What We're Looking For

The Committee expects to schedule 18 breakout sessions in three concurrent tracks. The Committee especially invites proposals for presentations in six broad categories: 

• ·         Diverse Groups and/or resources for finding them – presentations on how to access and find sources or collections that specifically target diverse ethnic groups.
• ·         Sources for Research Success – presentations on how to access and find/use sources of all kinds – ranging from basic sources for beginners to more unusual sources for advanced research. Emphasis on Upper Midwest sources is encouraged, but not required.
• ·         Productivity Tools for Research – presentations that demonstrate technology, use of artificial Intelligence, software, and other tools for efficient or well-organized research.
• ·         Methods for Evidence Analysis – presentations that teach and illustrate methods and tools for analyzing and correlating evidence. Presentations that use case studies to illustrate best practices or the use of under-used sources are encouraged. Presentations that challenge intermediate and more advanced researchers are welcome, but they should be comprehensible to less experienced genealogists. These presentations might demonstrate how to evaluate sources and informants, resolve conflicting evidence, and merge or separate confounding identities.
• ·         Genetic Genealogy – presentations that teach basic concepts, as well as more advanced presentations that demonstrate the use of DNA evidence to solve genealogical problems. More advanced presentations on topics such as triangulation, chromosome mapping, adoption research, ethnicity estimates, or the complications of endogamous populations are welcome.
• ·         Preserving Family history – Presentations on ways to preserve family history and share with family and other researchers. Possible topics include heirloom preservation, photo conservation, and writing and publishing.