2023 Genealogy Learning Opportunities

2023 is here. Have you made any genealogy education goals for yourself? If so, read this post for some ideas on how to full-fill those goals! If you haven't, you might want to with so much to learn!

2023 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 2023 webinar schedule. (The website looks/acts more like a tablet/smartphone app.) You can register for webinars individually or, click the Register for Multiple Webinars at Once to select all the webinars. There are 177 webinars this year. (Some are in languages other than English.) The Legacy Blog tells a bit about the various webinars in the coming year.

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 2023 webinar schedule with a notable change for this year. The webinars, held the first Saturday and third Monday of the month, are once again free to live viewers. Each webinar has a capacity of 500 attendees. (For 2022 there was a cost implemented for each webinar.) After the live webinar, only SCGS members can view the archived webinars. SCGS membership is $40/year and includes other benefits.

Don't forget to check your larger local and national genealogical societies to see if they have released their webinar and/or virtual meeting schedules. Some release the whole year at one time, others release only a month or two at a time. Think NEHGS (some free, some pay), Ontario Genealogical Society, Illinois and Wisonsin have done webinars in the past. 

The Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, began broadcasting the genealogy classes held in the library about several years ago. Information about these free webinars are located at the FHL's wiki classes and webinars page on FamilySearch. The year there will be no classes and webinars from January through March 2023; classes and webinars will likely being after RootsTech 2023. 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. Some highlights include several webinars/classes on using FamilySearch Family Tree, and starting genealogy focusing on various ethnic heritages as well as an introduction to using the Polish State Archives website.

The societies and companies 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 2023 Right Around the Corner
Another webinar learning opportunity is the annual RootsTech conference which once again will have an in-person conference as well as virtual aspect. Registration is already open for RootsTech 2023 which takes place March 2-4, 2023. It is $98 for attending in-person and it is completely free for virtual attendees. (RootsTech pricing obviously does not include hotel and airfare.) Prior RootTech sessions are available though a little bit hidden. On the On Demand page, in the search scroll down to the bottom where the Year option is available. Then check the box(s) for years (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) you want to review the sessions; once the screen updates you can now see the prior years' sessions.

Have fun learning something new.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library! 
LE