Eating an Elephant One Bite at a Time-UVPAFUG

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 9 Apr 2011, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group website http://uvpafug.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/ .

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Marilyn Thomsen on EATING AN ELEPHANT ONE BITE AT A TIME: IDEAS TO ORGANIZE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY TIME.  If you feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start on your family history, this presentation will help you set a goal, get organized, and show you how to use a personal coach to help you eat your genealogical elephant.  Marilyn Thomsen graduated with a B.A. in family history from Brigham Young University. Her internship was at the National Archive Branch in Atlanta, Georgia.  Twice she won BYU's award for her family histories.  Recently she served as a US & Canada consultant at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and is currently the Director of the Utah Orem Sunset Heights Tri-Stake Family History Center.  Her husband, Richard, shares a passion for digging up dead relatives and sharing it with living.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes about family history and technology with something for everyone at any level of expertise. The teachers and classes presently scheduled for this meeting are as follows:  (1)  Comparing Ancestral Quest, Legacy, and RootsMagic, by Debbie Gurtler;  (2)  MAC:  Recent DNA experiences--and Reunion Q&A, by Ron Hatch;  (3)  Personalized Help, by Finn Hansen & Don Engstrom;  (4)  Getting Genealogy Clutter Under Control, by Marilyn Thomsen;  (5)  Video of last month's main presentation:  Back-Door Research Breaks Through Brick Walls, by Stephen Ehat;  (6)  Family Insight, by Andrea Schnakenburg;  (7)  Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay;  (8)  Legacy, by Dean Bennett; and  (9)  RootsMagic, by Sue Maxwell.

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays.