Press Release for July Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Meeting (UVTAGG)

UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 9 Jul 2011, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvpafug.org/ . With the organization's name change, these URL's will also be changed eventually.

The main presentation for this meeting will be by David E. Rencher on FAMILYSEARCH PRODUCTS AND FEATURES. FamilySearch continues to make a wide variety of products and services available to genealogists throughout the world. This presentation highlights the many uses of these new products from the view of the Chief Genealogical Officer at FamilySearch. David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FIGRS, FUGA, is employed by the Family History Department in Salt Lake City as the Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch. A professional genealogist since 1977, he is an Accredited GenealogistCM with ICAPGenSM in Ireland research and a Certified GenealogistSM with the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. He is the Irish course coordinator and instructor for the Samford University Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research (IGHR) in Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1980 with a BA in Family and Local History. He is a past-president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) 1997-2000, a national genealogical society umbrella organization, a past-president of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) 1993-1995 and a Fellow of that organization. He is a fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society, London and is a vice-president of the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU). He is currently serving as the Chair of the joint Federation of Genealogical Societies and National Genealogical Society committee for Record Preservation and Access and serves as the Secretary for the Federation of Genealogical Societies, and as trustee for the Umpstead, Jr. and Elizabeth Jemima Philpott Rencher and the Winslow Farr, Sr. Family Organizations. There is further information about him online at http://www.apgen.org/directory/search_detail.html?mbr_id=176 .

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) Research at BYU: the Other FHL - 5 Levels, 3 Wings, and Online Resources, by Laurie Castillo;
(2) MAC: Cemeteries, OSX Tips, and Reunion Reports, by Ron Snowden;
(3) Personalized Help, by Don Engstrom & Finn Hansen;
(4) Q&A: FamilySearch Products and Features, by David E. Rencher;
(5) Video of last month's main presentation: Finding and Analyzing Collections of Personal Letters - Erastus Snow, by Don and Diane Snow;
(6) Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay;
(7) Legacy 7.5, by Joel Graham; and
(8) RootsMagic 4, by Bruce Buzbee.

All meetings of the 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. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Kay Baker, Gerry Eliason, and Don Engstrom working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106) or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.net, or 2nd VP Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu.