Kick your event off with an exciting and inspiring keynote session. Use the booking form on this page (above) to send your request. 

It’s a new decade, so if you think you know how to Google, think again! Technology changes rapidly and keeping our search skills updated and sharp is key to search success. Come learn the Google Search Methodology for Genealogy updated for 2020. You’ll hear about the latest and best search innovations, and learn the process that will dramatically improve your genealogical search results. These skills can be used with all associated Google tools.

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In this session you’ll see how free tech tools and creative sleuthing turned unidentified photos into identified treasures. You can do it to, and this class will show you how!

Become a genealogical detective in this vital session. You’ll learn to track ancestors like a criminal cold case detective, sniffing out holes in your research and getting missing information on the record with cutting edge technology.

Save yourself future frustration and disappointment by putting a solid genealogy organizational plan in place for all the types of items that will be coming your way. I personally use the systems that I am sharing with you, and they have proven to be reliable and efficient. We will cover systems for 4 types of stuff:
1. Organizing All This Paper! The Physical Items Organization System
2. Organizing All That Genealogical Data! The Family Tree Data Organization System
3. Organizing All These Digital Files! The Digital Organization System
4. Organizing All that Web Information! The Online Notetaking System

Learn the secrets of getting more than you ever imagined from the largest online collection of digitized books, Google Books. With 25 million books, many of which are digitized and fully searchable, Google Books should be the first place to which you turn as you climb your family tree. Learn how to make the most of this goldmine chock full of historical data with little known techniques from the Google Guru, Lisa Louise Cooke, author of the book, The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, Second Edition.

Discover tips and tricks to find your ancestors with common surnames and surnames that double as common words in the English language with Google.  Learn how to weed out irrelevant search results to save time and get to what you want faster.  Then save and automate your searches to run for you! You’ll not only improve your searches, but also improve the chances that the information you post online will be found by other genealogists facilitating collaboration!

A wide variety of rich resources are available for free through Google. But it’s not just Google search that can lead you to genealogy gems. Google’s empire includes a great collection of free online tools that are all powered by the same Google search engine, and many are brimming with historical information. In this case study session, we will flesh out the story of a family tree by using a variety of Google tools, and bring it all together in a compelling video that can be shared with your family.

Google Earth Pro is a 360 degree three dimensional way to view your ancestor’s world!  In this session you will learn how to use Google Earth‘s tools in conjunction with genealogical research techniques to identify old photos, find, plot and virtually visit your ancestor’s homestead, and locate and utilize historic maps.  Finally, Google Earth has the power to geographically document your ancestor’s lives.  Every genealogist can benefit from using Google Earth Pro, and best of all, it’s FREE! 

Get ready to experience old historic maps, genealogical records, images, and videos coming together to create stunning time travel experiences in the free Google Earth program. We’ll incorporate automated changing boundaries, and uncover historic maps that are built right into Google Earth. Tell time travel stories that will truly excite your non-genealogist relatives! You’ve never seen anything like this class!

Getting your family involved in the family history can be challenging, but with Google Earth you can grab their attention and get them willingly involved! This session, presented in a game show format, will show you the possibilities that Google Earth offers. Contestants will be selected from the audience and arranged in two teams. Host Lisa Louise Cooke will take everyone on a tour of the globe using Google Earth, asking genealogical questions of the teams along the way. The team that answers the most questions correctly win prizes. Everyone who attends will not only learn more about genealogy, but they will also see the amazing capabilities of Google Earth when used for genealogy! It’s fun for everyone

Google Earth is much more than just a mapping program.  In this presentation you will learn how to harness Google Earth’s capabilities by using it as a multi-media way to tell your ancestor’s story and leave a legacy for future generations. Learn how to incorporate images, videos, genealogical documents, and historic maps and bring it all together in a unique virtual family history tour that you can share on blogs, websites, by email and more, as well as use to further your research through geographic analysis.

Come to this session and you’ll walk out with potentially thousands of free historic maps organized for your family history research. And the good news is, you don’t need a lot of tech know-how to do it! You’ll learn how to find free digital maps for your ancestral locations, add them as permanent map overlays to Google Earth, and then organize them into your personal map reference collection. We will also cover best practices for keeping them organized so that they continually enrich your research.

Historic maps are a must for your research. Learn the five types of historical maps every genealogist should be using, and how to find them (many in places you would have never guessed!) Then learn how to create and save your own historic map collection, and discover truly innovative ways to incorporate them into your analysis and storytelling.

Envision your genealogy as technology speeds ahead into the future. There are 5 five key strategies that you can employ right now that will make the ride easier, and the results more exciting than ever. Discover the paradigm shift that will make finding the right technology for your needs easier than ever. And learn how to capitalize on how technology is changing the flow of information.  Finally, explore three areas that are poised to thrust ahead in the future, making this an exciting time to be a family historian!

Are you sick and tired of navigating the countless tech tools available to help with your family history? The good news: You don’t need them all to accomplish your genealogy goals. This session will soothe your suffering by simply focusing on these 10 technology tools that will help you bypass tech overload and get back to your genealogy research.

Tablets and smartphones are built for hitting the road and are ideally suited for genealogy due to their sleek size, gorgeous graphics and myriad of apps and tools.  In this class you will discover the top apps and best practices that will make your mobile device a genealogical powerhouse! (iOS and Android)

Move beyond apps and into power usage! Learn browser customization and discover little-known features, get organized, harness accessibility features, and perform Evernote genealogical tricks!

Do your relatives roll their eyes in boredom when you mention genealogy? Learn how to captivate them with compelling stories and imagery! We’ll cover seven easy-to-use mobile apps that will help you tell your family history stories in a riveting way, that will have them asking for more.

A recent Nielsen Study shows Internet video is experiencing explosive growth. Don’t let the video revolution pass you by! In this class Lisa Louise Cooke of the popularGenealogy Gems YouTube channel will give you ten ways that online video can enrich your family history. Genealogists can use video in countless ways to learn more about their ancestors, enhance their online presence to attract others researching the same family lines, and create intriguing projects to share their family stories.

Evernote puts all your notes right at your fingertips no matter where you are. In addition to super fast and easy note taking and retrieval, you’ll learn how to clip items from the Internet (rather than saving entire bulky web pages!) use OCR technology to search your digitized documents like newspaper articles, and tap into a myriad of apps that help Evernote help you do just about anything you need.  Evernote harnesses the power of the Cloud to allow you to work across all your computing devices (including your iPad and smart phone.) Best of all, it’s free

Learn the best strategies for making Evernote a breeze to use for your genealogy research. Shave time off your note-taking with quick keys, shortcuts, saved searches, search operators, Reminders, note sharing, source citation,  and building Evernote into any browser you use (including mobile devices!)

A genealogy research plan helps you identify what you want to know and formulate the questions and strategy which will provide the answers. In this session you will learn how to set up and work your plan in Evernote, and integrate it with your existing genealogical notes.

Yearning to “read all about it?” Newspapers are a fantastic source of research leads, information and historical context for your family history. Learn the specialized approach that is required to achieve success in locating the news on your ancestors.  Includes 3 Cool Tech Tools that will get you started.

If you are researching your family tree but haven’t shared it with your family in a way that sparks their interest, then you are only experiencing half of the joy of genealogy! And if your descendants don’t grasp the importance of their heritage, your hard work may tragically find it’s way to the city dump when you are gone. Don’t just collect your family history and store it away in binders and files! Learn how creative displays and crafts can capture the imagination of your non-historian friends and relatives, while honoring your ancestors. These projects are guaranteed to inspire your family to ask you to tell them more about the family tree!

Don’t let your lifetime of genealogy research end up in the landfill!  Lisa Louise Cooke  will teach you the 7 key strategies to securing the future of your research including designating a  “research keeper,” setting up a Genealogy Materials Directive, and making donations with a Deed of Gift.  Don’t miss this class – your family research legacy depends on it!

Learn the techniques that Private Investigators use to track down missing people.  These strategies will help you find those elusive living relatives who just may hold the key to your brick wall or possess that treasured photo you’ve been looking for.

If you’re not on YouTube, then you are allowing the video revolution to pass you by.  It is estimated that YouTube Mobile receives more than 100 million views a day and is the #2 search engine on the planet! YouTube is fast becoming the first place that many people turn to for answers to their questions, including fellow genealogists. Including video content on your website can also drive more traffic to your site. In this presentation Lisa Louise Cooke, producer of the Genealogy Gems YouTube Channel (founded just 2 years after YouTube’s launch and currently boasting over a quarter of a million views) will share her tips and tricks for a robust YouTube channel that will power boost your genealogical efforts.