Thanks for attending!
Below you’ll find all available handouts
Our local expo (a “mini-RootsTech”) started in 2018 as part of the Declo Stake’s family history program, organized by Jamie & Cameron. Since the pandemic and a change of callings, the Burley Family History Center is excited to bring the annual expo back and make it better than ever!
This year we are hosting it at the Burley West Stake Center by the Burley High School. There will be 8 classes offered every hour, a free luncheon for those who RSVP, an tons of great ideas and helps to get you jump started in family history. Everyone in the community is invited, especially from all 7 stakes: Burley, Burley West, Declo, Oakley, Paul, Rupert, and Rupert West.
We are excited for all of our presenters and want to give special thanks to Joe Price who will be traveling up from Utah, Richard Miller who will be zooming in, and our local Twin Falls Temple President Reed Harris!
2023 Expo Schedule
2023 Presenters & Class Descriptions
Reed Harris – Current Twin Falls Temple President
Turning Hearts and Linking the Whole Human Family – 9am, 10am and 11am in the Chapel – A comprehensive look into the scriptures describing the restored keys of Elijah and our role in gathering all of God’s children for the coming days. This will be the same presentation as the temple worker devotional given in 2022.
Richard Miller – Creator of Goldie May
Goldie May – 1pm and 2pm in the Young Women’s Room – Tools for elevating your research process. An introduction to the features such as automatic logging, subway maps, workspace management, canvas, citations, locality research, planning, and faster searching. This will be zoomed and interactive.
Dr. Joe Price – BYU Record Linking Lab
Using Microtasks to Involve Everyone in Family History – 9am in the Young Women’s Room – This class will describe the concept of family history “microtasks” and how they can be used to involve everyone, including primary children, in family history work. The class will also show some apps you can use on any device to provide a bit of service each day to help grow the Family Tree.
Using the Saturation Approach to Expand the Coverage of the Family Tree – 10am in the Young Women’s Room– This class will describe a “saturation approach” which ensures that every person in a specific community has a profile on the Family Tree, are connected to their family members, and are attached to all of their census and vital records.
Exciting New Sources of Data for Family History – 11am in the Young Women’s Room– This class will describe several exciting new sources of data for family history work. Groups at BYU are creating ways to auto-index hand-written documents, extract genealogical information from books, and make collections with sparse data (e.g yearbooks, photos, newspaper articles) easier to link with census records.
Using Family History to Draw the General Public to the Family Tree – 12pm in the Young Women’s Room– This class will describe ways that we can use discovery experiences to draw the general public to use and contribute to the Family Tree. These discovery experiences can be easy to set up and have a huge impact on helping people see their family.
Shaura Miller
Google Drive – 1pm in Primary Room – What is Google Drive? Why do you need to learn how to make Google Drive work for you? Organize your photos and documents. Work from any device, anywhere. Also a brief intro to Google Docs and Google Photos.
FamilySearch 101 – 12pm and 2pm in the Primary Room – This class will introduce you to the website familysearch.org. We explore the features of the home page, learn to navigate the family tree feature, and discover the details of the person page. Understanding how the website functions is the first step in giving you a firm foundation for your family history research. This introduction can be the beginning of building that foundation.
Jeff Miller
Forget Me Not: Passwords – 2pm in Classroom #3
How to choose a good password and remember it! This class will discuss how to select a strong password, ways you can remember it, and tools that can help you.
Jolene Hunsaker
Yes, You Can Write Your Story – 9am and 10am in the High Council Room – What would it be worth to read the words of your deceased parents, grandparents, or other relatives? Will your posterity be saying the same thing about you? What would you like your family to remember about you? Have you wanted to jot down a few things about your life, but didn’t know where to begin?
In this class, I will share simple, down-to-earth ideas to help you get started. Dare I say . . . only five minutes a day is all you need to share a lifetime of stories, wisdom, and inspiration.
Everyone has a story! Everyone deserves to be remembered!
Anna-Marie Davis
Introduction to Familysearch.org – 9am, 10am and 11am in the Primary Room – This class will introduce you to the website familysearch.org. We explore the features of the home page, learn to navigate the family tree feature, and discover the details of the person page. Understanding how the website functions is the first step in giving you a firm foundation for your family history research. This introduction can be the beginning of building that foundation.
Marilyn Moncur
Connecting with Families – 10am and 11am in Classroom 1 – Are you looking for ways to connect with your family? Here is a class that will give you some tips and ideas, to help share and preserve your family memories. A quick look at family newsletters, photo books, scrapbooks, and ideas for writing personal histories. Bring family members together and share interests, everyday events, and special occasions with each other using different kinds of media.
Cameron Briggs
SourceLinker 101 with Darlene & Cameron Briggs – 2pm in the High Council Room – Training for all levels of expertise on attaching blue record hints and sources sourcelinker101.com
Connecting with Patriarchal Blessings – 9am in Classroom 3 – Learning the process of requesting ancestor’s blessings and with an approach to studying and deeply knitting them together with our own.
Distinguishing Voices – 1pm in Classroom 3 – A Discover-Gather-Connect approach to becoming familiar with our ancestor’s voices as we gather Israel. Watch this Class
Sue Egbert
Get Involved App – 12pm, 1pm and 2pm in Classroom 2 – You can download it to your phone or other devices. I really like to use it on my phone. It is something you can do about anytime you have extra time or time you’re waiting for an appointment, etc. It is so much easier to do with the computer reading the name first. We are just verifying that the computer is correct. The program keeps our input and the original computer input. This is way to bless lives just in your spare time.
Janie Rutskche
Solving Problems in FamilySearch – 12pm and 1pm in Classroom 1 – This will be a time to talk through specific problems you may have. We’ll go over how to use the Beta site of FamilySearch in order to practice before making changes to the actual tree.
Tammy Stevenson
DNA- Genetic Genealogy – 9am in the Relief Society Room – Just what is Genetic Genealogy and how does it help me with my Family History? This class will give the basic understand what DNA is. How DNA can help with finding missing ancestors in 7-8 generations. How it can assist in finding adoptive parents. Or how to verify those paper trails one has already researched. Also how to connect with living cousins, whom might have family photos and stories to share. This class will show the basics, for more details classes be sure to check out the center’s calendar.
How I Do Research – 10am in the Relief Society Room – This will be a demonstration class on how I verify my seven generation fan chart. Then how to systematically work through the family to find missing cousins through descendancy research. The class will include a specialized research paper I developed to assist in keeping track of multiple generations. Also options for narrowing in for descendant research using descendancy view in FamilySearch and Puzzilla.org. Tips and tricks learned in this class could be used in all of one’s research projects.
Russell Ludlow
Sourcing Ordinance Ready Names – 9am and 10am in Classroom 2– We’ll discuss the best practices of printing out names for temple ordinances. Are they ready? Do we need to do further research?
Veteran Records – 11am in Classroom 2– How to navigate Veteran records in FamilySearch’s record collection
Jennifer Elton
Ancestry 101 – 11am, 12pm and 1pm in the High Council Room – Every wonder why you would create a tree separate from FamilySearch? We’ll go over all the basics to get you started with Ancestry.com.
Marlene Hall
Family Search Wiki – 11am and 1pm in the Relief Society Room – What is it? How do I use it? Why do I care?
None of us can be an expert in everything, that’s where FamilySearch Wiki comes in.
10 Tips for Getting to Know your Ancestors – noon and 2pm in the Relief Society Room – How can you feel connected to someone who has lived 100 years ago or more and lived in such different times? These ten tips can help you get started.
Ashley Ludlow
Digital Organization – 9am and 2pm in Classroom 1, 12pm in Classroom 3 – In this class, we will explore the most effective ways to digitally organize precious family photos and videos. We’ll discuss the importance of backing up files, creating a logical file naming system, and how the process of organizing photos and videos can help with your family history efforts. By the end of the class, you’ll have all the tools and knowledge needed to keep your family’s digital memories safe and organized for years to come.
Sharon Bowers
Canadian Research – 12pm in the Chapel – We’ll talk about the best resources and record collections to help with your northern family lines.
FindAGrave.com – 1pm in the Chapel – This invaluable resource can help us find family connections through cemeteries across the map. We’ll cover how to uncover the hidden gems and how to use this website.
Ancestry 101 – 2pm in the Chapel – Every wonder why you would create a tree separate from FamilySearch? We’ll go over all the basics to get you started with Ancestry.com.
Mary Curtis
British Isles Research – 10am and 11am in Classroom 3 – Mary is a native. Please bring your specific questions to get help on research across the pond. We’ll talk about the best sources and using FindMyPast and Ancestry.com.
Lunch will be served from 11am – 1:30pm. RSVP required for the lunch, not the event. You may also bring your own food if you’d like. Presenters and volunteers should still fill out the RSVP if you’d like lunch 🙂
The cultural hall will be a hub throughout the day with the following:
• Burley Temple Visitor Center Missionaries
• Digitization Demonstrations
• Community Project Booths
• Ask a consultant for help
• Live Music each hour
• QR Scavenger Hunt
• Get copies of handouts
• Take a break and socialize
• Eat Lunch
• Raffle for DNA Kits