The work is done, the classes have concluded, and participants have gone forward. The 45th Annual BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy has become part of history.

One of the benefits of attending a conference is visiting with friends and meeting new people. We learn from one another. We share our knowledge. We share our experience. We share our stories. We associate with those who understand our unique passion. We have many of our questions answered.

At this conference youth were learning and discussing family history. Young adults were attending and presenting. Our ever faithful seniors were presenting and learning as well. As we know, or have come to learn, family history involves the entire family!

How to Involve Youth: A Panel Discussion
Left to Right: Matthew Hovorka, Tristan Ostler, Kylee Haunga, Brenden Alton, Mckayla Faddis and Devin Ashby (moderator)

On Friday, participants had the opportunity to attend five more presentations throughout the day. There was no keynote address. Classes started at 8:30am and the room scheduled for the Facebook for Family History Consultants presentation was filled to overflowing at least 10 minutes before it started!

Jean Wilcox Hibben gave her presentation about Turning Genealogy into Family History: Creating Stories from Stats. She demonstrated that one does not need to inherit the family scrapbook to turn vital statistics into the stories of our ancestors.

There was at least one birthday among us. As it was said, this was an example of “the power of social media.” (If the person who had the birthday is reading this, I hope it was a happy one! I estimated that you would probably receive about 100+ “friend” requests :-)

The Facebook for
Family History Consultants Crowd

One of the last classes of the day was a Mac Users presentation. There was so much interest that Jimmy Zimmerman, who has been PC free for 5 years, decided to entertain a Mac Genealogy After-Party to answer additional questions and show additional features :-)

For those who may be interested, the conference syllabus is still available for purchase. It contains 586 pages of information suited to the new and seasoned genealogist. The CD syllabus is $15 + $2.50 shipping. The printed syllabus is also available for $30 + $10 shipping. Call 801-422-4853 or visit the conference website for more information.

Robert Dickey demonstrates the equipment used to digitize records. If you are interested in “a mission that fits your lifestyle” call 1-855-346-4774 or visit familysearch.org/mission.

I would like to take a moment to thank all who helped organize this conference including Stephen Young, FamilySearch Project Manager; Suzanne Russo Adams, FamilySearch Content Strategy Manager; Margo McKinstry, British Reference Consultant at the Family History Library; George Ryskamp, Professor of History at BYU; John Best, Assistant Program Administrator of BYU’s Department of Conferences and Workshops; and Tessa Lund, event planner in the Department of Conferences and Workshops.

Additionally, I would like to thank the vendors, the support staff of BYU Conferences and Workshops, and all of the presenters and participants. You made it a great conference!

[The Ancestry Insider, Renee Zamora of Renee’s Genealogy Blog, and I served as official bloggers. Be sure to check out their posts covering this conference!]

Copyright ©2013 Lynn Broderick and the Single Leaf. All Rights Reserved.