Genealogy webinars are the solution to furthering your genealogy education without leaving home. Getting to go to genealogy workshops, conferences, and lectures are fun and certainly educational, but they can also be expensive and require you to travel long distances. However, online webinars are the next best thing and many are free.
What are Genealogy Webinars?
What are genealogy webinars, you ask? They are online meetings. Imagine listening to a live (or recorded) genealogy lecture without ever having to leave the house. Participants can view PowerPoint slides, download handouts, and even ask questions if the webinar is live.
A typical webinar lasts about 45 minutes to an hour with some time left over for questions. You don’t need special computer software to participate. Webinars are browser based. All you need is a good internet connection and an internet browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Google Chrome.
Most webinars require pre-registration. You will register using your email address. Then, you will receive an email with instructions for logging into the webinar on the day of the event. It is easy and the instructions are clear and straight forward.
When participating in a webinar, it’s a good idea to log-on early as some of the webinars are first come, first serve. If you log-in late, you may not be able to “attend.” However, if you do miss the live webinar, many societies offer a recorded version to their members. In the case of live webinars from Legacy Family Tree Webinars, if you miss the live broadcast, you can watch the recording for free for the next week.
With a variety of webinar topics, you will soon turn into a genealogy webinar junkie.
I started attending webinars regularly over the past 2 years. I love the freedom to continue my genealogy education by attending lectures without having to actually “go” anywhere!
Some of my favorite places to go for webinars are:
- Legacy Family Tree Webinars: Legacy Family Tree Webinars offer both live and recorded webinars. The live webinars are usually held on Wednesdays. Legacy Family Tree Webinars also offer a yearly subscription for $49.95. With the yearly subscription, you have access to all webinars, both new and archived. Without the subscription, you still have the option to watch the free webinars and you can also download an archived webinar you want for $9.95. I have also contributed to Legacy Family Tree Webinars. My webinars can be viewed, here.
- Georgia Genealogical Society: Like many state genealogical societies, Georgia Genealogical Society offers monthly webinars for their members. However, GGS makes their live webinars open to the public and free. It is done on a first come, first serve basis.
- Board for Certification of Genealogists Now being handled by Legacy Family Tree Webinars, these amazing webinars are especially helpful for those looking to acquire certification from the Board for Certification of Genealogists.
- Wisconsin Genealogical Society The live webinars are free and held the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM (CST). Members of the society can access archived webinars.
- Illinois Genealogical Society Also held the second Tuesday of each month, this state society offers free live webinars open to the public. After the live broadcast, an archived on-demand copy of the webinar is available to ISGS members.
- Family History Library Webinars
This is just a small list of what’s available. Genealogy webinars are becoming more popular. Check your local state genealogical society for webinar opportunities and take advantage of this new tool for your genealogy and family history education.
I love webinars! Convenient and usually a replay is offered so you can catch what you missed the first time through. I am not familiar with all these webinar providers. Thanks for the info. I will check them out.
Me too! Webinars are the best kept secret in the genealogy world!
For British research check out the recorded webinars put on Findmypast’s youtube channel plus the UK National Archives have podcasts and webinars on their website including a series on the basics in the week beginning 3 April and a 3 part series on Medieval and Tudor Paleography starting at the end of April.
Great tip, Jacqui! Thanks for sharing!