Presentation on Genealogy Blogs at Chaparral

Yesterday was the February meeting of the Chaparral Genealogical Society and I was the speaker.

I was asked to talk about blogs, since I'm the bloggiest member on their membership roll.

My presentation started at the very beginning with "a blog is..." and went from there. I showed some different types of genealogy blogs and gave reasons why the audience should read blogs. At the halfway point in the presentation, I discussed how to write a blog. The process is very much like writing an email, so I stressed that point.

I incorporated photos of my own ancestors into the presentation. Each Power Point slide that was text only (instead of a screen capture of a blog page) had a family photo on it. For each one I briefly explained who the people were in each photo.

The presentation ended with a blogging success story of my own. I shared about a cousin who found me through my blog, the information we shared and the bond we built.

In the final ah-ha moment, I revealed to the audience that all of the ancestor photos in my presentation were given to me by cousins who found me through my blog, and without my blog I wouldn't have these pictures of my ancestors. The group was impressed and I think I really showed them the value of genealogy blogs.

Overall, I think the presentation went well. Nobody fell asleep, people asked questions at the end and the feedback was positive. I've decided to put this presentation in my toolbox and use it again sometime with another group.

The next Chaparral Genealogical Society meeting is March 24. Linda Jameson/Jamison is going to talk about newspaper research. Everyone is welcome to attend.

P.S. Special thanks to my son for being my slide clicker during the presentation. He did great!