Connecting with our Roots: How Family Stories Shape our Lives – NEW
Unearthing family stories creates a bond between you and your ancestors. Hearing stories about mother’s childhood changed my perception of her. Learning ancestors’ stories, either by hearing them from relatives or discovering them through research, teaches us about our ancestors and helps us understand their lives. This session will explore the psychology of researching family history. By researching family history we learn how their decisions have shaped us. Learn tips for talking to relatives to learn family stories and how to gather stories from the research we do.

Finding Clues  in Historical Documents – NEW
Are you getting every bit of information from historical documents that you uncover? As high school students we read books and learned to analyze them. In genealogy research we have the fun of examining historical documents and analyzing them to find clues that lead to further research. Sharpen your analytical skills in this session. Learn to determine the facts and evaluate clues to decide where to search next to confirm the information that the clues revealed.

10 Strategies to Accurately Build Your Family Tree – New
How would you feel if you discovered that the family you had researched for years weren’t your ancestors? Eager genealogists sometimes build an inaccurate family tree. This session will provide 10 strategies to reduce the risk of making this mistake. You will feel confident building your family tree as you use these strategies. This presentation will benefit new and not so new genealogy researchers. 

8 Tips for Beginner Genealogists
Are you interested in becoming skilled at genealogy fundamentals? Do you want to know how to decide if that record is your ancestor? Following these 8 tips will help you  trace your family tree proficiently and accurately.

Genealogy Resources for the Canadian Prairies – NEW
A look at the usual websites and unexpected resources for finding your family on the Canadian Prairies. Discover where to find data and social history.

Analyzing Census Records Using Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets make analysing census records easier. Learn to create a spreadsheet and manipulate data to reveal actual and implied information from census records.

How to Find North American Passenger Lists
Are you missing a key genealogy clue because you haven’t found a passenger list? Do you know the exact date your relative stepped foot on Canadian or American soil? Our ancestors came to North America by ship but finding them on passenger lists can be frustratingly difficult. This session covers how to discover the immigration date of an ancestor, where to find passenger lists for arrivals in Canada or United States, and some tips for finding the hard to find ancestor.

From Census to Civil and Church Records 
Learn how to gather the information found on census records, analyze it, and then find other records that that prove or disprove those facts.  Extracting information on census records is vital to finding more records. Learn how to calculate birth, marriage, and death dates, how to infer information and how to create a database to organize facts. Discover where to look to find government and church records that will have more accurate facts on your family. Follow the Franklin family from the 1921 Canada census in Saskatchewan to Ontario to England as you learn to use census, civil and church records to complete your family tree.

The Art of Slow Genealogy
Are you a genealogy tortoise or a hare? The hare rushes to find new documents, but genealogy tortoises create more accurate and thorough family trees by using a detailed research log. This step-by-step method suggests ways to slow down, cite your sources, and read and analyze records. This process results in a more accurate family history.

Genealogy Basics
Learn to do genealogy like a seasoned researcher. Follow these basic tips and you’ll research your family confidently and efficiently. Are you interested in becoming skilled at genealogy fundamentals such as: organizing the facts and sources, finding records, and evaluating the documents you found? This presentation will teach you the how to be proficient at tracking your family.

Genealogy from Home
We get in the rut of searching only our favorite websites. But there are many digitized records on the internet on various websites. This lecture will examine sites in Canada, Britain, and United States that contain online records. As well, we’ll look at websites that teach genealogists where to find even more records on the internet.

Breaking that Brick Wall
You found your ancestors but can’t determine where they came from. This information packed presentation offers a methodical approach that results in thoroughly reviewing and analyzing your documents, and looking at records that may help break through that brick wall. We’ll explore various techniques and strategies organize and carry out research. Following this system results in a more accurate family history, will help you break down your genealogical barriers and may take you back another generation

Using Canadian Land Records for Genealogy Research
Genealogists don’t always realize the value of land records. They were kept from the beginning of settlement in Canada and many still exist. This lecture will examine why you want to look at land records, what genealogy information can be gleaned from them and where they are found. We will look at actual land records to discover information of value to family historians. We’ll also look at different sites and databases that contain these records. I will explain the intricacies in finding some of the records and go over the new online database for Ontario land record.

Finding Records on FamilySearch
Have you ever tried browsing through records on the FamilySearch website?  How do you know what’s available and how to find them?  Searching the indexed records is the easiest way to look for ancestors. But there are thousands of digitized records that haven’t been indexed. Taking the time to browse or scroll through them is worth the effort. You’ll learn where to find them and tips on making the browsing a bit easier.  This lecture will look at how to find both indexed and non-indexed records to make the best use of the FamilySearch website

Using Social Media for Genealogy
Social media can be intimidating for some of us, but the lure of connecting online with living relatives is tempting. Learn the value of social media; what it is, what platforms are available and how they work; and what a great tool it is for family historians.

Researching in Canada
This information packed presentation guides researchers through internet sources available for research in Canada. We’ll look at the Collections Canada website, different provincial archives, and Ancestry and FamilySearch websites. Attendees will learn what is available on each of these websites and how to easily and quickly find the information they want.