A Modern Tale

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Once upon a time, in a land right next door, South King County Genealogical Society had regular, person-to-person meetings on the third Saturday of most months of the year.  People got up early and drove to the meeting place, were greeted at the door and received a printed handout provided by the speaker of the day.  People visited with each other and learned new techniques for researching their family trees.  They went home and tried new links from the printed handouts and then saved the paper copy in a file or notebook.  Life was routine, predictable.



                                                                                                                                                          

    


Then something happened; the people started learning new words—CoronaVirus, Covid-19, pandemic, social distancing, Zoom, Amazon ordering, curbside groceries, webcams, Google Meets. 


                            




People at SKCGS have learned how to conduct virtual meetings and most of their members are able to attend.  And an added benefit is that people who had not been able to attend before are now logging in. We're sharing web space and experience with people from all over the United States and Canada.  Speakers at the first virtual meetings were society members who presented links for further information on their topics instead of “handouts”. 

Now there is a new normal.  The SKCGS Education Committee has been able to book special speakers for September through November 2020, and into 2021.  These are speakers who are willing and able to do virtual presentations and we are so pleased to present them.



We must remind you that speakers' presentations are copyrighted and can only be shared as they specify.  Presentations should not be recorded and slides should not be photographed or captured without permission.

Speakers have different requirements and SKCGS is under contract to honor their requests.  One recent presentation stipulated that the handout be made available to only those who had logged into the meeting.  A future speaker has offered a recording to be available on a “Members Only” page of our website.



SKCGS is excited to be able to meet this new challenge and to welcome people from all over the world to share their knowledge and experience in genealogy. While we are adhering to our contracts, we encourage you to attend as many meetings as possible and further, join in the Genetic Genealogy/DNA and Technical Users Group meetings.  There you can participate in conversations on a variety of topics.

People who have subscribed to Society@SKCGS.groups.io are starting to ask questions and offer assistance to each other.  Fantastic!

One other point--if you have not already done so, please consider becoming a member of SKCGS.  Your $20 membership helps cover the speakers' fees and ensures your access to "Members Only" items.  Go to Membership at SKCGS.org for the membership form.  Thank you.


MaryLynn Strickland


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