Catchup: Genealogy Educational Opportunites in 2020

So with just hours to go until the clock rings in the new year of 2020, have you made any genealogy education goals for yourself? If so, read this post!

2020 Genealogy Webinar Schedules Released by a Variety of Providers
There are lots of genealogy learning opportunities via webinars -- a live presentation you view using services on your computer/device. Many of these webinars are free to view live. If you want to watch one later it may require a membership fee. If you really like the webinars of a particular host or want to see an older, archived webinar the cost of membership is usually not very high for many of these webinar hosts.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars has released its 2020 webinar schedule. (The website looks/acts more like a tablet/smartphone app.) Click on the Upcoming Webinars to see the future webinars listed by month but you'll have to click on each webinar to learn more and to register. Or, click the Register for Multiple Webinars at Once to see the future webinars in one list. (Click the top check box to automatically check all webinars at one time.)

Legacy Family Tree webinars are mostly held at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays though there are a few Friday afternoon and Wednesday evening webinars. They are free to view live and for almost a week afterwards at which time they become accessible to webinar subscribers only. (Some archived webinars remain free for all to view.) Handouts are available only to webinar subscribers/members. Legacy webinar membership is currently $49.95/year. (Note: If you view a webinar, there is often a discount code word which will get you 10 percent off items from the store, including webinar memberships.) Webinar members get an additional 5 percent off when signed-in.

The Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) has released its 2020 webinar schedule. The webinars, held the first Saturday and third Monday of the month, are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only SCGS members can view the archived webinars. SCGS membership is $40/year and includes other benefits. You have to register for each webinar separately but it takes less than ten minutes to sign up for all of them.

The Illinois State Genealogical Society has not released its 2020 webinar schedule yet.  The webinars are held the second Tuesday of the month at 9 p.m. ET and are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only ISGS members can view the archived webinars. ISGS membership starts at $40/year. 

The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society has released its 2020 webinar schedule. The webinars are held the third Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m. ET and are free to live viewers and handouts are included. After the live webinar, only WSGS members can view the archived webinars. WSGS membership starts at $35/year. 

The Florida State Genealogical Society also hosts webinars. The society will announce its 2020 webinar schedule on its upcoming webinars page on January 1, 2020. The webinars are held the third Thursday of the month at 8 p.m. ET and are free to pre-registered live viewers. Handouts are usually for members only. After the live webinar, only FSGS members can view the archived webinars. FSGS membership is $25/year.

The Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, began broadcasting the genealogy classes held in the library about five years ago. Information about these free webinars are located at the FHL's wiki classes and webinars page on FamilySearch. This schedule has not been updated for 2020 yet so check back again. Sometimes additional webinars are added to the current month. Most of these webinars include handouts. Previously recorded webinars are listed under Past Webinars. (Scroll down the page to see them.) You also may find some archived in the FamilySearch Learning Center.

The societies and company listed above are not the only online webinar opportunities out there. GeneaWebinars is a blog that hosts a calendar specializing in keeping track of the numerous genealogy webinars being held. About 35 organizers/hosts list their webinars in the calendar. Organizers/Hosts use a variety of webinar delivery systems from GoToWebinar to Google Hangouts to Twitter. Most entries have links taking you to the registration page for that webinar or the website of the host.

RootsTech 2020 Right Around the Corner
Another webinar learning opportunity is the live-broadcast of selected sessions from the RootsTech 2020 conference held February 26 - February 29, 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Live-Stream sessions will be announced a few weeks before the conference.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library! 
LE