One-Hour Presentations Listed Below

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, but most genealogists need practical use, not novelty. This presentation shows how to use AI to clean up notes, build research logs, summarize findings, draft correspondence, and organize next steps—without surrendering accuracy or standards. The focus is on workflow, judgment, and responsible use.

• Use AI to support, not replace, genealogical reasoning
• Turn scattered notes into usable research logs and summaries
• Recognize where AI helps, and where it can mislead

Like many family historians, I’ve wondered how best to preserve my research for future generations. After weighing several options, I chose to publish my work as historical anthologies through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). In this program, I’ll share practical ways to organize your genealogical research into a cohesive collection of stories, along with tips and tricks for setting up your word processing files for a smooth upload to KDP.

 Whether you’re new to publishing or ready to refine your approach, you’ll leave with the tools to turn your research into a lasting, professional-quality historical anthology.

Are you ready to transform decades of paper files, photographs, and family documents into a streamlined digital system? Whether you’re just beginning with a shoebox of letters or managing a lifetime of research binders, this program will guide you through the essential tools and techniques for successful digitization. We’ll explore:

• Choosing the right scanner — 
• Organizing digital files 
• Preserving and protecting your work 

By the end, you’ll have a roadmap for turning your family’s history into an accessible, well-preserved digital collection.

Families rarely moved in isolation. This session examines the web of letters, advertisements, railroad promotion, church networks, kinship ties, and chain migration that shaped settlement in the Midwest. It is especially valuable for those tracing immigrant or migrant families into Illinois and neighboring states.

• Recognize chain migration in family movement patterns
• Use community networks to uncover origins and associates
• Expand immigrant research beyond passenger lists

What can you do with just 400 words? In my case, I turned a short Wikipedia entry on Genevieve Behrend into a richly documented, 30,000-word biography spanning 1875 to 1950. Along the way, I uncovered four marriages, a Cook County divorce, an unrecorded suicide, and the fascinating life of a French immigrant who left her mark on the New Thought movement.

In this case study, you’ll see how I blended direct and indirect evidence, mined primary sources, and followed unexpected leads to connect the dots. Whether you’re writing family history, a biography, or just chasing down a stubborn ancestor, the methods I’ll share can help you transform scattered facts into a compelling and well-supported life story.

Good research is not the same as good writing. This session shows how to turn gathered evidence into clear, readable narrative without sacrificing accuracy. It addresses structure, pacing, quotation, historical context, and the difference between a list of facts and a story grounded in evidence.

• Shape research into a coherent narrative
• Add historical context without overwhelming the reader
• Write with clarity while preserving evidence and nuance

Not every clue comes from a courthouse or database. Photographs, Bibles, postcards, quilts, tools, medals, recipe books, account books, and loose family papers can all serve as evidence when handled carefully. This session shows how to read material culture as part of a genealogical case.

• Treat family objects as evidence, not decoration
• Extract clues from physical items and associated papers
• Preserve provenance while incorporating artifacts into research•  Prepare effectively for archive and repository visits

Some research problems collapse under their own weight because the material is never organized well enough to analyze. This session shows how to manage complex projects through timelines, spreadsheets, research tables, and cluster methods so that patterns become visible and arguments stronger.

• Organize difficult problems into workable structures
• Use tables and timelines to expose contradictions and gaps
• Strengthen analysis through cluster and FAN research

Lineage societies are not only about applications. Their standards, documentation habits, and proof expectations offer useful lessons for all genealogists. This presentation shows what ordinary researchers can learn from lineage-society methods, whether or not they ever file an application.

• Understand how lineage proof sharpens research habits
• Strengthen documentation and source analysis
• Apply society-level rigor to everyday genealogy

Not every research problem requires dramatic evidence. Many can be solved through careful assembly of ordinary records: census, tax, land, probate, directories, newspapers, church records, and associates. This session shows how to build a convincing proof argument from modest but well-correlated sources.

• Build stronger cases from common records
• Correlate indirect evidence with greater confidence
• Write conclusions that are careful, clear, and persuasive

Many genealogists have begun scanning, but fewer have a system that will still make sense five years from now. This session covers practical methods for digitizing papers and photographs, naming files consistently, adding useful metadata, and building a backup routine that protects years of work.

• Create a logical, sustainable digital filing system
• Name files so they can be found and understood later
• Build a preservation workflow that protects digital assets