What happens when you combine 1,000 genealogists of varying skill sets, 65 courses, 37 instructors, nine months of preparation, eight and a half hours, and one venue? Answer: The Turning Hearts Family History Conference.
The free conference was held at Weber State University on Sept. 15 and, with nearly 1,000 attendees, was considered a success.
Emil Hanson, director of the Ogden Family Search Library, has been in charge of the family history conference for the past 11 years.
Originally, the conference was done in LDS stake centers with one or two stakes involved at a time.
About five years ago, it was decided to do it on a larger scale, and the Marriott Hotel was rented for the conference.
?It cost us $5,000 just to rent the space. We can?t afford that,? Hanson said.
That?s when Hanson approached Weber State about hosting the conference in the future. Weber State agreed to do it for free.
The instructors are all volunteers, so the center only had to pay for printing, advertising and other miscellaneous charges. The conference cost about $500 total this year.
While the conference is hosted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hanson says the family history conference is for anybody and everybody.
?There are people all over the world who are genealogists,? he said, ?and I think it?s the
second-most-popular hobby in the world.?
The 65 classes pressented at the conference covered a variety of topics ranging from how to use the latest genealogy technology to how to record research findings.
Hanson mentioned that each country keeps records in a different way, so there were many classes on the research methods of individual countries.
The conference offered classes for both novice and experienced genealogists.
?Everything?s changing all the time. It?s a living organism, essentially,? Hanson said. ?That?s why people keep coming back. There are new and better ways to do things.?
The conference?s keynote speaker was Ron Tanner, a product leader for the LDS Family History Department.
A popular speaker, Tanner has been referred to as a stand-up comedian because of his entertaining lectures.
Tanner shared stories from his own genealogy and described how these have shaped his life. He told of a wealthy ancestor who helped finance the LDS Kirtland Temple and eventually had to beg for his bread.
?It changes lives when you find those stories. It changes your life, and it changes mine,? Tanner said. ?When you find stories that are good or bad, it?s still good, because you can choose to be like them or you can choose to not be like them.?
Tanner explained to conference-goers some details about the new Family Tree program and announced that, three months after the program is opened, the plan is to shut down the old program to force genealogists to use the new one. The new program will have all of the old data, as well as new data, imported into it. It will also make editing family history easier, he said.
Tanner encouraged genealogists to stop thinking about family history as ?mine? and rather to think of it as ?ours.?
Conference-goers seemed optimistic about the coming changes.
Richard Sobers, a conference attendee, said the changes are daunting for those who didn?t grow up with computers, but he?ll do his best to embrace them.
?There?s a lot left to learn to keep up with the technology, but it?s worth it,? he said. ?The changes will be for the better.?
Teresa Hanson, another experienced genealogist, felt certain that, by the end of the conference, she would be well-versed in the new Family Tree program.
Hanson was upbeat about the conference and the positive effects of genealogy in general.
?I feel like it gives me a connection to my ancestors, and the more I learn about them, the more I learn about myself and some characteristics I have,? she said. ?I think when you read about people who left their home and came to another home, it makes some of our challenges seem less scary.?
Source: http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/10/05/family-history-research-rides-wave-technology
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