Saturday General Meeting

-

 




It's the third Saturday of the month, about 9:45 am, and you are at your computer, ready to join the South King County Genealogical Society meeting. You are looking forward to hearing that great speaker who is presenting that hot topic!  You registered several days ago and you are ready to be informed.  You did register, didn't you?  If you forgot, do it right now!

But, you can't find the link to get into the meeting! Time is ticking by and you are about to panic.  You send a text/phone call/email to Valorie/MaryLynn/Tina/any other tech person you can think of to get the link. They aren't answering because they are already hosting the meeting or otherwise tied up.  What to do?

The best advice we can give is to avoid that problem in the first place.  When you register for the meeting a few days in advance, you immediately get a confirming email that contains the link to the meeting.  It will be sent to the email address that you used when you registered.  You may have to check your junk or spam mail folders but it should be there.

Immediately, while you are thinking about it, mark that email and put it into a folder so you can find it on Saturday morning.  Depending on your email server, there are several different methods for this.


MSN Email


In MSN you can flag a message which highlights it and adds the red flag.  It is much easier to spot that way.









Also in MSN, you can add a folder for important messages such as Registrations.














Yahoo Mail

In Yahoo Mail you can mark a message as Unread by clicking on the small blue dot at the front of the message.  This will turn it bold again, thus easier to find.


You can also add a designated folder:



Gmail

Gmail  messages can be starred, marked as Important or marked as Unread which makes the title bold.  If you star or mark as Important, they will show up in those folders as well as be marked in the general list of messages.






The above blog post was created by MaryLynn Strickland who serves on your Board as "Member at Large" which means she represents each of us SKCGS Members. This blog is one example of how she serves each of us.



I wanted to add to MaryLynn's good advice, how I keep track of meetings. I use my Google Calendar for everything, because it shows up in both my computers and my phone. When I find an event I want to attend, I put it on my calendar immediately, and add Reminders, which I usually see on my phone. 
If the event is a virtual meeting, I add the joining information right there along with the title, time and date and reminders. 
I've blurred my Zoom link for our meeting next Saturday morning, since only I can use it, but I always add that crucial information, which I can even use on my phone if necessary. You can call into Zoom meetings using any phone or join using the Zoom app on your smartphone. - Valorie








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's the Question?

-
Image
We genealogists are often told by experienced researchers how important it is to begin with a research question. I resisted doing this for a long time, but now that I use a series of questions to guide my research, the search is more focused and actually finds more of the history of the family I'm investigating. I use a Google Doc as the  research proceeds, where I keep the question(s), the plan, timelines, checklist of resources to search, etc. all in one place. I've seen others use spreadsheets in the same way, perhaps splitting up things in tabs (Excel or Google Sheets). I prefer a document because I add source citations as I find them and I can begin writing up the case right there in the doc as the hypotheses are proven. Specific Questions in Previous Successes As beginners we often have no clue how much and what details we already know about a person, event or relationship, so it's hard to specify what we want to know. But when looking back at successful research, it
Read more

Looking for a Needle in a Haystack? GAME CHANGER at FamilySearch

-
Image
Generated with Bing ImageCreator (AI), March 13, 2024 Where is YOUR Needle, Your Missing Record? Genealogical Proof Standard When we use the GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) as our guide, we all know that "exhaustive research" can be both tedious and exhausting. Is life long enough to search page by page through all the counties where all the members of a family might have lived, paid taxes, bought, leased or sold property, made a will or died intestate? It is possible that the new Full Text Search at FamilySearch will  eventually  allow us to do just that. It has been estimated that 75% or more of the records at FamilySearch were browsable but not searchable; the only indexes those found in the records themselves. Those records are certainly attainable by using those indexes and browsing to the record of interest, but the process is tedious, often frustrating, and slow. And once found, the record must be read and transcribed to be useful. This new Full Text Search tackles a
Read more

Shedding Your Genealogy "Stuff"

-
Image
AI: Bing Image Creator Generated Changing realities force many of us to consider the future of our genealogical collections. Whether a change in health, a new location or even just downsizing, it can be useful to evaluate what we have now, with an eye to the future. What we can pass along? Plan Ahead First: if you have online trees, create a plan to grant access to interested fellow researchers, even distant cousins. Depending on the website, you may need to add a codicil to your will, or just tell the site whom your successor will be.  Ancestry.com: there are two considerations: your DNA test and your tree(s). It is wise to share your DNA results with a cousin or other relative; no need to wait. Or you can  Assign a Manager .  For overall accounts and trees, there is  Ancestry® Family Plan Memberships .  FamilySearch help file:  How to Connect to a Family Member’s Tree .  B ecause it is a shared tree, a person cannot pass along their FamilySearch account. Ensure that your interested
Read more