A Second Chance: The 2020 National Genealogical Society Virtual Conference
By Suzan Younger
With just weeks to go before the start of the 2020 conference in May, the National Genealogical Society announced on April 16 that NGS would hold this year’s conference virtually. On May 20, 2020, NGS 2020 Live! presented four live lectures given by Thomas Wright Jones, Judy G. Russell, Elizabeth Shown Mills, and Blaine Bettinger. Steffani Raff presented her program Echoes of the Women Who have Gone Before – Celebrating Women’s Suffrage during lunch. The NGS Award program followed Ms. Raff’s lecture, and they held drawings for genealogy-related prize giveaways throughout the day. During the breaks, the Platinum Sponsors, Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Family Tree DNA gave live product sessions. It was a full day of activities.
Phase two of the virtual conference is NGS 2020 On-Demand! If you purchased a conference package before May 20, you can access information about the on-demand sessions (offer now expired). There were three options for a package, which included your choice of 10, 20, or 45 lectures and a repeat of the original five presentations on May 20.
On-Demand audio-visual lecture packages went back on sale in June at PlaybackNGS.com. The good news is that you have a second chance to participate in the NGS 2020 Virtual Conference On-Demand. The same three options became available for purchase on June 15 at PlaybackNGS, and starting on July 1, all of the on-demand sessions will be released.
And there is more. NGS is offering international and ethnic workshop sessions. Get help from Family History Library specialists in six two-hour workshop sessions to be held live online between July 14 and July 17, for a $35 fee per workshop. Workshops focus on German, Hispanic, Irish, Italian, Native American, and Swedish heritage. Click here for more information and to reserve your spot in these expert workshops. Registration closes at 11:59 p.m. MDT on Tuesday, July 7. NGS will schedule the workshops using the Zoom conferencing service.
