies go virtual, the benefits and some drawbacks. We are experiencing few of the drawbacks because of our use of Groups.io and Google Suite.
Not yet mentioned is social distancing. Most of our population does not want to risk exposure. In our case, the facilities we were using no longer allow groups.
Increasingly we’re finding that people like access to meetings without having to leave home. Webinars and other video lectures and podcasts are booming. We want to be part of that! One advantage we didn’t anticipate is that nationally known speakers are still available for presentations. This opportunity is less expensive for our general membership, and has many advantages for the speakers as well. Virtual session contracts include no travel or hotel expenses and the speakers experience no travel fatigue, which is also true for our attendees.
There are now new ways to cooperate with neighboring organizations–societies, museums, libraries. We can advertise on each others’ platforms, do joint sponsorship of more expensive sessions, and give all of our members and patrons more ease of access.
We don’t know what the new “normal” will be or when it will settle in. The group that doesn’t act now will not be around to participate then.
Please thank the South King County Genealogical Society for letting me post this SKCGS blog. They have a very good blog and it is well worth your time reading it.