One of the difficulties that genealogists have when they consider attending the conference is the “attendance” part. Most people cannot simply dash off to the other side of the country to attend an interesting conference on a whim. Even nearby ones could be difficult to fit around your work schedule. An excellent solution to this problem is to attend a virtual genealogy conference.
Family Tree Magazine has created a series of resources under the banner “Family Tree University”. They are doing something rather unique this summer. They will be holding the Family Tree University 2011 Virtual Conference from August 19, 2011, through August 21, 2011. Events, classes, and live chats will begin starting 9:00 in the morning on Friday, August 19, and everything will end at 11:59 at night on Sunday, August 21.
The entire thing is being done “virtually” and is web based. This means that you can log in from absolutely anywhere that gives you internet access, and attend this conference. There is no need to attempt to convince your boss that you need to use up some vacation days, and you won’t have to call in sick in order to check out this conference. You won’t be spending anything on travel expenses, either.
The cost for attending the 2011 Virtual Conference is $199.00. This gives you a three day all access pass that you can use as often as you like during the conference. You can pick and choose what aspects interest you the most, and attend only those, whenever you have the time to do so that weekend.
Since this conference is being put together by Family Tree Magazine, you can expect there to be as many interesting resources as you typically find in the magazine itself. There will be plenty of things at this conference that are of interest to genealogists.
This conference includes fifteen different video classes, (each of which are thirty minutes in length.). Five of them will be under the category “Genealogy Technology”, five will be under the topic of “Research Strategies”, and five will fall under the subject of “Ethnic Research”. The classes have all been pre-recorded, which allows you to tune in and watch them anytime that is convenient for you.
The all access pass lets you watch every single one of them, or to pick and choose the ones that sound the most interesting. You can even download them, and watch them again after the conference ends! Usually, these videos would be something you would have to purchase individually, (at $29.99 each). The cost of the conference gives you a discount on that price. If you downloaded all fifteen classes, it would be like you got eight of them for free.
All genealogists who attend this virtual conference will get a very real “Swag Bag”, for free. It will contain items that can be found in the Family Tree Magazine store. Conference goers can participate in online conversations with instructors and Family Tree Magazine staff. The topic of this chat is yet to be announced.
Image by Danijel Zivkovic on Flickr