Typically, a genealogy conference will take place in a building, hotel, or conference center that is large enough to accommodate the crowds. If you cannot travel out to where it is taking place, then you will miss it. It’s nice that Family Tree University is having a Virtual Genealogy Conference. This could make it much easier for people to check it out.
Family Tree University is not an accredited college. It is the name of the “learning center” (for lack of a better term) for Family Tree Magazine. It is a great resource for genealogists who want to learn more about their favorite hobby, to brush up on their research skills, and to find out about resources that were previously unknown to them.
This Virtual Genealogy Conference will take place from Friday, September 14 through Sunday, September 16, 2012. The tuition for this course is $199.99. Those who attend get a three-day all-access pass that will enable you to watch 15 pre-recorded video classes and to participate in live chats. You also get a “swag bag” of freebies from ShopFamilyTree.com. Those that want to attend need to register and pay the tuition.
The cost of the tuition is less than what you would spend if you wanted to buy each of the fifteen videos separately. Each individual video costs $29.99. By attending the virtual conference, you actually would save 55% off the total price of all the videos. The website says the savings is equal to getting 8 classes for free.
Each video is about 30 minutes long. They are categorized into three “tracks”: genealogy technology track, research strategies track, and ethnic research track. This allows genealogists to easily find the videos that are on topics that are the most interesting to them. Your all-access pass lets you watch all fifteen videos. You can download all the videos and watch them again later.
Genealogists attending the conference can take advantage of the nature of a virtual conference. You don’t have to pack, book a flight, or reserve a room at a hotel. Just use your computer, from the comfort of your own home, when you are ready. All the classes are pre-recorded, so you won’t miss anything if you happened to sleep-in on one of the conference days.
Check out the Family Tree University website for more details, and to register for the conference. There is a link that will tell you more details about the people who will be presenting the courses, and you can also access a conference program.
Image by Jason Cartwright on Flickr